The Lone Star

For a long time I wanted to make a Lone Star but it always looked so intimidating. Then ... last October ... I found a great pattern/tutorial by Jennifer Harrison.

http://hopefulhomemaker.com/lone-star-tutorials/

I can't quite remember how I got the print out because I can't find it right now on that website. I might have signed up for the newsletter and got it free then. Of course I can't share it with you because I always try to respect copyrights.

Anyway, I am happy to have it right now because on the last page (of 4) there is an incredible useful table "Adjusting sizes for basic lone star block (using 9 diamonds per section)" 

This table gives info for 9 different strip sizes including the sizes for the background squares and the size for the finished block.

I posted the next three photos on FaceBook with the question "which lay-out would be better?"

This?

Or this?

In those last two photos the diamonds were not sewn together. All you have to do is to turn all 8 diamonds the other way and it gives you a totally different look. The answers to my question didn't help because it was pretty much half and half.

This is how I did sew them together. Since I did use 2.5" strips (jelly roll) the table told me that the finished block would be approximately 29". I did make a change though. I wanted the star to float and cut the background squares much larger. I know it might be a bit wasteful because I have to square the block up eventually but this is a learning piece anyway.

This block looks like it is the same size but I used 1" strips because I had leftovers (and I wanted to try). Because of the floating it is about 8.5".

The contrast of the sizes:

IMPORTANT:

I learned that you HAVE TO starch the fabric as much as you can. I forgot it getting ready when making the little star. I have a large homemade rectangular ironing board so I just took my 24" ruler and draw a line on it. I lined one edge of my (wet with starch) strips up on the line and ironed. Perfect! 

You want the fabric feel almost like paper before cutting the diamonds.

Each of these 8 diamond sections consist of 9 diamonds and you need 5 different fabrics. As you can see 

in the above photo I decided to number the strips. 

I have made another change too. In the tutorial you should make y-seams which I have never done. So, I cut the squares a bit larger and cut in half in the diagonal. 

Sew on the first triangle.

Trim and sew on the second triangle. 

Sew the two resulting triangles together and you have a quarter of the quilt block.

This works for me right now. I might try the y-seam next time. I am always happy to learn. 

I hope you find my blog helpful. I would be happy to read a comment from you.

Sewing - a treat!

Oh dear, my sewing (and blogging about it) had come to a screeching stop. And I don't even know why. The pandemic? Not motivated because of lack of quilters' meetings? Too much else to do? 

All of the above! Ha, and I mended Caleb's favorite fleece jacket. It needed a new zipper. Finding the zipper to buy was the most difficult part of it. 

My biggest problem is that in the middle of December I did something to my back and were in a lot of pain. I have to be very careful about movements and where I sit and how long.

But last week I decided that I needed a treat. The treat was just to forget about everything else and do some cutting and sewing. It went quite well.

I am a member of the FaceBook group "Quilt Block Lottery". Each month has a different block. You can make 1 or more of the block and each counts for a lottery entry. Whoever wins gets them all. Of course depending on participation there could be 2 or more winners.

March was Courthouse Steps. Before I start I have to make myself clear notes of the requirements. I don't know whether I am allowed to include a link here to a file because of copyrights. So I better not. But I had fun writing myself clear directions and it only takes a few minutes. It avoids mistakes making the blocks.

The color indicated was gray instead of the orange and teal instead of the blue. I wasn't sure about the teal fabric in my stash. To make sure I put this photo up in the FaceBook group for opinions:

I got good answers/advise.

I decided to make two blocks and here they are in the appropriate colors. 

Each month's block has to be there by the end of the month to count for the lottery. But there are always the next two months details given and both can be mailed together. 

The April block was Churn Dash.

You could either make a blue or red block. I made both.

That was fun. 

And they are in the mail. They only have to go to North Carolina, where I am right now in a rented cabin, but not close enough to hand deliver.

Great finds!

 I like to see the positive in bad situations. This social distancing etc has been hard on all of us but there can be opportunities too.

The internet is full of "quilt alongs" right now. There is not enough time to do them all but I love looking at them. 

Nadra of https://www.ellisandhiggs.com is offering this.

And I have actually made block 1 and 2 already. Nadra is in Germany but everything on her blog is also in English. When I subscribed to this quilt along the PDFs arrive in English automatically (wonder how the computer decided which language to send to me). 

