Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Needlework Tuesday - Seeing Stars

Welcome back.  Last week I told you that I was going on a piecing binge and that I planned to sew 40 little star blocks. Well, I didn't  do 40, once I got going, I realised that I needed 44. Here they all are.  They measure 4 1/2 inches finished.  All patterns are from Judy Martin's bet book every, Knockout Blocks and Sampler Quilts.
 
Needlework Tuesday is a regular weekly post where I share the progress of my various needlework projects over the past week. I enjoy the encouragement that I receive from my readers and in return visit their blogs and cheer them on with theirs. You are welcome to grab the cute little mouse and create your own Needlework Tuesday post. Leave a comment with a link and I'll be sure to visit with you.



I will admit that with all those pieces and different fabrics I did get some bits out of order and had to do some un-sewing.  I found I worked best if I laid all the blocks out before I started any sewing.  This is a set of 8 blocks of the same pattern.   I work on  all the blocks at the same time so that I sew the same step for all of them at the same time. After sewing the final seam, all of a sudden I have 8 finished blocks.  (a little happy dance moment)  Next step is putting the top together.  I'll have a photo of that next week.



I've been wanting to get started on this triangle shawl for a while. It's made with a Bernat sequin yarn.  I don't know what it's made of but it seems a bit cottony.  the sequins are about 12 inches apart.   I don't know if it's my knitting, but there appear to be more of the sequins showing up on the wrong side than on the front.  it might not appear so as I keep going back and pushing them through to the front.

 

 
Last week I finished all the blocks for the Gretchen quilt that is for my niece.  I think it looks great.  Just what is needed in a dorm room. Suggestions of how to quilt this beauty would be appreciated.   Earlier I wrote a  photo post on how to piece the Gretchen  block.
 

With all the work on the above mentioned quilts, I've made lots of progress on my leader and ender quilt.  Last week I finished making these double four patches.  There are 112 of (I think).
 

This week, I completed the next step which involved adding a 4 1/2 inch square to each of the double 4 patches.  At the rate I'm going on the stars quilt, I'll probably have the next step of the leaders and enders for you next week as well.
Remember to leave a comment with suggestions of how I might quilt the Gretchen Quilt (which I really should change to the Jessie Quilt, as that is my niece's name).
 
Who else is stitching this week:
 
Over at Just One More Thing, Tami is stitching aprons and the neatest fabric boxes/baskets.
 
It feels as good as winning the lottery when you finish a huge project.  Sarah at Lit and Laundry is on cloud 9 with her recent finish.
 
With time to spare, Roslyn at Ros-the-Quilter has finished piecing the top for her new Christmas wall hanging.  Beautifully done.

The needles have been flying with Marie over at Daisy's Book Journal.  She has several cuddly projects on the go.

6 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I love your stars! and the other projects as well - can never go wrong with star blocks in my opinion

Tami said...

Wow! You had a busy week! Your niece is lucky to have that beautiful quilt for her dorm room - a little touch of home and family is so comforting.

I love the shawl, also. I wear knitted shawls around the house a lot in the winter - snuggly and warm. Can't wait to see the finished project.

My week was full of aprons and fabric bins. http://tdreads.blogspot.com/2013/11/needlework-tuesday-apron.html

Roslyn said...

I am an early bird this year, my new Christmas tree wall-hanging is ready for quilting!http://ros-the-quilter.blogspot.com/2013/11/christmas-tree-wall-hanging.html
I wish I were disciplined enough to make leaders & enders, my Pfaff 2056 has the large embroidery feed dog plate & the fabrics tend to get sucked down into the bobbin area, a very annoying trait!

Threeundertwo said...

What a beautiful post! You have been busy. Love the stars and I need to make a leaders and enders quilt now.

I finished up my huge cross-stitch project today. http://litandlaundry.blogspot.com/2013/11/santas-village-is-finished.html

Marie said...

Nice work, Heather. The stars are awesome as is your Gretchen quilt. Can't wait to see the others once they are finished.

My post is up. I've been knitting.

I know we talked (wrote?) about this before, but now that there are a few others reporting in, how about a Mr. Linky? I'll make clicking around to the different sites a bit easier and you don't have to update your post. Of course, it's up to you.

Have a great week!

Kate said...

Your stars are great. I think your shawl is coming nicely. Maybe you can get the sequins to behave, after you are finished the knitting.