Scraptastic Stars Layout???

So I almost have two more of my Scraptastic Star Blocks done which I will be sharing soon.  But with the blocks winding down, I realized I need to decide on a layout!!!   So I sat down yesterday and stared playing with EQ8 .    And playing in EQ8 is so fun and easy, but now the only problem is, I can't decide!!   So do you think you could help a girl out here and let me know in the comments which you like the best???

Option A is where I started with just a nice, plain black sashing.

And then I decided I wanted to keep the chain going.   So Option B is a Black sashing with some White squares added in to finish the "chain" look.  

And then I wondered what it would look like with that same idea but adding cornerstones.  So Option C is a Black sashing with the chain squares as well as some White cornerstones.

And then I really got into the whole chain idea, and added in a lot more piecing.   So Option D is a larger Black sashing with some White and Black Nine Patches added in to totally finish the "chain" look.   

 And the of course, there is always that point where you circle back around and wonder if you should just keep it simple.  So Option E is just taking it back to a plain White Sashing.

So what do you think???   Which finishing style do you like best???  

Also, another question.  Last time I posted my blocks, I had questions emailed me if I could teach this as a class or if I would make it into a full pattern with size options.  So now I am curious??  Would you like to see this as a full on Happy Quilting Pattern with the alterations to the original free pattern and size options and finishing instructions??

So ya, know you have two opinions to weigh in on ;)

Oh, and one last thing.  Speaking of Patterns . . . I am celebrating turning 40 with a  40% off Pattern Sale!!!  The sale will go until Friday and I have also added Printed HARD COPY PATTERNS in my shop.  So if you see a quilt you want to make but can't be in class because you are far away, now is the time to pick up the pattern for it ;)

  

Thanks for your help today and I hope you all are having a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Coral and Rose Scraptastic Stars!!

Okay, still working on lots of sewing that I can't quite show yet which means even more Leader and Enders sewing and two more Scraptastic Star Blocks!!!    The first one is lovely coral!!!  And I have to say, I was blown away with how many gorgeous shades of coral I had in my stash.   This is such a pretty color and I am thrilled I had enough to make a block just for coral!!

And the second is Rose.   I had to look up what shade of pink you would call these little squares as there is another softer (blush) pink coming and I didn't want to have to call them Light Pink and Dark Pink.  No fun in that ;)    But Doesn't Rose just fit this block just so perfectly!!!  I just love that this little Scraptastic Stars  Leader and Ender project  is really a great little exercise in color for me and I am having so much fun playing with the rainbow!!!

And that means ten down and only 6 to go!!!   Seriously, it is getting so hard at this point not to just drop everything and stitch up the last 6 blocks.  Good thing I still have lots of sewing on my plate to help crank out those last 6 blocks.   And I should probably start thinking about layout options ;)    I will be sure to share more on that as I play with ideas!!

I hope you all are having a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Orange and Yellow Scraptastic Stars!!!

I have been stitching up a storm this last week and that means I was also stitching a lot of Leader and Enders which means two more Scraptastic Star Blocks!!!    The first one is happy as sunshine Yellow!!!  And doesn't that just make you want to soak up some serious rays.   I just love it!!! 

And the second is the Orange block, and I know orange isn't always a favorite of a lot of quilters, but how fun are all of these shades of orange when put together!!!  I just love that this little Scraptastic Stars  Leader and Ender project  combines so many shades of each color and just shows off how many wonderful colors we as quilters get to play with each and every day!!!

And that means I have made 8 of of 16 blocks and am half way!!!  Eeekk, so exciting!!!  I have lots more I am working on right now, so hopefully that means a few more blocks really soon like ;)

I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

Magenta and Teal make 6!!!

While I do have a finish (or 2) from this week, I can't share them yet, but, I can share the two additional Scraptastic Star Blocks that I finished from my Leader and Enders from making those two can't share finishes :)    The first one was the Magenta color scheme, and ya know, I was totally loving this because it's in the purple family!!! 

