2016 Finished Quilts - Star Skill Builder - Quilt 12

This is another "counter BOM" put on by my local quilt shop.  This is a sampler of star blocks made into a standard three by four block layout with a small block sashing.  The colors are a muted peach and brown tones.    

Close up of the borders.

Backing is a tiny gingham peach print that I picked up at Goodwill one day.  It works perfect for the back of this quilt.

Close up of some of the star blocks used in the quilt.  Also gives you a look at the framing and sashing of the quilt.

Looks pretty boring in the pictures, but actually it is rather calming because the colors blend together so well.

I did some posts about the struggles I had with making this quilt here, if you are interested in reading the history behind the finished product.

Next are the specific facts about the quilt:

Size: 65" X 80"

Fabric Lines Used:  Marcus Brothers various lines, and Maywood Studios 

Pattern: Star Builder

Designer:  Diane Bowden, Spinning Moon

Long Arm Quilter:  Carol Nelson

Year Began:  2009

Year Completed:  2016

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Making It Right

I have been doing some straightening up in my sewing room, and have come across some unfinished projects. Now there are many reasons for this, I get bored, a newer, greater something else grabs my attention, I get frustrated when something doesn't go right, I've ran out of one or more pieces of fabric, etc, etc.

I could go on forever, as evident of my UFO (unfinished object) list. I have even, in past years, set a goal of completing a old project before starting a new project, that lasted for about three projects. But, that was while I was working outside the home, because I wanted to "get in as much sewing time as possible" for the few precious hours of time I could set aside.

Now I don't feel as rushed. I am getting my house and yards/gardens in order, laundry and other duties are caught up all the time, and we eat at home way more (so we are not spending a lot of time eating out). Also, these last couple of weeks, I finished 4 commissioned orders out the door, so I began a little reorg of the sewing room, and came across a couple of projects that were in need of completing. So for the next few days I will be posting some of my old projects.

I posted about this project sometime last year here. It was a local quilt shop BOM, that was designed by the shop owner. After putting it all together, I realized that the background fabric did not match, because the first two blocks had a different background than the next ten blocks. Then, I remembered the shop owner switched to another background because the original one she chose ran out, and she couldn't order/find any more. See, it things like this, that makes me frustrated, and causes a project to be put on the back burner.

So, I bit the bullet, and removed the two blocks with the different background from the quilt top. Looks a little strange, doesn't it? Maybe if you are a quilt restorer it might look fairly normal?

It is really hard to see in these pictures, just how different the background really is, but trust me, I can tell. I knew I wouldn't be happy until I redid the blocks. I have it all sewn back together now, but my two guys who hold up the big quilts for me, were really busy this weekend, so I didn't get a picture yet. I'll try to get one done tomorrow.

The block on the left in the pictures below is the background that doesn't match the rest of the blocks background fabric.

P.S. I really like not working outside the home, even though I work harder staying home......

This and That

The last two and a half days have been a mixture of several different sewing things getting done. I have eighteen blocks to get done during September if I am to stay on track of completing all of the Farmer's Wife quilt by the end of the year. Thank goodness I have all of the blocks cut out for the entire quilt, because it makes it easier just to grab a packet of a couple of blocks and sit down and sew. I managed to get three done during these past days. The first two are out of civil war reproduction fabrics, and the third one is from Breath of Avignon colorway.

This is called the Friendship block. Women used to make them, put their name on it, exchange them amongst themselves, and then make them into a quilt that would have all their friends names either written or embroidered on the blocks. I made this one for the leader of the Farmers's Wife quilt along. All of who are participating in this quilt along are making one for her in the the fabrics they are using in their quilts. She will have about 20 Friendship blocks that she can make into anything she wants to, and then she will have something memorable regarding us and this big project.

Then I wanted to get back to my 2012 goal of assembling and quilting some of my past BOMs, and the one I chose to work on this evening was the one called "Star Skill Builder Sampler". I posted about it here and here, that shows the twelve blocks I have already made. Below are the cornerstone blocks that will go at each corner of the twelve blocks. I have to make 20 of these, and I have to be really careful because I have very little of the light fabric and I don't want to run short.

I have so much going on and I have more to share, but I'll save it for the next few day's post.

Block 10, 11, 12 Before and After

Yesterday I talked about three blocks I had messed up in getting them put together correctly. And I promised to show you my fixes. So here are the before and after pics:

Block 10

Before - See the lower left pieces are a half turn off?

After - All fixed!

Block 11

Before - this one has the two lower corners wrong! For shame on me....

After - Again all fixed!

Block 12

Before - Can you see how the four points of the star are sewn into the outer sashing. Either I mis read the cutting instructions wrong or I cut the pieces out wrong, because...scroll down.

After - Because, I totally re-cut this block and made it again and it went together just fine this time! Whoohoo!

What did I learn from this excerise? One, my grandma always made me take apart mistakes and make them right. And, two, once they are fixed, you sure feel good about it, making the extra work worth the effort!

Star Skill Builder BOM

Remember when I commented about being a sucker for BOM's here? Well, while sorting through some more bins from moving to my new sewing room, I have unpacked a couple several of BOM's from year's past. My goal is to get a UFO done between each new project I start this year. So far, I am failing miserably, but I have to keep trying!

This one is from a local quilt shop The Cotton Patch and it is called Star Skill Builder. The designer of this series is Diane Bowden, a very talented individual, under her company Spinning Moon Designs.

The program worked that if you purchased two to three fat quarters used in the block, you got that months pattern free. It was this quilt shop's "counter BOM", which was different from their monthly quilt club BOM.

The print fabric is a Marcus Brothers' line by designer Faye Burgos. The blender is by Shadow Play by Maywood, and the background is Essential Dots by Moda. They blend together just beautifully, don't you think?

Notice that there are only 9 blocks? And this is a 12 month BOM... Well, when I laid them out to take the pictures, I noticed that I really messed up on three of the blocks. They were put together WRONG! Can you imagine that, me putting a block together wrong? Yes, more often than I like to admit. I spent an hour or so taking two of them apart and putting them in the order they needed to be, and in the case of the third block, I started from scratch and completely remade it. I'll post the before and after pictures tomorrow.