Quick Update

         I'm dropping by to give a quick update into what I've been working on.                   I did a bit of sewing for the 4th of July this year. I made some small flags and put them on a ribbon to string in my windows. 

I used scraps from my stash to create them. Each one is approx. 4.5" x 6.5" and the blue corner is 2" x 3". I sandwiched them together, then sewed around the raw edges. I also quilted straight lines in the stripes. I also used them in a small white box with my table runner and flags.

For my monthly sewing, I made my 4 blocks for the Stash Buster Challenge. I choose to make the blocks in purple this month which is also the color for the RSC blocks (which I haven't made yet.) 

I have been slowly working on quilting my strawberry quilt. 

It should be done soon if I get some more time to devote to 

quilting. It has been a busy time helping my daughter 

with the kids!

A new month means a calendar journal finish! 

Here is June (my birthday month!) 

Hope to be back soon! How is your summer going?

Remember this?

I have finally finished my quilt from the Celebrate Red, White and Blue Blog Hop! All the stars were paper pieced and sewn together a while ago but I thought it would be nice to do some Big Stitch hand quilting. 

I also added covered buttons to the center of each star.

During the many hours spent with needle in hand, one thought kept coming to my mind...3rd grade flag songs. You may ask what are 3rd grade flag songs? Let me tell you, one of my favorite things about one the schools I work at is 3rd grade flag songs. 

The 3rd grade teachers take time out of their schedule once a week to gather all the 3rd graders together and teach and sing American Patriotic Songs. They learn and sing songs such as The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, You're a Grand Ole Flag, Yankee Doodle, This Land is Your Land, Hall of Montezuma, My Country 'Tis of Thee, the Salutes to the Services and many more. One of the teachers plays the piano and the team teaches the lyrics, tunes and actions to the songs. 

It is pretty amazing how well the kids know the songs and actions after just a few sessions. By the end of the school year, the 3rd graders have a solid knowledge of American Patriotic Songs and the 2nd graders are looking forward to their turn next year. 

What a fantastic way to teach patriotism! If my schedule allows, I try to join in on this fun and educational time. So, I am dedicating this quilt, "Seeing Stars," in honor of 3rd grade flag songs.

Monday starts the Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop. Go here for the entire schedule! Don't miss the fun!

Still at it...

paper piecing that is....I needed a few more Red White and Blue stars so I kept making more. And now I'm officially done with paper piecing stars...at least for a while. Here are my new ones...

All of the blocks above are from one of these Carol Doak's books: 50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars or 40 Bright & Bold Paper Pieced Blocks 

And finally, this 5-pointed star block. It was one that was part of the Celebrate Red White and Blue Blog Hop from Ellen over at Hot Pink Peonies. I had a bit of trouble getting the middle to lay flat...lots of seams coming together at unusual angles...but in the end, after some unstitching and restitching...it came together. I'm pleased with it!

So now there are 16 different paper~pieced stars!

To give them some personal space, I added a 1" sashing around the blocks using one of the blues from a couple of the blocks. Julie from Jaybird Quilts talks about quilts without borders in her book Skip the Borders...Sew...No borders...just sandwich, quilt and bind! Almost finished!

Pictures from Norway will be coming soon...it is taking a while to process the hundreds of photos

Here they are!

Wow! What a world wind of inspiring blocks during the Red White and Blue Blog Hop! I want to thank all those that visited here. Your comments and encouragement meant a lot to me! 

Now, several of you asked for the patterns for the paper pieced stars which I drew. These included the Tennessee Star, Hawaii Star and the Star of Stripes. I finally had a chance to draw up the patterns to share. Thanks for your patience as I emerged back into life...jet lag...argh!

 Before I give the link, I wanted to give a few guide lines to my patterns. 

Each section that will be paper pieced together has a letter...A, B, C. Within those pieces, the sections are numbered 1, 2,3...etc. depending on the number of pieces to that section. When piecing, follow the number order.  

I also marked what color I used for each section. You can use that information and the pictures below  as a reference. Feel free to choose any color that you want. I also noted how to put together the sections to complete one quarter of the star. You need to make 4 for each star...make 4 copies of the pattern. 

Remember that when you paper piece, you are working from the back of the piece. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, I suggest that you look for some tutorials. I am not going to give a tutorial on paper piecing since there are many available online. 

One last bit of information...I am not very technical so I hope this works. I put a 1" square on each pattern so that you can tell if the pattern size is accurate. If you are having any problems, please leave me a comment or email and I will do my best to help. 

So without further adieu...

For Tennessee  Star 

For Hawaii Star

For Star of Stripes

Yesterday I spent the day helping my DD1 with her apartment. After a full morning of running around for needed supplies, we were able to finish one of the projects. 

This is a no sew Faux Roman Shade that she found on Pinterest. It is cleverly constructed and looks great! It doesn't raise or lower easily but this window is in the studio part of her place so it doesn't need to be closed often.

While running around getting supplies, look what I found at Hancock Fabrics. 

Heather Ross' line of fabric ~ Crafty Chloe. There is one more print in the line but the store I was in hadn't received it yet. The prints are too cute...with the Heather Ross unique look. I love them!

I caught up with one of my BOM...First Monday of the Month over at Quilt Story. July's theme is rounded. Here is my block...

...and all of them so far...can you see my mistake? 

My HST block was made with Kona Snow and my Hour Glass block with Kona White. It will drive me crazy so I will be remaking the Hour Glass block.

