WIP's Heather Ross flying geese stars...and a dilemma...

Hi friends! Spring is here and it sure has helped my mood!

I found these in my UFO closet. It is getting a bit embarrassing in there. I need to spend a few months just finishing up all my unfinished projects. You? 

Several months ago I was lucky enough to come upon some Heather Ross charm squares on Instagram. I got such a great variety. Then I added in my stash, and I started creating stars. 

I love each and every one of these blocks.




Problem is, I used a tutorial online, and I tweaked the numbers a bit. Enough that I don't think I can figure it out again. It was for creating some flying geese but I liked the extra space it gave on the points. I am not good enough at math and triangles to try to figure out what I did, and I can't find the tutorial with my new numbers again.


What would you do? How can I solve this dilemma? Any ideas?


This is one of my favorites. Because I had two Dalmations growing up. Penny and Trixie. And I have 2 beagles now, Scamp and Duchess.



Another dilemma, if I do figure out the measurements, do you think I can have any duplicate middle prints? I am obviously trying to make this colorful and scrappy, so do you think I can have any matching centers (even if the rest doesn't match?)


Thanks for always coming and supporting our blog and posts. Megan and I LOVE what we do, and we couldn't keep doing it without you guys!  Thank you!

Linking up to Kim's Fun Sewjo Saturday Party!!

For Baby Kate

I told you all last week about my best friend Amanda.  Her baby Kate was born seemingly healthy.  After a couple days Kate was losing weight and became jaundice.  What seemed like something a lot of newborns go through quickly turned into a very dangerous situation. 

Amanda and her husband were told that Kate was fighting a vicious virus.  In her current health condition they couldn't do any testing to determine what the virus was.  They were giving her several antibiotics to cover all possibilities.  All the knew for sure was that the virus was attacking  her liver.

They were then told that Kate was dying.  It would take a miracle.  Told to call all their family to come and say goodbye to their sweet newborn baby girl.  It was unbelievably heartbreaking.  Still grieving for my dad when I heard the news I couldn't bare it.  I was so sad and really angry.  I've been so angry feeling like we were "cheated" with my dad...and now my best friend losing her newborn baby girl??

Well they did all come to say goodbye to Kate..but there have been miracles.  A month later Kate is still fighting!!!!  She has an uphill battle but she is here and there is hope.  There is a high probability that she will need a liver transplant which comes with it's own set of health risks and problems.  But the hope (and belief) that Kate can go home and grow-up with her family is real.

The weekend Kate was born I finished her name blanket and quilt.  And a couple days later the morning Amanda told me the sad news I rushed to send her the gifts.  (Unfortunately we now live states away)  I just wanted her to have them.  If Kate only had a few days on the Earth I knew anything tangible would be precious to Amanda.

I started the star blocks this past Summer with no real plan.  When Amanda and her family came to stay with me over Thanksgiving we were talking about what type of quilt she wanted for baby girl.  I showed her the blocks and she loved them, so I took it from here.  They're 6 inch blocks, 1 inch sashing and then a couple of borders.  I just kept building this quilt each step of the way :)  We also made the name blanket with no name while she was here...and I added her name after Kate was born.

Kate is baby number 3 for Amanda and Ryker.  Their oldest daughter is the same age as my oldest son (6).  They'll probably get married one day because they love each other and fight with each other equally :)  Kalil has wanted a name blanket for ages and we've just never put one together.  Last week I sent this to Kalil, after all siblings need just as much love when all this craziness is around them.

I am so so glad that Kate is still here.  That she is fighting.  I am so happy that even though handmade things don't change the situation or lessen the pain, they can maybe bring some comfort to our hearts.  Making these things for Amanda and her family has probably done more good for me than them.  I can't wait to meet Kate and hopefully be able to hold her too!!

You can follow me on instagram (@quiltstorymeg) to stay in the loop or you can also follow Amanda (@rykerandamanda) to keep posted on sweet baby Kate.  I'll keep you all posted here as well.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read today :)

I finally have something to share! Heather Ross star quilt blocks....

Winner of 1 Choice 4 Quilting layer cake:

 Jenny Larking said...

In from the cold is my first favourite and basic grey is second. 

August 29, 2013 at 12:03 PM

I feel like my posts (Heather) have been slacking a bit around here. Summer was a bit nuts and I didn't get to sew much, therefore I didn't offer that much in way of posts. If you follow me on Instagram (Quiltstory) Megan is (Quiltstorymeg) you can see more of the day to day of my creations. But I do have a few blocks to show off...

 I like this block. Megan and I had Dalmatians growing up. Cookie, Penny and Trixie. And I have 2 beagles. So I like the beagle butt in the corner :)

I have more than I remembered done, but have a few I want to get to. I am using all Heather Ross charms. I was able to buy a Heather Ross charm pack from a friend on Instagram. It was a nice sampling of a lot of her fabrics. 

