Finding our own way with Stars For A New Day

[Pat L.]

I don't have any regrets starting it. I am learning so much and yes, I have been very frustrated a few times. (Thank you Margo for listening to me whine). I had actually decided not to do the 6 1/2" sq. border stars because they were taking so long and looked for some substitutes. I found a few blocks I liked, but, they just were not as pretty as Sues. So, I cut May's and guess what....it went faster and easier this month. Even if I don't keep up I will finish it, it is a beautiful quilt design. I've even decided I might..maybe...well sorta, that I will do the flying geese border. That is a lot of flying geese!!!! Guess I am still a bit wishy washy about that border. :roll: :shock: ops: Sandi in FL

[Patti P.]

I might be regretting not doing the flying geese on the sawtooths. I have 40 done and many keep curling up. I can't keep them flat. Just finished Aprils 6 1/2 inch blocks and can't get those flat either. Am I stitching too tightly?

[Donna N.]

I heavily starched my sawtooth stars to make them lie flat. Did you press the seams open? That also seemed to help.

[Patti P.]

I'm doing a combo of pressing the long rows flat and the tiny 1 inchers to the side. I was just thinking a moment ago when I pressed them flat that I would try starch . They go flat with the heat but curl up when they cool off.

[Jeannette L.]

Here's a trick I learned from a Sally Collins workshop: As you iron your pieces, have one of your rulers or something else flat that you can lay on top of the block until it has cooled. This will keep it laying flat. So, as I iron each block I lift my ruler and put it under it, until I am done ironing all the blocks. I do the same for the completed finished block after I iron it, and it lays pretty gosh darn flat! I also like to give my completed block a shot of starch which makes it look nice and finished.
Jeannette in St. Louis

[Margo C.]

I might be regretting not doing the flying geese on the sawtooths. I have 40 done and many keep curling up. I can't keep them flat. Just finished Aprils 6 1/2 inch blocks and can't get those flat either. Am I stitching too tightly?

Patti, some starch, or even misting with plain water (Ricky's choice) should help them to lie flat. I don't think that stitching too tightly should make a difference. If you are paper piecing, the stitches need to be tight, then adjusted back to a regular stitch length to assemble the HSTs. Just be sure that you are not tugging on the fabric, either in front or behind the needle, as it's stitching. Using the ruler to keep it flat until it's cool is another good tip! Also, be sure when you are pressing that you aren't stretching the bias. That's easy to do on these little pieces, but it helps to gently finger press the seam allowance in the direction that you want it to go before you hit it with the iron.
Hope that helps.

[Judy M.]

I have no regrets--but I've been doing my "own thing" right from the start! :lol: I've always wanted to make a medallion quilt and a feathered star quilt, too, so this is the project for me. I HATE, HATE, HATE paper piecing! :lol: My feathered star was made using the Bias Square method. I made my first border and border strips using Sue's instructions and I've learned alot for future use. Instead of the pinwheels I made Twin Sister blocks and instead of the 6" stars, I'm making Maple Leaf blocks. I'm having a ball just "winging" it. I am making the Sawtooth Stars using the flying geese method, too. Many of us have our own preferred methods and we just need to use the methods we like best--this is supposed to be FUN!!! Judy in Torrance

[Judy M.]

Hi everyone --

Yes, yes, yes... this quilt is challenging, labor-intensive, sometimes frustrating... but isn't it going to be fun to have a great quilt at the end of the year? And think of all the things you may have learned along the way! I'm really happy to hear that people like Judy feel comfortable "winging it" with variations and techniques that suit her preferences. Sharing your ideas with everyone is a great way for ALL of us to think about and learn something new -- it's part of why I belong to four different quilt bees: in each, I hear about new ways to do things and I see how people make different choices when it comes to design, stitching, quilting, etc. It makes me a better quilter - and a better quilt teacher! I read this Forum regularly and try and harvest all the inputs... for the next quilt I may design. If you all have some ideas... share them with us!

Happy sewing!
Sue Garman

[Cheryl K.]

