Category: Quilting and Sewing

I haven’t been so excited about a quilt top in a very long time!  Meet my Lone Star Party quilt, a lone star quilt with eight different sizes of lone star blocks.  I love this traditional quilt block, but really wanted to find a way to break it out of a traditional setting, and also to demonstrate how adaptable it is.  I feel like this improv setting of so many sizes is modern and refreshing.


One of the things I love about the lone star block is that once you learn how to make it (and it’s really quite simple) you can change one measurement and have all kinds of sizes.  The process is one that has become really enjoyable and rewarding for me, especially since the finished star has so much impact.


Making these stars was a lot of work, but totally worth the time and effort!  I decided to use a mash-up of Cotton + Steel fabrics with just a few other prints thrown in.


You can find my tutorial for making your own lone star block here .  It’s a detailed, step-by-step, full of photos tutorial that also includes a PDF that highlights the basic steps for making a lone star block.  The PDF contains a table for adjusting the size of a lone star block by changing the width of your strips. All of the sizes in the table except for one are represented in this quilt top.  Please visit my Lone Star Tutorials page for more links to my lone star projects and tips!


For my background I chose the Firefly print in Whisper by Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery Fabrics.  It’s from her Hello, Bear collection.  I selected it because I wanted a print that would help hide all the seams in the quilt top, and also because it continues the illusion of a star-filled sky.


This project has been in my head for years, and I’m so glad I finally made the time to bring it to life.  I keep feeling like I should choose a favorite star, but I love all of them.  I love the way the fabrics look together, and how all these stars show off and yet compliment one another too.


I am so excited and happy about this quilt!  It makes me smile.  Can’t wait to show you more!

I love fabric.  I love quilting.  I haven’t ventured much into sewing other items, but last year for Christmas I decided to undertake the making of a bunch of fabric pull-out boxes.  They were fun gifts to make and I’ve made some here and there for the past 8 months.


It’s fun to use different color and fabric combinations and see how they turn out.  I tried to make a variety of styles and it kept the project interesting.


This project is a great use for fat quarters.  The pattern is from Aneela Hoey’s shop , and comes in two different sizes.  I only made the smaller of the two, and found it’s a great size for all kinds of things, including sewing supplies, or goodies if you’re giving a gift.  They are sturdy and roomy.


I will admit that the boxes took longer to make than I hoped they would.  There are a lot of steps and the final assembly of the boxes requires hand sewing as well, which I didn’t realize when I bought the pattern.  (I kind of committed myself without really knowing what I was doing.)  The finished product, however, was a great reward for my time and effort, so I’m happy with the outcome.


I gave all of these away, and looking at the photos makes me want one of my own.  Perhaps one of these days I’ll make some more…

Surely yesterday’s post makes it no surprise that I have a weakness for coastal and beachy themed fabric.  My Anchor quilt , as well as the Anchor’s Aweigh quilt are coastal in design and color scheme, and my Seaside quilt is another older favorite.  As I prepared for our annual week at the beach, I had the sudden urge to cut into all my coastal fabric.

This project comes mostly from two designers:  Lewis & Irene, who designed the Coastal bundle I had, and Sharon Holland, whose Coastline fabric I also had a nearly complete bundle of.  There are a few other designers whose work is in the mix, but the bulk comes from those two collections.  A quick sketch for a design and the cutting began.


I had high hopes for a completed quilt top to take with me for photos, but instead I managed a bunch of large half square triangles (HST) and hundreds of smaller ones that still need trimming.  My design wall is currently in my bedroom instead of my sewing room because we’ve got guests coming and going every week or two for much of the summer and I’ve taken over a small table for my sewing machine.  These happy colors greet me every time I walk in the room and I’m hopeful I’ll find a few minutes to sew again soon.