Who doesn't love the gnomes. Right?

Hope you like!

Lucky Stars QAL! Join us!!

 The day has finally arrived! Okay, so maybe you haven't been waiting, but Megan and I have worked hard on these quilts and our Lucky Stars Quilt-A-Long, we really hope you will join us!

We created our quilts from the beautiful Happy Go Lucky fabric line from Bonnie and Camille, for Moda fabrics. We thought it would be fun to use the same fabric line and pattern but show how different they can look in different colorways!  What do you think??

Heathers Lucky Stars quilt finish.  LOVE it! I worked hard the last week!

We've both fallen madly in the love with this pattern (and with each other's quilts).  There's already discussion of switching at some point.

Megan's Lucky Stars quilt finish. Love the navy background. Makes it all "pop!"

One of our sponsors, Christa Quilts has put together Lucky Stars Starter Kits for those of you wishing to quilt along. Each kit contains 1 Jelly Roll plus 1 Layer Cake of Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille. She's offering them at a special price of just $74.95 which includes free US shipping (discounted int'l shipping)! On top of that, use code STORY at checkout to save an extra 10% on your entire order so that you can purchase background fabric or other supplies.

Christa Quilts

The plan

every Wednesday

Week 1 June 5th:...................Introduction

Week 2 June 12th:.................Fabric Requirements

Week 3 June 19th:.................Cutting Requirements

Week 4 June 26th:.................Star Block

Week 5 July 3rd:...................Square Block

Week 6 July 10th:..................Patch Block

Week 7 July 17th:..................Piecing the Quilt Top
Week 8 July 24th...................How to Finish a Quilt

****2 week hiatus to complete any missing steps or full quilt assembly****

Week 8 August 7th................Lucky Stars Quilt Top link-up

Week 9 August 14th..............Winners Announced

Quilt Tops must be linked up by Tuesday August 13th 10 pm MST to be prize eligible

if you do not have a blog or ability to link up please email us a photo of your quilt top with the subject "Lucky Stars Quilt Top" and we will link it for you

The prizes

Those who finish their quilt tops by the end of the Quilt A Long will be entered in to win prizes from these amazing sponsors!!  Hip hip hooray!

Connecting Threads

Fat Quarter Shop

A Joyful Soul Fabrics

Mad About Patchwork

Southern Fabric

The Stitch Sanctuary

Poppy Seed Fabrics

five monkey fabrics

Get a jump start and head over to Christa Quilts for a starter kit!  Or start organizing your stash and thinking of what prints you'd like to use!

Instagram
Don't forget to follow us.  Heather's @quiltstory and Megan's @quiltstorymeg
Post your progress and use the hashtags #quiltstory and #luckystarsQAL

Feel free to share these images on all the social networks!  :)  This is our first QAL and we want it to be a success because we both want to do it again.
What do you think, are you in????

Giant Princess Star Quilt...

I finished my Giant Star Quilt! 

At the Cabin retreat I just attended, Amy from Diary of a Quilter  made one of these Star Quilts. 

Marion from My Quilt Diet and I got jealous and decided we wanted to make one too...

At one of the activities at the retreat, I won this Michael Miller Princess fat quarter bundle!!! I immediately thought of my sweet five year old Sophie. I call her my Pip lately because she is itty bitty, my own pip squeak. She dresses up several times a day. She has been going nuts for this quilt. She keeps kissing it!

I did some new quilting. I bought Natalia Bonner's Beginner's Guide to free motion quilting. I attempted the swirls. I am super proud. It certainly isn't perfect, don't look to close. I am still really happy with it. I started quilting it too densely, but couldn't change my mind later. It took probably 6 hours to quilt it!

The Star quilt pattern tutorial came from In Color Order. She has the whole tutorial. Really easy and fun!

Heather and Marion's quilts at the retreat...

Marion from My Quilt Diet is a funny lady. She is known for being a speed quilter. She has made over 60 quilts in this last year! (No kidding!) I had all my triangles cut and Marion was helping me with my layout.  Marion decided she too wanted to make one and as we were both working we were teasing that is was a race. But let's be serious, I totally thought I would kill her because I had everything cut and laid out before she even started. Guess who won? Marion!!! By about 20 minutes! I still don't know how she did it, I didn't even pin anything!!!  She is a rockstar! Be sure to check out her Star Quilt today too...

Marions finish...

Love her circle quilting!  Fabulous!

Simply Charmed Quilt Top and Fabric Tuesday

 Quilt top finish!

Finished Size: 36.5" x 45.5"

This simple and sweet quilt top is made of Hello Luscious charm packs and a few pieced blocks. 

The blocks didn't stick out as much as I'd hoped.  But I am smitten with the color palette, so pretty!