And the second is the Teal block, and funny thing, this is my daughters favorite color!!!  So she was totally wanting this block as soon as I finished it.  But ya, I told her this is all part of my Scraptastic Stars  Leader and Ender project  and so she will just have to make her own :)    And I for sure have enough 2 1/2" squares for her to do just that!

And that means 6 down and only 10 to go!!!   Eeekk, I am so loving these!!   Each time I make another block and do a little happy dance seeing these rainbow of colors come together.   Next up is the light Yellow block and it will for sure add some more sunshine to this stack!!!

I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Weekend!!!

2 More Scraptastic Stars!!!

The week before leaving to teach at UQSM I got to do some secret Market Sewing :)  I made two quilt samples for my good friends at Moda, which of course I will share more of after Market.  And with those two samples, came a lot of Leader and Ender Sewing ;)   And I am super excited to have made 2 more Scraptastic Star Blocks!!!!

Scraptastic Stars is my new Leader and Ender project and I just love making these blocks!!!   They really are so much fun to play with all of those little 2 1/2" squares, and you all know how much I love making rainbow quilts ;) 

My plan is to make 16 blocks in all, and with 4 done, I am 1/4 of the way!!!  So fun ;)   And I just have to say, don't they look so awesome next to each other!!  I am really loving where this project is going :)

Next color block will be the Magenta-Purples and ya, I am super stocked to sew another shade of Purple!!!!   

How about you, have your tried a rainbow quilt before???

Scraptastic Stars for my Leader and Ender WIP

 I have shared here in the past how much I like Leader and Ender projects.  They are such a great way to work with scraps, and make "bonus" quilts while working on others.  But this last year, I have been kind of slacking on the whole Leader and Ender thing.  Here's what happened . . .   In this post  (a year ago!!!)    I decided my new Leader and Ender Project for 2018 would be my  Scraptastic Stars Block . (pattern can be found here)   I gathered my squares and decided that  I was going to use 2 1/2"squares instead of 2" squares so that the blocks finish at 16" and planned on making 16 blocks. When I went to sort my stack of 2 1/2" squares into 16 piles I found I was needing more squares.  Quite a bit actually, as I was trying to stick pretty closely to tone on tone prints.    So the new plan was to just cut some extra 2 1/2" squares when working on other projects until I had enough.   Well here we are in 2019  :)

Seriously, if I just needed blues or greens, I would have been ready to go in a month as I cut a whole lot of fabric!!!! But there are just some hues of colors (like that gold one on the bottom) that you don't cut a lot of.  So last week I saw all these squares sitting on my desk and I thought, "why in the world am I still waiting to start this project on a few squares."  I pulled out the scrap drawer and after a bit of digging, found the colors I needed to finish the few piles of missing squares.   And TaDa!!   Bring on the Leader and Ender stitching!!!

I decided in way back to make this project more Leader and Ender Friendly I would change the pattern to do Stitch and Flip triangles for the star points instead of traditional HST's.  That way every piece is the same 2 1/2" square size to start with. (which meant more squares as well, 48 of each color to be exact :)  I have found that  I like grouping my squares into the three types of Leader and Ender I need for the project, then I don't have to think about what I need to sew, just pick up two from a group and stitch.

And after I had made everything into 2 patches, I figured I might as well continue on with the block.  So I added a third patch onto the two patches for the corners and then it was just sewing the Three Patches into the Corner Units and the 2 Patches into the Side Units. And then just finish the block.   I did all of this still as Leader and Enders.   This is a little different for me as I would normally do all the two patches for all 16 blocks, but I am thinking where this block has a few more "moving pieces" it makes it easier to do one block at a time.   And I have to say, it sure makes the process more fun to have little finishes along the way.  1 down and 15 to go!!!  (You knew I would start with the purple one ;) 

So I am hoping to share more Scraptastic Stars blocks over the next few months.   I am just loving getting back into the swing of Leader and Enders and I can't believe I let a whole year go by without these "free" quilt blocks :)   I think it is a good lesson for me to remember, just stop and cut so you can sew!!!!

How about you . . . do you have a Leader and Ender project that you are working on???