Each block also comes with an uTube tutorial. I decided to skip looking at it (time crunch) but then thought it necessary after all because there is information which is not on the PDF.

I had to rip one seam making Block 2 because I had skipped the video so I found out on my own that after making the HST you have to trim down to the right size. After that no problem. This is how far I have gone. 

I had promised a friend last night (at an outdoor quilters meeting) that I would blog this info. Here it is.

But there is more!!!

I stumbled over to Moda Blockheads via my friend Diana in England who has made several of those blocks and of course did a marvelous job. I have my eye on several of those blocks I really would like to make. May be (?) soon in another blog I can show off which ones. I wonder whether you could guess? There is always hope.

DIY Roller Shades

We try to take advantage of these strange times and work on projects which were overdue. Couple of weeks ago we attempted the "bar".

Way back in Paducah, Kentucky, we had bought what was then a huge TV. At that time it was still as deep as it was wide or high. We needed a piece of furniture for it but nothing was available. So we took paper and pencil and drew what we would like with measurements so it would fit that living room wall. It was built for us with mahogany wood. It was very practical and I always liked it very much ... hence it moved with us to Virginia. It can be unscrewed into three parts. The TV did not make that move. It weight a ton.

I actually found an old photo from Paducah with the TV in it. The TV looks so small here. It was impressive way back then.

Well, TVs have changed. Now they are flat and can even be mounted on walls. What to do with that deep hole in that wall unit? Btw it found its place on a perfect wall in the dining room. 

And the "hole" was turned into the bar. I had made a temporary curtain with strips of fabric even incorporating see-through pockets for photos. Quite smart ... for a while. After several years we decided it just wasn't that practical. James liked my suggestion.

First we ordered online (because of social distancing) two wooden lazy susan and then built a shelf. James also found the perfect batterie light online which could be mounted (3M velcro) later on the ceiling of the "hole". 

The shelf had to be stained with something available.

(Ha, here you can even see the strips of fabric I had just flipped over to the shelf above.)

But what to do about the closure of the opening? 

I bought the cheapest window roller shades. For $9 I didn't have much to loose to try my idea? They come in different sizes and it fitted perfectly inside the opening. I should have taken a photo of the stark white cheap vinyl.  Ugh.

Since I could not go shopping (because of the virus situation) I found the best suited material in my stash thinking that I could replace it later if things worked. I laminated that fabric and something suitable for the back (lining) with double-sided iron-on. It was something I had bought last year at the Hampton Quilt Show. It was for appliqué work and the seller had promised that you could cut the edge and it would never fray (hotfixadhesive.com). 

I cut the fabric to size and sewed a pocket at the bottom to slide in the stick from the vinyl shade.

I unrolled the shades all the way, applied some repositioning glue (Craft Smart Off 'n On) to the top of the fabric according to directions. Then I attached it using the top line of the vinyl on the roll. I also held it up to make sure that the left and right edges of the vinyl were parallel to the fabric. When I was pleased with that I cut the vinyl off leaving about 1 inch in case I needed that straight line again as a guide. All was left to do was roll it up and put it into the mountings. 

Happy to say ... it works very well, is very practical, and we are very happy with it.

Here is the demo video:

Ha-ha, that didn't work, so HERE is the LINK!

Ah, yes, I also made a little valance. 

Masks for children

After making more then 100 masks of the pattern in my previous blog, younger daughter Sarah asked whether I could make masks for her children ... just in case she has to take them somewhere in an emergency. The oldest of her three boys is 6 years and then there are 3 year old twins.

Of course I agreed. Here is my first effort:

I had to do a lot of research on the internet to find a pattern for children. THIS SITE has a lot of useful information. The blog is very long and you have to scroll down far to find the links to download the PDF pattern. But it is well worth to read and learn. This is only a screenshot because I do not want to infringe on copyright.

I printed all the different sizes on regular paper and then again on cardstock to cut out (for tracing).

I had a lot of fun finding fabric in my stash with children's motives and fuzzy cutting. This size is for 3 to 6 year olds. Perfect.

You cut the piece "Main Fabric" twice in opposite direction. (The stabilizing backing doesn't go all the way)

Also cut the piece "Lining Fabric" twice in opposite direction. You need 4 pieces of iron-on backing. I cut the backing a little larger on 3 sides but flash on the straight side so I can match it with the line on the "Main Fabric" pattern. After ironing-on I trace and cut it out.

