givio

Oh, things are a bit dreary if you think you'll share a picture out the hospital window... :-( Hope things look up soon for your mother, Bev.
Who had the steak? Let's have a picture of that. :-) I don't remember when I had steak!
I hope everyone is feeling better, and those traveling having a safe trip.
SBG, Only 9 days to quilt your Christmas S n' W? What size is it?
I thought I was finished quilting my Hunter's Star. What a trial it was. But I see, when taking the picture of it, that I missed quilting around a few star points, so I have to look it over tomorrow carefully. I'm done sewing for tonight. I can't wait to wash and dry it! When a quilt is all soft and crinkly, then you know it's truly finished. (The binding is red. The green outside that is the plain colored quilt on my bed under the Hunter' Star quilt. It's 56" x 72".)

sewbizgirl

Yeah, Givio, thanks for the reminder! I need to get that done tomorrow. It will only take a couple of hours once I get started... I hope. Sometimes I go crazy outlining the designs in a stack and whack. Going to have to keep the quilting simple this time.

I think it's about 50 x 68 or so... it's upstairs or I'd measure it to see. Just a throw.

That hunters star is so gorgeous! I just love it. Love the scrappy blue border and how you carried the star points into it. Will have to make one of those with scrap pieces. Are those 8" blocks? Two 4.5" squares and 8 2.5" HSTs?

It looks like 'anything goes' is what makes it so scrappy and fun. I love yours. I bet I already have the right size blocks cut in my "scrap drawers". I do follow Bonnie Hunter's advice in her "scrap savers system", cutting scraps into blocks as I go. I love a day of cutting up scraps.

If you don't mind, I want to put your quilt onto my Pinterest board called "Scraps".

givio

SBG, I'd be honored to have the picture in your Pinterest board. :-) Yes, exactly right on the squares and HSTs measurements. The blocks look best with light and dark, or a very good contrast between two different colors. Multicolored large prints don't seem to work so good. The border is sewn the same way as the blocks, but using light, dark, and medium (the blue). I like how the border turned out too, using scrappy blues.

You need quite a large chunk of scrap, if you do it with scraps. But the pattern is very fat quarter friendly-- you can make three blocks using one light and one dark fat quarter. (Cut the 2 7/8" strips from the 18" side of the FQ, then cut one 4 1/2" strip, then cut a 5" strip, and from the 5" strip cut the remaining 4 1/2" squares and your scrap squares. I think I'm remembering correctly, it's been some time since I cut. Definitely cut the strips from the smaller dimension of the FQ.) The leftover piece yields very little, I think I cut one 5" charm and a couple of 2 1/2" candies with it to use it up. Or, you can use those bits to make the HSTs for the border, if you want to make a border like I did. You can use two WOF 1/4 yards economically too, to make 3 blocks.

You girls all might like to try it! It's a quick, easy, fun pattern! I really enjoyed it. If you like to swap, Jane is still hosting the Hunter's Star swap. She indicates she will do it as long as there are 8 people interested each month. She prefers every block different in the set of 6 blocks-- which is different than her past swaps, where I could send 6 identical blocks per set. If you are cutting and sewing two blocks of the same prints, then being in the swap helps if you want all different blocks, because you can trade one and keep one. I have some of the same blocks in the quilt because I was making them in groups of three. Also, I think some of my name stickers may have fallen off during her swapping because I got some of my own blocks back. Some girls sewed on a little paper name sticker, and I think I'll do that too next time. I got quite a few blocks that were a color with the other side white, which I've sewn together for a different quilt because I didn't want a lot of white in mine.

QuiltingNinaSue

Great quilt, Givio. I watched a video from Teresa Down Under, she used a nine inch square, sewn around the outside then cut into four pieces using and X pattern of rotary cutting, the cut into three and half inches twice and you put together the Hunter's ooint pattern. I tried two blocks and they came out right. So I have the blocks as patterns in the future.