Oh, Scrap! Blog Hop and Giveaway

Today I am so very excited to share with you all a fantastic new book, Oh, Scrap! by my very good friend, Lissa Alexander !!  And let me just tell you, this book is incredible!!!  I can't stop adding to the list of  "to make" quilts from this!!!   And since they are all scrap quilts, and my scrap bins continue to overflow, I just might have to make them all (eventually ;)

You might know Lissa as Moda Lissa.   She is the head of Marketing at Moda Fabrics and is an amazing quilter!!!  This is her first stand alone book, but she has been the creative genius working behind the scenes on lots of compilation books, like the Moda All Star Books, and the Sweet Celebration book which just happened to be my first time being published in a book.   I am still so grateful that she sent me a little invite to be a part of that book as it really got me started on the publishing path.   Lissa has been a wonderful friend and mentor guiding me through a lot of this industry and giving me wonderful opportunities to share my work :)   I can not thank her enough for her friendship and guidance!!

Lissa has been working in the quilting industry for over 25 years and this book is like getting all of that scrappy quilting knowledge tied up with lots of pretty pictures and a bow on top :)  Seriously, it is amazing!!!  You will find so many wonderful tidbits of scrappy goodness that Lissa has picked up over the years and is now sharing in her own fun way.  Reading through the book truly feels like I am sitting at Lissa's kitchen table with a pile of scraps as we go through it and decide how best to use them.   Which, I would totally love to literally do someday!!! 

And as I said before, Oh, Scrap! is full of amazing scrap quilts and you will want to make every single one of them.    And now I am excited to finally get to share that I was so very blessed to have made one of the quilts in  Oh, Scrap! !!!  It's called Kismet and I just love it!!!   A long while back,  Lissa asked if I could take her Courthouse Steps block and make it up in my own color layout  to give it a new spin and of course, I couldn't say yes fast enough!!  

  I went to my scrap bins and instantly realized that I had an overflowing box of blues and greens and thought they would be perfect for a relaxing type feel.  I started cutting a string of blue in green from every piece of scrap in my bins.  This was such a fun trip down memory lane for me. I love that about scrap quilts, they really are a wonderful representation of so many other quilts and more importantly, the people those quilts were for ;)    And they also look pretty fun all laid out in a row ;)  

I had so much fun making up the Kismet blocks and they really went together fast as I just chain pieced each new row on all the blocks.   And before you knew it, Kistmet!!!  I can't say how happy I am with how this scrappy quilt came together and I am again, so grateful that Lissa asked me to be a small part of her incredible Oh, Scrap! book!!!   I will share lots more about this quilt later on, but for know, I want to get back to more quilts from Oh, Scrap!

I knew as soon as Oh, Scrap! arrived in my mailbox, that I totally needed to start another scrap project, but the hard part is, which quilt to start on???  They are all just so fun!!  I debated on starting with the cover quilt, called Izzy Squared with all of it's yummy squared goodness, or maybe even this gorgeous Sherbet Stars quilt as I am a big fan on Lone Stars and their super fun construction.  

But in the end, it had to be Lissa's Surrounded quilt.  In the intro to this quilt, Lissa wrote about how she found she always had leftover light-colored prints from her Moda precuts that are known as "low volume" fabrics that didn't quite fit in her planned color schemes.   So she challenged herself to create a low-volume quilt and Surround was the result.    

This intro spoke to me as I find I am in that same boat of not using my Low-Volume prints from my pre-cuts :)  I have another scrap drawer that I throw all of these bits and pieces in wondering what i will ever use them for.   Well, the bin was tossed on the cutting mat yesterday and I started cutting.   Another super helpful tidbit from the book, you don't have to cut a scrap quilt out all at once!!!!

I love that Lissa's includes what pieces you need just for each block so you can cut until you get a tired of it, and then pull out the pieces you need to make a block.     I love those oh so cute, 1" finished chain blocks, but with hundreds of them needed in a quilt, I am happy to cut as I go ;)  And another helpful tidbit, Lissa helps explain about value and how it can help you determine what is "low-volume" which I have always wondered about ;)    See what I mean, so many jewels of scrappy hints!!!

