Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Star Quilt-along Week 4

I am getting used to the triangles enough to actually enjoy making them.  Check out the stars other people have made.     

8 comments:

twoplustwins said...

Marie,
I love the quilt block and the colors are really beautiful! I wish I had you around to pick out all my colors for projects!
~Kim
PS...have you tried "felting?" My best friend just introduced it to me to it and I am really enjoying it!

Marie' said...

Kim,
I have never tried felting, but I have been reading about it all over the blog world. You wash the wool sweaters and turn them into felt, right? What do you make with the felt?

jacquie said...

Nice work Marie! Beautiful fabrics.

Marie' said...

Thank you, Jaquie. Are you going to start making the stars, too? I can't wait to see what fabric you choose.

twoplustwins said...

Marie,
You can make just about anything felting. I use online free patterns and they are great. I just made some beautiful and really warm mittens and am making a large shoulder bag right now. It is really fun to do and the projects after felting them turn out beautiful.

Marie' said...

Kim,
That is great! Now I am sorry about all the sweaters I have gotten rid of when I moved here. My friend wants to go thrift store shopping with me, so I will have to keep an eye out for some wool sweaters. Speaking of sweaters, check this out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tftcarrie/2316822021/

Allison said...

How do you make all of the seams line up so well? Your stars are beautiful.

Marie' said...

Allison,
So nice of you to say.
I am always open for new tricks, but this is what I currently do.

1)Pre-wash all fabric

2)Ironing, iron, and iron some more
I spray starch the fabric if it is thin (most Joann's and Wal-mart quilting fabric) or spray sizing if it is thicker (quilting store fabric) before cutting. It makes the fabric behave more like paper than fabric. I then iron every seam after every step.

3)Precise cutting
For me, this can only be done with a roller blade, cutting mat, and a wide quilting ruler.

4)Measure your seam allowance
Most quilts require a quarter inch seam allowance. Sew a seam and measure it to see if that is what you are getting. My sewing machine is German, so the seam guide lines are in metric. I used to just eyeball a quarter inch when I just made quilts with square fabric, but I can't do that with these stars blocks. I got a fine sharpie and wrote a quarter inch line on the machine. My friend puts a masking tape there as her guide.