Sun is shinning, will see what the day has to offer. Thinking 'Christmas Quilt' using fabric from the Iowa shop hop, since neighbor Pat is not feeling well enough to continue her S & W. Time will time me what I am going do there. Still trying to think how to get my PC quilt home from DM Creekside Quilt Store since they will not ship it. Bummer.

sewbizgirl

Love all the info and tips on the quilt, Givio. I have to try one! I have plenty of big scraps to use. I think I'm with you that I would like it better without the white. So... I probably won't swap.

Will have to look at that video, QNS... I'm sure there are several ways to make the block. The half square triangles seem like the easiest, tho. Sorry your neighbor won't be coming to sew with you today.

As for the PC quilt... It seems like they might make an exception and ship it to you, since you have vision problems and don't drive! I'm sure they want it out of their store. Hope you can work something out.

Woke up to lovely cool weather today. Loving the Fall feeling in the air! Hope everyone enjoys their day

Honchey

Givio, What a pretty quilt..I love scrap quilts, blocks, etc.

Sewbiz, your package arrived today, great assortment of bright scrappy pieces to lighten up this dreary rainy cold day..can't wait to upend them on the sofa next to me so I can play but I have to wait until after dinner..Made a big pot of chicken soup with celery, carrots and escarole..orzo pasta added at the table.. My son is on a diet and is avoiding carbs so there's no potatoes in it and he can monitor the pasta...he has lost 30 lbs so far and I'm so happy for him..

sewbizgirl

Honchey, glad your scrap bits arrived. Hope you can do something creative with them!

Well, I did it. I got that stack and whack Christmas quilt all quilted and bound. It's ready to be donated. I have two more batik ones for donation that I sandwiched today also, and they are ready to be quilted. I think I have figured out why I dislike the quilting part. Think it's because I am always disappointed with my machine quilting and feel like I am just ruining a pretty quilt top. I don't know if I could do any better with a longarm setup, and I doubt I'll ever have that much money and space to devote to it. So I plug along.

This is the S & W... pretty cardinals in the snowy holly bushes. The batting is poly (trying to use up a big roll I bought) so it makes the quilts 'puffy', even tho it is a very thin batting. It's still lofty. For my personal quilts I prefer Hobbs 80/20 over anything else.

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Honchey

Sewbiz, Love the Stack N Whack Cardinals..What's wrong with your quilting?..I see the channel stitching is fine in the green..How did you stitch the cardinals?
I understand totally about how you feel about quilting as the completion ..I'm not counting the binding..I actually enjoy doing the binding.. My walking foot does the hard part..It's the kind that has the interchangeable 1/4" guide/flange on it..
I have several quilts all ready to be done and I'm afraid I'm going to ruin them. I'm such a scaredy cat when it comes to that part..

Givio, What size blocks did you make for the Hunter star quilt? After looking at the tute for it it seems rather easy..

oksewglad

Sew many pretty things showing up...keep them coming folks. I still can't post from my computer and the quality of the Kindle photos isn't the greatest for me...my flip phone doesn't connect to internet either...just complaining...I'll try to take a picture of my quilt I FMQ'd...a total practice quilt...I figure if my quilting is ever going to look decent I have to practice...the gal at the Quilt Show a couple of weeks ago said 15 minutes a day is better than an hour a week...LOL it'll take me forever at that rate.

Our guild did a Hunter's Star work shop last year, but didn't get a chance to get one done...love the scrappy, givio...spot on about the contrast. We've also done stack n whack, and missed that one...love the cardinals, too, SBG.

Bev, remember to take care of yourself, too.

Glad you've travelled safely back north, Honchey.. DSon#2 says the NC flooded area has a lot of recovery work to tackle.

QNS, hope those pesky skin cells stay healthy and the incision heals.

Off to take some pictures.

givio

Honchey, The blocks are 8 1/2", 8" finished.
SBG, It's one of the reasons that I don't like machine quilting-- I can't make it look like I want. I've tried a darning foot, a free motion foot, and a walking foot. I can't drop the feed dogs on my machine that I like to use. It's an old straight-stitch-no-zig-zag, forward-only-no-reverse Singer. I taped thick paper over the feed dogs in order to slide the sandwich for free motion quilting and I think with practice, I still wouldn't like it. I don't really want to hand quilt, but I can do that neat enough to suit myself. :-) Oh! What a nice large table you have in your sewing area!