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Here is a photo of the little project box I am working out of - plenty of diamonds to make those extra borders! And you can see how I drew out my color scheme and the ruler I used. The notes at the top of the paper tell me how many diamonds in each color to cut. I know you can strip piece this all together, but I have tried that before and my angle just wasn't exactly perfect and my star didn't connect together the correct way. So for me, it worked better to cut each individual diamond and now I have a star that fits together correctly and lays flat. When you think about it though - it really isn't that many pieces to cut. Sometimes I think quilter's are getting lazy with our love affair for rotary cutters and alot of beautiful patterns are no longer being made.
I am probably a little bit too busy right now to sew, but you know, it is my stress reliever and I have had a busy few weeks. Just in the past week... 1) House guests overflowed the upstairs flush and my downstairs living room had a waterfall coming out of the ceiling (insurance adjuster has already been here, carpenter starts tomorrow, but I still have a deductible and new flooring needs to be picked out). 2) I had to bring my sewing machine (which got wet) to the nearest dealer to see if it is fixable - 4 hours away. I had to leave it there so that means I now have to go back to get it at some point in time. 3) My car was side-swiped when parked in a parking lot so I have had to get that to the body shop. 4) I accidentally got my thumb bruised when a rat trap went off when I was trying to move it over a bit - fortunately it didn't snap on my thumb - that probably would have broken it - but when it flipped up it still got me somehow. Ouch. The good news is that I got the critter though - it was a red squirrel - which are very destructive and chew wires. No critters allowed in my kitchen! Oh - in case you are wondering what to bait the traps with - both rats and squirrels love gum drops - you can really wedge them onto the trap so there is no chance of them being able to steal the bait and get away!
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And through all of that - I still have had a full work load. So, I think a little sewing was in order to calm my nerves, don't you think? And now I am seeing stars! Or at least 1 big star.
*Edited to add: Thankfully I do have a 2nd sewing machine!
*Edited to add: Thankfully I do have a 2nd sewing machine!
14 comments:
"You deserve a break today,
so get up and get away,
to the sewing machine, to the sewing machine, to the sewing machine (as soon as it's back home)!!!!"
(and my apologies to McDonald's and the advertising firm that developed that jingle so long ago)
Sew should relieve stress and you have enough stress. Sew girl sew! Every spare minute...and take a few not so spare...better than getting a stress related illness.
I understand about being too busy to sew. I recently had a week where I was overly busy and then too tired but I found that if I didn't put in some sewing time I was also frustrated and unhappy. So I have just planned sewing time to keep me on an even keel.
You definitely had a bad week. Your star turned out beautifully. You need to read Barbara Brackman's latest post on her blog Material Culture. It will make you laugh.
What a week! Good luck with all the follow up. You do need a session with your sewing machine, uninterrupted and as long as possible.
I really can relate!! I am so sorry about your hurt thumb and car. Squirrels get in my house and we have a time to get rid of them, they are little destroyers! I love stars and yours is divine, I agree, the only way I could make the pieces fit is cut one at a time and I am not sure sewing on a machine would work for me. Have a nice week.
Gracious. That's quite a week! Hope this week is better.
I know I work all the time, but you make ME tired!
I have made the star and just cut squares for the corners...not hard but measure TWICE.
Hope you get your house back in order soon, and the machine back fixed.
Ohmygoodness, Evelyn! You HAVE had a time of it. I agree that piecing is very de-stressing. Maybe that pleasant interlude with the sewing machine is why so many quilters name their machines. And your star is beautiful!
I hope you all are well and that life soon resumes a pleasant hum.
All of that going on and you had the patience to work with diamonds? You must have nerves of steel! The star looks great!
you are busy, but even when I'm really busy if I sew just for a little bit I feel much less stressed!
It does sound like a run of bad luck but maybe your luck will change now.
I'm one of those lazy quilters but I have a diamond die for my GO cutter and I was thinking about one of these star quilts. Yours is beautiful!
I am trying to finish a 6 point star quilt my mom started (she's been gone 14 years). I have no idea how to fill in the space between the points and quilt the thing! Any suggestions, helps or ideas? I am ripping out material between the points, again, as I type.
Debi, you did not send me your email, but I hope you see my answer. I would mark a 1/4" seam allowance, using a fine pencil on the wrong side of all the points where they need to meet. Carefully hand sew segments together, being sure the sewing is exactly on the pencil marks. Try working on a table to support the weight of the strips...They are cut on the bias and are easy to stretch. Use this method for the setting pieces too...and lots of pins! If that is not working for you, you could applique the star to a large background piece. Try Google and view Images to get quilting ideas for the large, open spaces. Hope that helps!
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