So I have 1 block done and lots to go, but I am just thrilled to be making this scrappy Surrounded quilt!!!  I plan to use all solids in the chains and make a serious dent in my "low-volume" bin.   It's not often I make a quilt this way, one block at a time I mean,  but I am super excited to really take this project slow and enjoy the scrappy process.

And that is a small taste of Oh, Scrap!   I can't say enough good about this book!!  It truly is scraptastic and I don't see it going on the shelf for a long time.  I think I will finish one scrappy project and then just choose another from it's pages ;)  

And if you haven't had a chance to check out Oh, Scrap!, you are in for a treat!!   One lucky reader is going to win their own e-book copy of Oh, Scrap!  Lissa and Martingale are giving away of Oh, Scrap! along each stop of this fun Blog Hop!

 All you have to do to have a chance to win is leave me a comment telling me your favorite scrappy quilt you have made or want to make!!

I will choose a winner on Saturday, the 24rd :)    Good luck to all!!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED - The winner is #21 - Congrats to Linda!!!  I have emailed you ;) 

And be sure to follow along with the Oh, Scrap! blog tour for lots more chances to win and a ton more Oh, Scrap! eye candy!!!

Thursday – March 15 – Lissa Alexander

Friday – March 16 – Pat Sloan

Saturday – March 17 – Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts

Sunday – March 18 – Barbara Brackman  

Monday – March 18 – Alison Dale of Fabric Expressions

Tuesday – March 20 – Melissa Corry of Happy Quilting

Wednesday – March 21 – Moi ~ The Cutting Table

Thursday – March 22 – Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life

Friday – March 23 – Kimberly Jolly of the Fat Quarter Shop

Saturday – March 24 – Teresa Silva of Quilting is My Bliss

Sunday – March 25 – Jane Davidson of QuiltJane

Monday – March 26 – Jenny Wilding Cardon of Martingale/That Patchwork Place

Thanks for popping in today and I hope you have a very Happy (and Scrappy) Quilting Day!!!

P.S.  It's still Tuesday and we are also have Terrific Tuesday Giveaway Day along with this Giveaway.   If you are looking for that post, you will find it here ;) 


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March Aurifil Block of the Month - My Turn!!!

The March Aurifil Designer Block of the Month was released yesterday and I am so excited because March is my Month!!!!   And Pat Sloan was kind enough to let me do the month of Purple, because ya know, I just love purple!!!!   And this is my Scraptastic Star block.  Eeeekkk, I just love it!!!

You all know how much I love to design quilts around stars, and of course a twist on an Irish Chain.  And I knew I wanted to make my blocks super scrappy so I could show the vast array all of the shades of purple that I love so much.    And that is how Scraptastic Star came to be.   I just can't get over how much I love the scrappy goodness in this block.

And even though it is a lot of patchwork, it goes together pretty fast as there are only 8 hst's and the rest are just simple square patchwork.  And I had so much fun going through my scrap drawer to find all of those fun purple fabrics.  I used my Aurifil Purple's to make sure I was covering the all the shades of purple I wanted represented in the block :)   I just love purple!!!

So that is my Aurifil March Block, Scraptastic Stars!!!  You can find my  pattern for this block right over here  and then be sure to enter your block a Pat's blog ;)  Every entry of a Scraptastic Stars block is eligible to win a Large Aurifil Thread Kit!!!!!

 Oh, and if you want to read a bit more about me and maybe have a few chuckles along the way, be sure to pop over to the Aurifil Thread blog to read my fun interview.   I had so much fun chatting it up with Pat and getting to share some fun tidbits about all things quilting!!!

And one last thing . . .  I have totally added a Scraptastic Stars quilt to my "To Make Someday" list.   How fun would it be to make up this rainbow goodness while busting some serious scraps while I am at it!!!   (Although, I might change the blocks to 16" so I can use my moda candy, but we shall see ;)  And someone just suggested on Instagram making the original block but using layer cakes to make a giant pixelated Scraptastic Star Block, how cool would that be!!!!

Thanks for popping in today and each day,  I just love getting to share my quilting journey with each of you!!!  

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!