Traveling Stars is finished

I keep forgetting to post a photo of the Traveling Stars quilt since I've finished it. This photo is not the best, but the wind is blowing and it kept shifting on the grass.

 

 

Our guild has a tradition called a traveling square - a 6" square of fabric shared with each member when you get a chance to shop for fabric while traveling.  There are squares in this quilt from lots of different states, plus Israel, South Africa, and Taiwan.  I used my 6" squares from the past few years to make star blocks. This is a bright, happy quilt and it's going onto the bed in our basement guest bedroom because that room definitely needs some color.

 

I have over a dozen squares left to start a new quilt. I haven't decided for sure yet how I plan to use them in the next project but figuring that out will be half the fun.

More traveling stars

I have fallen way behind making these star blocks from the "traveling squares" shared by guild members.  It's a fun tradition in our guild to share fabric when we travel.  I've been making these star blocks for about 4 years now and have 63 of them counting these 3 new ones .  They are about 11" blocks made with a 6" center square (5.5" finished).

Back to the Traveling Stars

I've fallen way behind in making these Traveling Stars blocks and so I dug into that project box and made a couple of them on Sunday.  I am very close to having enough blocks now to make a queen size quilt. And I have about 10 of the center squares just waiting yet.

The center squares are made from 6" squares of fabric shared by guild members when they have the opportunity to travel and visit quilt shops. It's a fun tradition and some members have shared some great scrappy quilts that they've made using these squares.  I've been a member about 4 years now so I have collected lots of these squares.

Goals for June & a new Traveling Star

My June goals are going to be very small since I will be out of town a lot for work and to put in some grandma time. Sewing and golf will probably be very limited.

I just want to keep up with the Saturday Sampler blocks and the RSC15 blocks. I have no other goals for this month. If I get anything else done great, but if not . . . that is OK too.

I have fallen behind in making these star blocks with the guild "travel" squares, but I did get one new one made this weekend. The center fabric (turtles) was shared by a guild member who had traveled to Hawaii recently. It's a fun tradition in our guild to bring back fabric from a trip and share a 6" square with each member. I have over 40 star blocks made so far with the squares I've received. 

Winding down in 2014

Just a little end of the year sewing . . . and it was 4 more of these Traveling Stars blocks.  I still have quite a few of these to make from 6" squares shared by guild members.

Yesterday I prepped and sewed on several pillowcases from my stash fabrics. 3 of them have snowman fabrics, 2 pillowcases have motorcycles, 1 is bright yellow with kitties, 1 is butterflies, 1 is smiley faces, and 2 more are florals.  I have the tops on 5 of them, have 2 more pinned into the "tube" and ready to sew. The rest are cut and ready to go. 

And this morning I've been doing a little organizing in my sewing room and working on my 2015 UFO list.  I've found the past 3 years that having a list of UFOs to work on has helped me focus.  When I have a little time to sew and nothing planned, then I can check that list and choose something to work on.  2014 saw a LOT of projects checked off the list and that definitely made me happy.

We're going to spend New Year's Eve having supper and watching the kids open Christmas gifts at our older daughter's house later today. They had a house full of influenza over Christmas, but everyone is healthy again and we are looking forward to spending some time with them.

Happy New Year!!

Traveling Stars layout

I've decided on a staggered layout with no sashing for my Traveling Stars quilt.  This would look good on our queen size bed, so I've been doing a little math.  

These blocks are 11.5" unfinished.  So if I make it 8 blocks by 10 blocks the finished quilt will be about 88" x 110".  And that would mean that I need 80 stars and so far I have 47.

I'll add a white strip to the top of every other row, and the same strip to the bottom of the other row.  That would be vertical rows, so that the sides will all be even.  

I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday so check out what is going on in the quilting world.

More stars in my sky

These are Traveling Stars #44-47 and I'm happy to say I'm all caught up with these.  Sometime later today I'm going to play with some layouts for these and make a decision about how many I'll actually need and how I want the quilt to look.  These star blocks really make me smile because they are all so bright and they remind me of my friends in guild.

Our guild members try to bring a 6" square of fabric from travels they make during the year and the members have made some beautiful quilts with these squares.  It's a fun way to share.

Traveling Star #43

This is #43 in the Traveling Stars blocks so I'm getting closer to having enough for a large bed quilt.  I did a little prep work last night and managed to put this pink one together early this morning before work.  That is a miracle in itself because I'm NOT a morning person.

The next 4 of them are ready to sew this evening or tomorrow.  This is a quilt top that I'm really looking forward to working on.  