Well, I stitched block #3 of April's 6" blocks using my Easy Angle ruler instead of the paper piecing HST method. First two seams had to be unstitched. I thought I could grab little triangles and stitch just by looking at the picture. WRONG! I went back and laid out the block piece by piece, stitching one row at a time. Half my time was taken just replacing all the pieces to keep everything in order and it basically took all morning ...broke for lovely lunch with friends, chatted a bunch then came back and finished the last seams about 2-ish. The block turned out lovely but I figure I will have to live to be 150 in order to finish this quilt. :roll:

Won't take chances with April's #4 block. I will lay everything out first. June will have me cutting everything out ahead of time so I can work on the quilt while I am visiting family in Houston.

:idea: I've been thinking about my frustration with slow progress, working with itzy-bitzy pieces, etc. I think I have become used to the "instant quilt". I didn't originally have this attitude but years of teaching beginner quilting, quick quilts for gifts and all of that has taken it's toll on my attention span. Over the last couple of years I have wanted to slow down and take my time and enjoy the process of quiltmaking, but did not think about this BOM as the being the project that would make me practice this concept.

I am still glad that I went a little different route with the piecing. I will think about my own personal name for this project as I go along......but right now the only idea that comes to mind has to do with childbirth.

[Cheryl K.]

I was kinda regretting falling behind. But life takes over sometimes, and with two small children around, that happens a lot. Better late than never, I guess.
I just looked at the show and tell BOMs and am determined to sneak in some sewing after bedtime tonight.
Thanks all for being so inspiring!

[Maureen A.]

I know what you mean about being behind as I am still working on the hand applique 2008 blocks now just finishing the Aug one. With dmy "frozen" Lt shoulder it has taken me longer. I started Pt Mon. and hope to prolong or maybe not have surgery. Have the feathered star done but find I need to finish one before going too far trying to do 2 at a time.
MA

[Susan B.]

This quilt has taught me aspects of quilting that I feel I would never have learned otherwise. I remember that feeling of accomplishment when the squares finally started coming out the right size & all the seams actually looked right. Not all of my points match perfectly, but they are good enough. I'm so curious to see how the colors play out in a final product that I Will finish this quilt, the top anyway. I may have to pay someone to do the actual quilting, because after all this work, I'd hate for my poor machine quilting skills to screw it up. The support has been tremendous. I boast about The Quilt Show to anyone who will listen. Patience needed, no regrets.

[Susan B.]

Re: half-square triangles:

As many of us are doing, I'm using my own fabric combinations for the BOM quilt -- and flying geese for many of the HST units -- so don't make the HST's in the numbers indicated in the instructions.

I print the HST page of the BOM instructions (pick a page that has a lot of HST block patterns on it) on thin sandwich-wrap paper (similar to tissue paper used for gifts), cut to 8-1/2 x 11. It runs thru my printer fine. Then, depending on how many HST's of a particular color combo I need, I cut the sheets apart into blocks or strips. kmouse, if you cut them all into strips, you can cut tidy fabric strips from your stash!

And, as Margo suggests, starch, starch, STARCH. I heavily starch the piece of fabric I'll be using *before* cutting. After starching, if your fabric feels almost like a sheet of paper, that's just about right! All my pieces are then easy to handle and don't stretch; and seams press crisply. I cover my ironing board surface with an extra cover made from a worn-out bed sheet; when it gets stiff with starch, I just throw it in the wash.

I don't regret starting this quilt -- and really like how it's coming along -- but WAS questioning my sanity last night when I spent two hours cutting for June's blocks, created a MOUNTAIN of fabric to re-fold, and ended up with a LITTLE TEENSY stack of fabric squares to carry to the sewing machine!

[Susan B.]

P.S. My method for dealing with the mountains of fabric is: after cutting the necessary pieces from a piece of fabric, I toss the remainder into a large basket next to my cutting table. At the end of my "cutting session," I can carry the basket downstairs and re-fold all the fabrics neatly whilst watching TV -- painless!

[Susan B.]

P.P.S. Kmouse, why don't you just go ahead and cut those neat strips from your fabric. Whatever you don't use, put the leftover strip pieces in a shoebox.

Then go to Bonnie Hunter's site quiltville.com , and find a fun, easy pattern to use up all those strips!