Erica's Stitches

The cause of the delay has been a Lone Star block in the middle of my quilt.  I've been practicing pieced diamonds but I'm still not ready to attempt the real one.  So far, I'm a big fan of this tutorial. At first, I had trouble with the quarter inch seam and getting the points lined up.  After a few really wonky blocks I had to pause to get some starch.  That helped and the blocks are getting better. So, I started another strip set and another round of diamonds.  The points turned out much better this time.  So did the quarter inch seam.  Each block is 3.5 inches across and the center diamond has perfect 45 degree angles. But, the blocks are not 45 degree angles on the outside so there is still some stretching going on. I'm going to have to work on my starching technique and/or mix up a stronger batch. The good news is that I'm getting closer.  At first I thought I wouldn't be able to pull it off but I think I can with some more p

As I've worked at copying an old quilt the most difficult fabric to find was suitable stripes and plaids. This block had 3 plaids and one stripe.  I was only able to find 3 plaids so they all had to go into my reproduction whether I liked them or not. I consider myself lucky to have found the stripe fabric that I did - it was from a collection of Christmas fabrics.   I love this tan stripe with the leaves.  Of course, I couldn't find anything like it.  Wouldn't that be a great fabric in lots of different colorways?   My modern block is boring in comparison. Here's a Monkey Wrench block with different white and brown stripes.  I looked through the prior posts and didn't find it.  So, maybe I missed it.  I hope I didn't miss others. I couldn't find any pictures of it and it's overcast and raining so all you get is a blurry photo.  I had to use the Christmas stripes again and have a passable brown strip