Blazing July Star

It's hot, hot, hot where I live (Florida) and I love it! And July is appropriate for making a Blazing Star block for Susan. Because I was concerned about my machine piecing skills with this one, I decided to hand-piece it. Jinny Beyer has lots of block templates on her site, so she gets all the credit for this one.

When hand-piecing, I like to press the seam allowances as I go. I've found that an old wallpaper seam roller is invaluable for this.

The block is pieced with gray Bottom Line thread. I adore this "Target" spot print background. It's a Timeless Treasures piece I found about six years ago, when living in Iowa, and promptly bought six yards of in both black and white. It still doesn't fail me. Linda

July Star

Here's the block I made for Susan for July.

It's adapted from "Megan's Star" by Maverick Quilts in Modern Blocks. Unfortunately it really isn't photographing well. It looks a little brighter in person, and the background looks blacker. I was surprised to find I had no solid black in my stash, but felt this tone-on-tone Pearl Bracelet print was a good fill in, adding some fun movement to the block. Hope it plays well with the others!

Snazzy Star--July 2014

I started Susan's Bee Block by looking at all the blocks in that Jolly Old St. Nicholas post, hoping to get some ideas, as I thought I'd ease back into sewing by making her block.  I then changed up some of the parts to make it more snazzy and so I could get some more colors in there; I noticed that in the sample she gave us, the blocks are a little more complex.  I thought about using prints-that-read-as-solids, but in the end, went with just solids, as I liked the *pop* of them against the black.  I put a PDF of the templates on my blog, if you want the pattern.  I really have no idea if this star is an existing one in the quilt maker's canon (or already has a name), but for today, I'm calling mine Snazzy Star.  Lastly, if you haven't been over to Susan's blog and seen her photos, you are missing out on some gorgeous scenery!

PS: Cindy and I put up a meet-up date for those going to QuiltCon 2015 on Flickr.  Head over there to let us know if you'll be joining us!

P.P.S.  Perhaps it would be helpful if we added a label to our posts of our blog name.  I've tried to type most of them into the list.

STAR BLOCK FOR SUSAN

I have had a wonderful few days of sewing!  Initially Susan had said she didn't want us to make her a block but with a little persuasion , she changed her mind  : )
She asked for any 12" star block on a black background. Years ago, before I knew about blogland, I fooled around with this star in a star block and came up with this variation.  I call it 'Twice upon a Star". I'm sure it's not original, but back then I was pretty excited with how it turned out. I still have my hand written instructions! So,  I decided to make that for Susan

I look forward to seeing the other blocks that are made for her

Diamonds for Linda

A wee bit late with these but they are done. Hope they are ok and the right size  : )