Piles and Piles of Tiny Stars

What could be more fun than finally getting to play with my 160 three-inch stars? Being on retreat on Mineral Point while I'm doing it. And we have cocktails....

Sunbursts. Conquered.

I've spent the last couple weeks alternately working on and worrying about my Christmas Lone Star quilt. Oh, and procrastinating too. Those corner sunbursts. The paper piecing. The corners. The size.

I don't mind paper-piecing. Well OK, I don't mind a little of it, but doing it on a large scale takes all the fun out of it IMHO. For one thing, it's much harder to do the spatial conceptualizing needed to get a hunk of fabric aimed in the right direction, upside down and backwards, sew it, flip it over, and have it cover the area it needs to cover. There was some ripping and re-doing, and I will admit I pieced a couple areas when I no longer had the heart to rip out and do over. Those pieced areas are tiny and will be unobtrusive when the thing is quilted and done.

Or, to any viewer who has a problem with it, make your own damn Lone Star!

I'm happy to say the corner sunbursts turned out pretty well, and are all sewn on and trimmed. The corners seem reasonably square and will get another looking-at once the quilting is done.

In the back of my mind was the possibility I'd need to add borders to this quilt, to get it to a good size with a generous drop, for my queen-sized bed. I'm even happier to say that this top now measures about 102" square, and Lucy and I are calling that a good size.

In other words, this quit top is DONE.  The backing fabric is swishing away in the washing machine and the whole package will soon be in the hands of long-arm quilter extraordinaire Marge West.

Some Small Concerns

I'd like to see some dialogue about the expected durability of the quilts we're making now, specifically color fastness and fabric integrity. Quilt cottons have now crossed the $10-per-yard line in the United States, but what are we getting for our money? Can we expect our great-great grandchildren to be able to appreciate our quilts and know us through them? I'm scared of what the answers to those questions might be.

I've had two experiences with black fabric in completed quilts disintegrating in very short order, needing to be replaced. I read an article in Quilters Newsletter several years back by a quilter who had a similar nasty experience with black cotton. I'm very careful about the black fabric I purchase now. But really, who knows? All the painstaking work that's being put into patchwork--what will be left of it in another generation or two?

I switched quilts on my bed over the weekend and was thoroughly disheartened to see the color deterioration on a quilt that was made only fifteen years ago.

This quilt has spent some time on beds in my house. The rooms where it was used have windows, but never has there been direct, glaring sunlight on the quilt. It's been folded in a closet for perhaps the last seven years.

The color loss on this quilt is most noticeable on several rust-toned fabrics. The first two were companion prints, and my memory is that they were purchased at a national chain fabric store in the early 90s. I guess it's not surprising that if one fabric faded, the other would too. First, two pieces of the fabric with relatively little fading:

 Now the faded blocks:

This homespun came from a quilt shop in the mid-90s. You can see the color loss across just one piece of fabric. 

Here is a blue cotton originally printed with fine beige filigree florals which used to be MUCH more obvious than they are now.

Currently, I'm working on a blue and white quilt that involves very involved piecing and about 1100 tiny half square triangles. I'm worried about those blues. Am I wasting my time even working on that quilt? Will anything of it be left to see a generation from now?

T for Eight

Some readers may remember the Tiny Star Block Swap/Book Club I've been part of for the last couple years. The Star Block swap is done and we've spent several months discussing what obsessiveness would consume us next. 

I did a lot of whining about those three inch stars, but I didn't know when I had it good. After some contemplation, we've decided to swap T Blocks, inspired by a quilt  in the book Gone to Texas, and what diabolical little blocks they are... And yes, we're making them smaller. Once again, there are eight people taking part,and at each bi-monthly meeting, we need to have two sets of eight blocks ready to swap. And let me tell you, these are not blocks that you throw together in a couple hours on the night before the meeting.

Each block contains eight little Flying Geese units.

We're all using the Quilt in a Day Flying Geese templates, which make for putzy-ness and time-consuming fiddling, but produce perfect little Flying Geese units.

We're also cutting the outer parts of the block oversize, so the blocks can be trued up to a perfect 6.5 inches. This was a really good idea that I can't take credit for.

 So....TA DA...16 T Blocks, all ready to swap next Saturday morning. Done with nearly a week to spare--someone make a note of this, please!

And our book? It's In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson. Really liked the book. Can't wait for the discussion.

Paducah!

One of my bucket list places has always been Paducah, Kentucky, home of the American Quilter's Society, their museum, and their annual show. Other years I've watched with envy as friends with more, or at least better-allocated, vacation time took in the big show in Paducah. This year, at long last, it was me heading down through Illinois for the big show.

I traveled with several friends, one of whom secured us a place to stay on Lake Barkley, about 40 minutes out from Paducah. It was a great kick-your-feet-back kind of place, perfect after a day of trudging through the AQS show's many venues.

And it was helpful that two of my friends had been to the show before and knew what to see, what to take a pass on, and how much time to allot for various things.

Paducah was lovely--roses and magnolias in bloom, and a huge civic red carpet rolled out everywhere we went. The yearly influx of women-of-a-certain-age with spending money has to be huge for their local economy.

At the show itself, the quilts were mind-blowing. The workmanship bar is very high indeed and such levels of artistry definitely grab the viewer. I'm so pleased to see the state of the art in long-arm quilting--I remember how primitive it all was about 15 years ago.

That said, my personal show highlights don't include the all big and showiest ribbon-winners. As I look through my photos, I didn't even photograph most of the top winners; they were just not my kind of quilts. I love piecing, and many of my favorite quilts were heavily and intricately pieced. They weren't trying to make statements, or showcase machine expertise. They just made me very happy to look at them.

One other personal observation--I wish Swarovski crystals had never been invented. Just saying...

And my personal best-of-show award? This joyous confection, below, made by Lahala Phelps of Bonney Lake, Washington. I will probably never be comfortable with applique myself, but I know a happy quilt when I see one.

We spent one day road-tripping, and discovered tiny and sweet Cadiz, Kentucky. We thoroughly explored several antique malls and I'm still dreaming about a particular mellow and wonderful mid-1800s walnut cupboard in one Cadiz antique shop. No room for that in the car...sigh.  But the highlight of that day was finding Reva's Place, a restaurant with a stellar lunch buffet of friend catfish and chicken, hushpuppies, stewed apples, green beans with country ham, fried okra, and chess pie, lemon cake, and carrot cake.

Weight Watchers flew out the window there, but WHERE in Wisconsin would we ever find a spread like that?  So glad my buddies and I have a firm rule of "no chain restaurants".

Back home now, and raring to go....