Roped, Hog-Tied and Branded by a Texas Lone Star!

I know that many of you have made beautiful Lone Star quilts, and you will likely laugh me to scorn over this. My plan was to make a lap throw for my Dad's 80th birthday. He made a Lone Star as a child with his mother. They probably did foundation piecing, and I know it was beautiful. My lap throw was to be an homage to his childhood achievement. But....don't EVER try to make something without detailed specific instructions! You may end up like I did, tied up in confusion and branded with frustration! It just isn't worth it. Here is my auspicious beginning.....

I started with a search online for directions. This yielded me a lot of vague references to what you do OR order forms for books or dvds on the subject. Nothing of any real HELP. OK, so how hard can it be!? I had my strips all cut out, and then sewed them meticulously together, ironing the seams open as suggested on one website.

I cut the strips on a 45 degree angle....

Carefully measuring so my diamonds would be the same size (might I add it didn't help that I was working with such narrow strips ie small diamonds!)

At first I didn't realize that I needed an equal amount of strips so what I had sewn together was definitely too long.

A paper pattern helped me envision the right size.

And viola! a perfectly shaped diamond star point! Only.....on careful inspection I suddenly realized that the colors are not placed correctly. They don't go ACROSS the width of the point! WHY???!!!!

This is what it is SUPPOSED to look like! Well, maybe if I remove the ones off either side. Only then I realize you can only remove the strips from ONE side and get a nice straight edge. The other side becomes jagged. Nope....this can't be anything like what I was supposed to do!

I GIVE UP! It bested me. Oh, well, I guess a good set of instructions would have been a HUGE help! I'm turning my strips into something else!!!!

Log Cabin for a friend's baby

This quilt is for a young couple at our church who just had their third baby. It is my fourth machine-quilted quilt, and only my fifth completed quilt. It was partially hand-pieced. Click on each photo for a larger view.


Detail of one of the corners...I had found this wonderful bird fabric to use as my inspiration fabric and I built this great color combination for the quilt from the colors in it. But, I fussy cut four of the birds for the corners.






Here are two views of the back. I used a cute whimsical light blue to back it.

Quilt Gifts!

Guess what I got for Christmas and my birthday (which is right after Christmas)--this awesome Debbie Mum bag came from my Mom, with fat quarters inside, and a giftcard to JoAnn's which was immediately used to buy the great fabrics leaning to the side of the lamp. And that brings me to the lamp--a wonderful magnifying glass lamp for close work for these failing eyes! I'm in good shape now!



Here are the fabrics I chose with my gift card, which incidently had more money left on it and I will share the second trip purchases I made on a later post! These are three light blues, three light beige, three darker blues and three browns to make my Dad a Lone Star lapthrow. I want to make it for his birthday in February. When he was a little boy he helped his mother make a full-sized Lone Star quilt, which was used and much-loved and finally fell apart. I am making the lapthrow in honor of his awesome achievement. He will be 80 on this birthday!!!!



This is where I have to do my cutting and measuring and dreaming at home, and though I have a sewing machine there that I can use....



You usually can find me at Mom's working away! (I mean, she has this great quilt room with design board and all that....do you blame me!? :-)