Oh My Stars!

Shhhhh!  If they ask you, you know nothing. Remember, loose lips sink ships!

You saw nothing. You know nothing. I will categorically deny knowing anything about this...

((Looking around fugitively))... Ok now....

I'm going to share this a bit early on the expectation my nieces won't see this post (my mother already has hers). They've already been shipped out and received on the other end for this year's holiday back home.

This year I accomplished something I've always wanted to do but thought that I'd never do. I made quilts for three  of my family members.





Mom & Dad's Quilt Front



 

Mom & Dad's Quilt Backer

 



 





Close up of the beautiful quilting done by Merrilee
@ http://mermac-quilting.com/

For probably five, maybe more, years I've been promising my mother that I would make her a Star of Bethlehem quilt.... and I tried. The first heartbreaking time, I got all the legs constructed and then tried to piece it together... and not one leg would match. I apparently cannot cut a 45 degree angle to save my life.
 

Kind of like a magic eye thing, you can see the star if
you squint.  ::SIGH::

 

So, I took another approach and decided I would make the log cabin quilt star... and when I finished, you had to squint to see the star because of the fabrics I choose. ::Sigh::  At this point, I took a bit of hiatus. Lets face it, I needed it.

 

 

Then I got this lovely tool for the 45 degree cutter impaired. And it changed my life. It's called a bias cutter and I bought it on sale about a year ago. To date, it is the most expensive ruler I've ever bought but after accomplishing something I've tried for five years or more unsuccessfully, worth every penny.*

 

 

Of course, the first quilt I ever made wasn't a simple four patch or even a row of squares. No, I had to do a Star of Bethlehem quilt. I love the star pattern and the beauty of all the diamonds matching up. I took a class at a country store. I bought the fabric at said country store to make the quilt. I hated that fabric and never finished the quilt. There is something to be said for picking colors you like. I'm not even sure where this quilt top is, probably in my mother's linen cabinet, never to be finished.

 

 

My mother's fabrics were mauve and teal. She redid her bedroom years ago in this color scheme and it's beautiful but trying to find a quilt to match it was near impossible. Teal quilts or comforters were very hard to find. So I said I'd make one. At first, teal fabric was really hard to find. Then, what color of teal? Have you ever said I'll make you a x color item? Suddenly you realize how many values there are in that color. Do I go a greenish teal or a bluish teal and when does it cease being teal and go to blue or green?


In the end I think I was able to incorporate the color into the quilt fairly well. She loves it and I love her and dad so it works out fine.
 

 

Shay

Then I decided, if I'm making her quilt, why not make a quilt for by nieces? (Because I'm apparently a glutton for punishment.) I asked each girl, what is your favorite color, not telling them why I was asking (at this point, they don't ask, they are used to getting something homemade or crafted for them by their crazy aunt each year). Shay likes purple and green. That's in my wheelhouse, I can make a quilt out of those colors any day of the week. Here is Shay's quilt:

 

 

 

 

Jena

Jena on the other hand liked pink and teal. This presented more of a challenge.  How do you match those colors up? I had initially thought to do rose and green for her as her middle name is Rose, but I wanted each girl to have the colors they like best. I went for softer colors for Jena's quilt and I think I blended this well so it doesn't look odd with those two colors. Jena's quilt was truly a holiday miracle in that I had just enough of the teal colors to make the quilt-no more. The one fabric was a Morris art nouveau print that I ordered off of Ebay and had only 5/8" of a yard. In the end it all worked out fine. I'm so happy to be able to give these handmade gifts this holiday season.

 

I ran out of time so my brother's quilt will not be done until the beginning of the year. So I made him a rug.

Then I can begin making quilts for us....


It's a bad addiction. Seriously bad addiction.


And of course there was remnants. Remnants become fodder for rugs. Here is a rug made from what was left from everyone's quilt. Make do or do without you know....

Sheesh.. have to always mop the floor for these pictures!

 

 

*http://www.quiltinaday.com/shoponline/ruler/30817