Erica's Stitches

You were supposed to see my final Lone Star next.  I made a cutting error and didn't discover it until too late; I had used all of a few fabrics.  So, it was back to the local quilt store.   I was able to find the same, or similar, fabrics except for one - the red and white gingham.  I ordered that online (I hate to get fabric online because I want to see the fabric) and went on to the next blocks.  After working on the Lone Stars the piecing was easy.  I had put the blocks off because of the applique.  It wasn't fun and the points are not as sharp as I'd like, but they are done. This block is the 2nd signature block in the quilt.  I haven't decided if I'm going to be adding the signature or not. Now you can see the background fabric for the quilt.  The original blue wasn't quite this bright but it is the closest that I could find.  Who knows, the original might have been exactly this color and faded o...

I finally finished a Lone Star! As you can see, the corner blocks are pieced which is why accuracy was so important and I couldn't cheat.   The points are going to be cut off a bit, but not as much as I was thought.  I wish I would have thought ahead and made the corner blocks one inch smaller.  Than I could have had sashing on all 4 sides so I could trim down if needed. The most important thing is that this section is the correct size.  So, I won't have to adjust the blocks that go around it. Next will be the Lone Star out of the traditional fabrics.  I'm going to be making each strip set a sliver smaller to make the star a little bit smaller.  Hopefully the points will remain intact that way. To celebrate making it this far I set out all the blocks I've completed so far to see how they look. There are still a few empty spaces.  The one on the left is going to be a scary block - scarier than the Lone Star...

I've got my plan for my real Lone Stars.  No more practicing!  I'll be using 2.25 inch strips of fabric using the entire width of fabric. Most of the fabric I purchased was in the form of fat quarters and the yardage I had was mostly chopped up.  So, I had to go to the fabric store yesterday. For the traditional quilt I needed whites.  Most of other other fabric in the star wasn't used or used sparingly in the rest of the quilt. I was worse off with the modern fabrics and had to find four more fabrics.  And the background fabric.  I picked a very dark gray.  2 of the blocks that I've pieced don't work on the gray background so I may redo them.  That's what happens when I make up the quilt as I go.  Luckily there are easy blocks. Today I'm prepping the fabrics so I'll be ready to go next weekend. For the traditional quilt I'm following the colors in the original quilt so it was easy.  For the other sta...

For the last few weekends I've worked 2 more Lone Stars.  I'm still using this tutorial from the Hopeful Homemake r. I'm getting better but I'm still not 100% happy with the results.  My star points look good under the ruler but sewing them together and keeping them lined up and not stretching them is a challenge. Actually, looking at these pictures help.  The obvious (to me) flaws disappear. So, I've decided I'm close enough to tackle the real Lone Stars.  So, I'll be taking the instructions and scaling them up to a much bigger Lone Star with 16 diamonds per point instead of only 9.  I'm hoping the 7 additional diamonds aren't my undoing. Stay tuned and don't hold your breath!

I am continuing to practice lone stars. This time I tried a different tutorial.  Each one I find is slightly different so I get to try different techniques and see which ones work best for me. Since I've gotten better with points and the quarter inch seam allowance and need to work on keeping the diamonds from stretching I picked this tutorial.  It has fewer, bigger diamonds so it should go faster.  It also doesn't have the set in squares and triangles so it will be easier to finish if I choose to do so. As soon as I started cutting the diagonals I realized I forgot the starch.  I just jumped right in and missed the main point of the block.  So, I decided to continue and focus on being as careful with the fabric as I could.  Guess what, my diamonds didn't stretch out this time! I got some stretching when I sewed on the triangles, however the block still turned out OK.  A couple of points are slightly off but most of them are rig...

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 w...

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...