I used this as the backing but the above link also has a PDF with suggestions of backings. 

This is the "Man" version. It fits me better than the women version.

As you can see in the above photo I decided to change the pattern a little though. When I tried my first "prototype" on one of my grandsons, I noticed that tying behind the head might be a problem. I found a bag in my stuff which had just the thing but I wasn't sure what it was called. I took it off the bag and used it on the "prototype". My daughter was excited about it.

More research on the internet. With my husbands help we found the things called a cord locks which arrived soon. As with the elastic for the ear loops it was very difficult to find the right cord. Harbor Freight had very inexpensive 1/8 inch paracord but only in the second store I went to. 

I am still experimenting but found that the mask is more comfortable with a piece of wire sewed in. The link has a video with lots of options what to use. I found that a twist tie cut to 4 1/4 inches with the ends bend over to "un-sharpen" is very good.

Next time I will sew it onto the stabilized lining before sewing the main fabric and lining together.

I find that this type mask interferes less with my glasses.

And a tip:

I made a mistake at one point and decided to correct it with a new tool I had bought at the Hampton Quilt Show earlier in the year. OMG, this ripper did an unbelievable job. In seconds it was done.

There is so much on the internet. What I found was very helpful to me. Hope I helped you a little too. Feel free to leave a comment. Even constructive criticisms is welcomed.

*  *  *

Amendment:

I forgot to mention this about the paracord:

You need to push back the outside so you can cut off a little of the inside.

Pull the outside past the middle and hold the end for just a very brief moment into a flame. Then push it together. Otherwise the ends are fraying mercilessly. 

Surgical masks

Strange times we are in right now.

I have many sewing and quilting friends and some had started making masks. I found many patterns, uTubes and hints online but they were quite different from each other.

My younger daughter is a clinical pharmacist. The Director of the Pharmacy in the hospital where she works was sewing masks  “just in case” and gave Sarah the pattern to forward to me.

The pharmacy had special requests. The outside of the masks had to be made of polyester material and the inside was cotton. 

Most of the patterns online use only cotton, one piece folded over.  Nurses voiced though that this might make it difficult to quickly identify (for sanitary reasons) which is the outside of a mask already  in use.

Here is my version of the clinical pharmacy pattern (PDF to print at the bottom).

My pattern as always shows how to do it step by step but also a version to include a wire in the middle like in this one.

And here are the 33 for Sarah's place ... until I ran out of polyester.

Here is the PDF for you to download.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

Well, that's the official name. We call it the Hampton Quilt Show. It is a four day event (Thursday to Sunday) but we went on Friday February 28. I drove and my friends Janet, Becky and Marsha (all quilters) went with me. We started at 8:30 am because it's a drive of 1 hour and a half. It opens at 10 am and we were right there. We all had purchased tickets at a local store and passed a long line and walked right in.

So much eye candy! There were lots of different "challenges" displayed. Here just some (a few) photos which I took to remind me and give me ideas. Or I just thought they are awesome.

One section showed wallhangings with mounted lace, mostly crochet or knitted.

This one was bobbinlace. I am almost sure that it was handmade lace but it was sewn on with machine which made it hard to decide.

More eye candy. The first one was totally paper pieced. Itty bitty pieces. 

This exhibition really excited me. There were wall hangings about different National Parks. This exhibit was also on display last year. Afterwards I had heard from a German quilter (I read her blog) that she had had a quilt in this exhibition. I had been very sorry not to know that at the time.

And here it is! Not sure why the same exhibition was shown again but ...

Regina, your paper pieced quilt is awesome! If you like to see and read more about this and other of Regina's work click HERE! There is an "English translation button" on her blog too.

And more eye candy!

I have no idea how somebody could make this. There is a diver into the ocean who was shown in several stages of the fall ... and his shadow. Unbelievable.

We all decided that making this quilt would make one cross-eyed.

And ... of course there were vendors! Many! They don't like for you to take photos but I have bought (previously) cutting rulers from her and she gave permission. Obviously I need ideas how to use those cutting rulers. I always enjoy the vendors demonstrations.

Janet, Becky, Marsha and I felt we should get home quickly and start sewing. 

But we didn't. We all can dream.