I have hundreds of photos of our Norway vacation but I will only post a few in the coming days...don't want to bore you with vacation overload...but Norway is so beautiful...I'll share the best! 

Tomorrow is a big event day...I'll be back soon to show and tell!

Celebrate Red White and Blue!

It is my turn to share my blocks for the Celebrate Red White and Blue blog hop hosted by Jane at Jane's Fabrics and Quilts and inspired by Madame Samm!


 There is quite a list of talented quilters on this hop and I have been out of the country for most of it. I have been doing my best to keep up. I love to see all the inspiration! So as soon as I'm finished showing you my blocks, I'm off to do some more hopping. 

If your new to my blog, a warm welcome! I'd love for you to stay a while and look around or come back another time to visit. 
Greetings to my loyal readers! I hope you have been enjoying the hop!

The first block that I made was the State of Tennessee block I found here. My first attempt used templates (ugh!) and after cutting them and the fabric out, I realized that they didn't fit together very well and the instructions were lacking. I still liked the star, so I decided to draw a paper pieced version. Sew Much Easier! 

I bravely wanted to do the State block of Hawaii from the same website. However, I decided to just go ahead and draw another paper piecing version instead of even trying the directions given. 

I am really enjoying paper piecing stars so I began my search. I checked out the blocks that I pinned on pinterest. Next up is the birthday star block found here.

I love how this star intertwines together.

Further searching for paper pieced stars lead me to this ribbon star and tutorial.

Using only fabric from my stash, so far no repeats!

Oh how I find great inspiration on Pinterest! Another star found here. 

And this one too! Found it here!

I love how this one reminds me of pennants!

So I found a similar one here...just a little different.

I think my block actually looks very different from Lee's block even though it is the same. It is amazing how fabric choice and color placement play in the outcome. 

The last block that I have completed is a vintage block that I saw here. This was displayed in Houston and is called Stars of Stripes.

I could not find a tutorial or pattern so I drew up a paper pieced version. 

I love how the stripes twirl around. 

I hoped you liked my parade of stars. My blocks are all 12 1/2" unfinished and all paper pieced. I'm not sure how I will layout my quilt...depends on how many more paper pieced stars I make. I'm having so much fun! 

So stay tuned! But for now, here they all are crowded on my new vintage table. 

 I didn't have time to write tutorials for any of the blocks (that I drew up). If you have questions about any, please leave me a comment and I will try to answer them.

Edit: I had this post completed before I left on vacation but I squeezed in another star block. Lynne from Lily's Quilt posted this paper pieced star and I just needed to make it. It fits so well with the other 'banner' stars.

It was fun to make. I love it!  

 Thanks for stopping by! 

Now won't you join me in hopping over to the others on the hop today? 

July 13th

Cat Patches

quilting by dawn (me)
Bobbie

Plum and June
Kathy H (Jane will host)

Sparrow In Flight

If you missed any of the hop, the complete list can be found here on Jane's blog.

Getting ready...

In less than 2 weeks my family and I will be in Norway! We are visiting family and spending 15 days enjoying this beautiful country.  In preparation for our trip, I have made some covers for our passports. 

The fabric is the perfect travel motifs ~ stamps from different countries, passport stamps, and bicycles. The lining is coordinating batiks from my stash.

The passport fits as a book jacket or you could fit it in one side and tuck other travel documents in the other side ~ boarding pass stubs, luggage claim tags, etc.  

Besides bringing baby quilts for our nephews new babies (here and here), I have been making this Young Artist Portfolio for the big sister. 

This pattern is adapted from this tutorial. Her daddy has studied art so I'm hoping that she likes it.

It has plenty of room for a drawing pad, a smaller sketch pad, stickers, markers and pencils. The ruffle detail on the pocket is so cute. I added the elastic holders for the markers. 

But before we leave, we have birthdays to celebrate here. And it is picnic season, so I made these very cute Al Fresco Bowl Covers. 

small

medium

large

They just drape over the bowls of your favorite picnic foods keeping the bugs out. They are weighted at the corners with some bling and they are reversible!

I found these on pinterest and followed the tutorial over at Sew Mama Sew!.

I had the cute watermelon and strawberry fabrics in my stash. Perfect for a summer picnic! I used fusible batting and quilted a simple grid on each. The eyelets at each corner are 2 part eyelets by Dritz (a little hard to find ~ I needed to order on Amazon) and for the bling, I needed to substitute earring fish hooks because I could not find hooks similar to the ones in the tutorial. I just used my long nosed pliers and reshaped them to work. The bling is removable for laundering. 

I have also been keeping up with the BOM with Quilt Story. Only one block a month released the first Monday of the month. Rather than have a particular block to make each month, there is a block technique. You are to incorporate it in your block. The blocks are supposed to be 12" finished but I have decided to make mine half size so my blocks finish at 6". The first block (March) was the nine patch. I decided to keep it simple and do the traditional block. 

The second (April) block was HST.

The third block (May) was hour glass.

and the fourth block (June) was Flying Geese.

I will need to play some catch up for July as I will be away from my sewing room for a while. 

♦♢♦♦♢♦♦♢♦♦♢♦♦♢♦♦♢♦

I also have been playing with Red White and Blue fabrics in anticipation of the upcoming Blog Hop hosted by Jane. Check out the button on my side bar. I will be posting on July 13th just after I get back! It all starts on July 1st!