rich, rich Red
The morning after sewing night was gloriously sunny....
All that light and loveliness echoed the feeling in my heart, such gratitude for the rich life I lead! Filled with color and friends and the opportunity to make pretty things. Sure there are cloudy days and foot-stomping tantrums (my own) but its moments like these when everything comes together.... oh, so sweet!
One friend asked how I knew that this dark red would make a nice background for so many colors. Her question reminded me of this photograph, which I never did share with you all.
I often test my ideas by manipulating the actual fabrics, if possible. This time I had a good sized cut of Kona Rich Red, so I spread it out on the floor and peppered it with Ann Maria Horner fabrics. I don't consider myself good at merging images in my head, so I do this kind of thing whenever possible. I was pretty thrilled with this test in real time and still jazzed when I looked at the image the next day, so that's how I "knew".
Next I tried to puzzle out how to build in room for error in the Sawtooth Star block design. Aria tested out my ideas while making this pretty block. Naturally she chose my very favorite Dowry print - Flourish in cherry! This is her block before trimming. Awesome job, girlie!
You can see how the over-sized corner squares make for plenty of background fabric at the 4 corners of the block. The only touchy part is creating enough seam allowance at the star tips. That's why I decided that dull star points should be expected for first-time quilters. (I'm thinking now that I could have figured out how to manipulate our sewing plan further to account for those tips, but my brain didn't get that far at the time.) Sawtooth Star tutorial here.
I so enjoyed cutting prep for our sewing night. How could I not with all these lovely fabrics to keep me company? Even the sliver trimming scraps were decadent!
The ladies did wonderfully, wonderfully! We made quite a few stars that night with minimal frustration and seam-ripping. I almost don't want to finish making this quilt because I don't want to take the stars off my wall. Almost... but, I will.
These are some of the leftover ingredients after our sewing night. I've been working on them this week and have just 3 left to sew today. Time to assemble this quilt top and get to the finish, hopefully by this weekend. Wish me luck!
p.s. Today is the last day to purchase eBooks for Penny Sampler, Handstitched or Curves Class. You can find those right here in my pattern shop. Thanks + Enjoy!
All that light and loveliness echoed the feeling in my heart, such gratitude for the rich life I lead! Filled with color and friends and the opportunity to make pretty things. Sure there are cloudy days and foot-stomping tantrums (my own) but its moments like these when everything comes together.... oh, so sweet!
One friend asked how I knew that this dark red would make a nice background for so many colors. Her question reminded me of this photograph, which I never did share with you all.
I often test my ideas by manipulating the actual fabrics, if possible. This time I had a good sized cut of Kona Rich Red, so I spread it out on the floor and peppered it with Ann Maria Horner fabrics. I don't consider myself good at merging images in my head, so I do this kind of thing whenever possible. I was pretty thrilled with this test in real time and still jazzed when I looked at the image the next day, so that's how I "knew".
Next I tried to puzzle out how to build in room for error in the Sawtooth Star block design. Aria tested out my ideas while making this pretty block. Naturally she chose my very favorite Dowry print - Flourish in cherry! This is her block before trimming. Awesome job, girlie!
You can see how the over-sized corner squares make for plenty of background fabric at the 4 corners of the block. The only touchy part is creating enough seam allowance at the star tips. That's why I decided that dull star points should be expected for first-time quilters. (I'm thinking now that I could have figured out how to manipulate our sewing plan further to account for those tips, but my brain didn't get that far at the time.) Sawtooth Star tutorial here.
I so enjoyed cutting prep for our sewing night. How could I not with all these lovely fabrics to keep me company? Even the sliver trimming scraps were decadent!
The ladies did wonderfully, wonderfully! We made quite a few stars that night with minimal frustration and seam-ripping. I almost don't want to finish making this quilt because I don't want to take the stars off my wall. Almost... but, I will.
These are some of the leftover ingredients after our sewing night. I've been working on them this week and have just 3 left to sew today. Time to assemble this quilt top and get to the finish, hopefully by this weekend. Wish me luck!
p.s. Today is the last day to purchase eBooks for Penny Sampler, Handstitched or Curves Class. You can find those right here in my pattern shop. Thanks + Enjoy!