Planning ahead

One of my August goals was to make 3 more Traveling Star blocks with my guild squares.  But to completely catch up I need to make 5 of them.  So my plan is to make these over the weekend. I should have lots of quiet time to sew while my hubbie is playing in a golf tournament.

I'll need to dig through the stash to find the right colors for the star points.  The backgrounds are all scrappy white or white-on-white fabrics.  I'm think a nice gold will work for the western batik and the pink lasso fabrics.  The Ohio state one will need a grey or a red.  The thimble fabric has a lot of browns and blues in it, so I'm leaning toward a medium to light blue for the star points. And the brown with the little flowers has a pink that I want to "pull" out via the star points.

Finding fabrics will probably be all I accomplish in the next couple of evenings as I am doing workshops at schools every day this week and next.  But Saturday - my sewing machine will be humming!

Traveling Star #41

This is block #41 in this collection.  My regular readers know that I'm making star blocks out of the 6" fabric squares shared by our guild members when they travel somewhere.  I have a wonderful collection of colorful star blocks from the past two and a half years. And I can't wait to put them together into a big quilt.  

Traveling Stars

Two more Traveling Stars added to the stack today. I'm getting very close to having enough for a queen size quilt.  Notice the Sturgis star - a member of our guild recently move west to the Sturgis area and she sent 6" squares to share with members.  Sturgis is famous for the huge motorcycle rally held each summer with hundreds of thousands of riders attending.

My regular readers know that our guild has a tradition of sharing 6" squares of fabric purchased when we travel and visit quilt shops. I've been making these star blocks because I just didn't want to cut into a lot of these fabrics. So - each center is 6" square.

Another spring Traveling Star block

Daffodils make me feel like spring is right around the corner.  And we had a 65 degree sunny day today . . . and a winter storm/blizzard watch for the next couple of days.  We are all sick of winter!

Tropical Traveling Star

Regular readers know our guild have a tradition of sharing 6" squares of fabric purchased on trips. Well one of members just returned from a cruise and she brought us tropical fish.  And my stash had the perfect pinkish-purple that matched the coral reef in the print. I just love this Traveling Star.

Traveling Stars #35 and #36

Two more to go and I'll be all caught up with the squares that I currently have.  That will make 38 total for now and I think I'll need quite a few more to make a bed sized quilt. These blocks finish at 9". But since I'm gathering these gradually I'm in no hurry to finish this project yet.

Layout options

I made 2 more Traveling Star blocks this morning and then brought them all upstairs to my family room floor to play with layout options.  Here is option 1 - offset vertical rows and no sashing.  I am definitely looking for ideas and I know I'll keep rearranging them as I add to the collection of blocks.

Here are blocks 33 and 34.  And there are 4 more on my cutting table ready to sew.

Traveling Stars

More traveling star blocks . . . and a few more ready to go.  There are 32 finished now.

Traveling Stars

I've fallen behind in making the Traveling Stars blocks, but today I had a chance to get 2 more made. These are numbers 27 and 28.  The 6" center of each block is made from the square of fabric that our guild members share when they've bought fabric on a trip - thus, my name for these is Traveling Stars. And I have a couple of them made with 6" squares sent to me by blogging friends. I love, love, love star blocks.

I need to make more star blocks

I need to get busy and make some more Traveling Star blocks.I came home from this month's guild meeting with 6 more traveling squares from members who traveled and shopped.  Thanks ladies!

These squares come from places like South Africa, Washington state, western South Dakota, and Minnesota.

And one of my regular readers from Pennsylvania sent me 2 Penn State squares. That was really generous of her. Thanks Nancy!!

Pink Flamingos - #26

One of the pieces of fabric I found in the drawers I'm sorting through this week - was something I bought in Florida a few years ago. I used it in a quilt that was gifted to a little girl a couple of years ago. And there was enough left to cut the necessary 6" square for a Traveling Star.  Pink flamingos wearing sunglasses. Couldn't resist.

Traveling Star #23, 24, and 25

After not doing any sewing or cutting all week and resting my wrist, I decided today that I needed to see if I could sew without pain. And the answer is YES!  Needless to say that has made me happy, although I know it isn't healed, so I'm trying to be careful about how I use that left hand.

So my first sewing project today was to make 3 Traveling Star blocks, bringing the total to 25.  As my regular readers know, the 6" center of each star is a square shared by quilt guild members when they have traveled somewhere. I've added a couple myself, and I've gotten one out of a scrap bag just recently.

#23 is from Wyoming (I think), #24 is from Oregon, and #25 is from Texas.