"Oh My Stars" # 2

I needed a project that was not to complicated this week. So I pulled out the "Oh My Stars" pattern from Pat Sloan. This made for a fun, easy, quick project. I pulled the squares from my collection of 5-inch squares that I have been cutting from my scarps. The only fabric I had to cut was two squares and the points on the stars.

This is a charity quilt that will be donated to "Together We Can Make a Different" that works in the city of Jackson, Michigan. The Quilt size will finish at 42 x 50 inches.

Staying In

These days are difficult. I pray that each one who reads this post is staying well and heathy. Since March 11, my husband and I have been staying in away from other people. I have had to go to the supermarket a few of times. I have gone about 7 o'clock a.m. There have been a few people there which I felt was manageable.

I have been able to spend time at my sewing machine working on finishing some of my projects. This one is a very simple 9 patch with only two colors and two pieces of fabric.

I love the 9-patch block. It is easy but can look very different depending on the color and the choice of fabric used. All the fabric for this quilt I found on sale at a couple of my favorite area quilt shops. The light pink was from the Moda collection "Downstairs at Downten Abby" and the darker fabric was from the "Prairie Cactus" collection from Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda Fabrics The second fabric that I purchased to help finish the back was "Fresh Cut Flowers" also from Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda Fabrics. The colors matched perfectly.

I did the quilting on my home machine using one of the decorative stitches. I have seen it referred to as a "wiggle" stitch or a "serpentine" stitch.

When I  got ready to sandwich the quilt top, I realized that I did not have enough fabric for the backing. The piece I had was not wide enough and I didn't have enough of the pink fabric to add the inches that I needed to make it wide enough. One morning I told Don that we were going to take a little trip. I wanted to get biscuits and gravy at Hardee's for breakfast and I wanted to go to the Quilts at the Marshal House Quilt Shop to see if I could find something that would let me be able to finish  the quilt back. I found the perfect piece and it was on sale. I used all the pink fabric I had left over to make two strips that were 3-inches wide by the length of  the backing fabric. Between those two strips, I added the new fabric to make it big enough to use as the backing.

Another Project Finished

Several months ago, I went to my sewing room with the idea that I was going to discard (throw away) "my scraps." I picked up the box where I had placed scraps leftover from a number of projects. About the time I was ready to toss it all in the garbage can, I could not do it. I saw squares that could be cut from those pieces and used for something. I decided to cut the scraps into 5-inch squares, then 2 1/2-inch squares. Anything smaller than that I would throw away. As I cut squares, it seemed that my scraps continued to grow. I ended up with lots and lots of squares.

Now I have been working to turn those squares into children's size charity quilts. I finished the second quilt for this year on Saturday.

This quilt was made basically with 2 1/2-inch squares. I made the large square using sixteen 2 1/2-inch squares. For the second square, I made a 4 patch surrounded with a background fabric cut into 2 1/2-inch strips. I used a piece of flannel for the back of the quilt and did my own quilting on my sewing machine. I truly hope that this quilt will make some child warm and happy.

The blocks finished to 8-inch squares. The finished size was 40 x 56-inches.