If you wanted to make your own I'll give you a quick tutorial!  It's really easy so don't be intimidated.  You'd need two charm packs OR seventy-one 5" x 5" squares.  I made one small pieced block (the star), so the finished size for that would also be 5" x 5".  You could make as many of these as you want, just subtract from the seventy-one for each that you make!  Next I made two pieced blocks to replace 4 smaller blocks.  The finished size of those blocks would need to be 9.5" x 9.5".  Piece together as seen below.

It's fun to dress up simple blocks with a few pieced ones.  Can't wait to quilt it!  I'll share when I do :)

Fabric Tuesday #103

click here to see more about Fabric Tuesday

Teje's Baby Stars Quilt

Teje from Nero's Post and Patch is always posting and sharing such fabulous things, we constantly feature her on Fabric Tuesdays :)  And with a backdrop like Greece she always get great pictures.  Make sure to see Teje's shop, her finishes and some great tutorials too!

Hello my Dear Friends! I have a great day at home! Even lots of works are waiting still it’s so nice  not to go anywhere! Long time I was waiting to show you my latest quilt, but it was a secret so it had to wait till the little baby was born.

My dear friend is now grandmother for a sweet baby boy and when I returned from Finland with beautiful fabrics, I began this quilt. Still I had to wait if it’s a girl or a boy. For the girl I would have made orange binding and for the boy this green.

Because we didn’t know if it’s going to be a girl or a boy, I chose colours to be nice for both. I new that mom likes orange and green and they had used yellow for the baby-room. I saw that I do need more yellow fabrics for my stash!

I have seen so many beautiful quilts with different kind of star patterns and I really love these wonky stars! I had made few just to try these happy fabrics and then I realized they would be nice for this quilt. I have had in my  ‘to do list’ a quilt with this kind of squares so here they are now.

When I made these stars, I cut first stripes and then squares from them. There was some stripes left, so first time I used a little  colour also for the backing …

Now I understand better how you enjoy making the backing also like an other quilt. I only wish my fabric stash could be big enough for that! By the way, did you know that you can click photos to see them bigger.

Quilting by hand is one of the best parts! And again I was able to use different colours – even more fun! I have always loved stitching – every where – in bags, shoes, cloths any where!

Now the new born baby boy, my dear friends first grand child, has this quilt and all the family were happy and liked ‘Baby Stars’! And … I have a custom order for an other baby quilt … for a girl! I think I shall make it similar with this but perhaps not stars …

I think I could use few butterflies for the girly quilt! I have been also very lucky to sell the blue baby quilt ‘Ripples’ and two pillows from my etsy shop, ‘Jumping Dog’ and the ‘Pic Nic’ pillow! Thank you so much for the wonderful buyers!

Lucky Lucky Lucky me … again I have win! I won a jewellery from Emma’s give away! Emma is very talented artist and writes a beautiful blog ‘silverpebble’!She has etsy shop full of the most cute and beautiful creations! Thank you so much Emma! Emma was also featured in the latest ‘Country Living’ – the magazine we all enjoy so much!

Also I like to say big thank you for Maureen, who is one my favourite bloggers! She makes so unique,happy and colourful crafts! Her blog is ‘Maureen Cracknell Handmade’ and I won fabrics from her give away! Thank you Maureen! Only thing is that I won them just when I was shopping fabrics in Finland and still they haven’t arrived here … I’m so affraid that they have got lost! But I hope the best and perhaps they still come because Nero got also once his Christmas present from Ronja (from Finland) after 2 months!

Summer is the most busy time here in Crete! It’s the hot holiday season and fortunately we have lots of lots of tourists even the economical situation is difficult for us who live here. Some people say that they are affraid to come here, but everything is like it used to be. There are no difficulties for tourists, everything is working like always and Crete and Greece is one of the best holiday places! Beautiful beaches, friendly people, the most delicious food, lovely nature, warm (hot) weather and so much sunshine!

So you can guess that I am also very busy and unfortunately can’t see you so often. I don’t want to say that I shall take a brake from blogging, because I miss you a lot. So I do my best and now and then I hop here … or I think it’s better I’ll ask Nero to do that! He has again ‘adventure’ – now he has an infection between two toes. I think something has scratch there and then it got worse. No we have ‘therapy’ moment every morning and evening. Washing, betadine, bactroban, clean white cloth, clean sock, some tape to hold them, lots of ‘nami nami’ (Nero’s sweets) and antibiot. He is such a good boy when I have to take care of him, but in the vet he tries to eat his vet!

I leave you with Nelli’s surprised face, because this really describes my latest weeks!So many things has happened … oh I miss my slow boring (why I said boring, it’s never boring here with 3 dogs and a cat and so much sewing) winter life!

Could you guess from this link, who was eating from Nero’s plate last Sunday afternoon?! Yach!!!

Thank you so much for being the most wonderful friends and readers! I wish you the best ever summer and happy holidays! I shall visit you often … perhaps too tired to comment every time … but I’m there some where …

TEJE