Seeing Stars...A Couple of August Finishes

Starlight Star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might. have the wish I wish tonight.
Last night Bruce and I went to see if we could see the Perseid Meteor Shower-unfortunately we were pretty well clouded out - we did see a couple of bright ones but mostly all we viewed was a moon that kept being wrapped in fluffy clouds and a llama who watched us from a nearby fenced in area. The night was warm and the skies not very cooperative but the conversation and time together made it a worth while adventure-

Bruce's Starlight Starbright quilt was made using a pattern called "Autumn Evening" from a book called Creative Scraps- Quilting with Bits and Pieces. The wonky stars set on point seem to float across the night sky- at least that was my intent. It was fun to collect star fabrics though..

Starlight, Starbright is a queen sized quilt that has 32 liberated stars that are set on point. I made this quilt for my husband, Bruce who is a man of the stars- his passion is astronomy and this year is the "International Year of Astronomy". He is headed today to Cyprus Hills,Saskatchewan with a friend to attend the Astronomical Society's Annual general meeting and star party.
Cyprus Hills is a really interesting part of the prairies. In my home province, Alberta, we have an area called Drumheller. It is the land of the Hoo Doos- You drive along and suddenly you will find yourself overlooking a crest of these strange grooved formations. They look like tall chef's hats with strata. The interesting topography is a tourist draw but I read recently where they are beginning to barricade a few parts and limit traffic because of damage and erosion created by the large number of visitors. Cyprus Hills is farther east and south in Saskatchewan but it reminds me of Drumheller. Drumheller was the land of the dinosaurs and there were many great finds of dinosaur bones there. There is a world renowned dinosaur museum there called "The Tyrell Museum".
The second piece
is a small piece for me- about 30 inches square or so. It is a wallhanging made from some leftover blocks of a star quilt that I made for a friend of Bruce's. I love how the center red blocks form a new star. The quilts are both labelled and will be shown as part of a display at the meeting and star party.

So I have two finishes for August so far. On my sewing table, I have completed another 40 some blocks to add to the Wonky tiles quilt. I need to turn it into a king sized quilt for its intended owners.

Do you know how big a king sized quilt actually measures???? My blog friend Pam's reply was BIG and she sure has got that right- ( Do check out her blog she is in the midst of some major renovations that are making her house gorgeous)

When I posed the king sized bed measurement question I received a number of different suggestions for the actual measurement- the largest size is 130 x 130 inches or 120 X ???. I am told it depends on the width of the mattress and how much length you want and whether you want a pillow tuck... There seems to be a number of different variables to consider..
However this girl is determined that it shall be finished so quilt on I must LOL..

This week I received a lovely package from Ryan. I wish you could smell the wonderful fragrance that comes from the sunflower candle- it is a beautiful scent. He enclosed some terrific 30's fat quarters that I am collecting to make a 30's quilt. I still haven't decided on a pattern but the collection is growing.VBS
Thank you Ryan for your generosity- your pretty package with fat quarters, pink buttons, thread and sunflower candle are very much appreciated.

A lovely lady named Toni from the land down under wrote me to say that I won a pattern from a giveaway on her blog. Thank you Toni - perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket :O) I have been very fortunate to win some very nice giveaways. Thank you


Here is what I fondly refer to as the garish quilt- I may have found a solution by using a leaf fabric - I am still debating whether to cut the quilt a part to add sections of the leaf fabric and incorporate it into the body of it. For sure I am going to use the leaf print on the outside of the quilt. Currently, I find the center too strong for most of the fabrics that I auditioned. I have no idea what I thought I was doing when I put these colors together. If the leaves don't work then perhaps I will have to think of it as my fugly quilt -

Everyone needs one of those don't they?

Originally, I had planned to make the optical illusion quilt using red and black. I started by cutting the red fabric only to find that I did not have quite enough of it. I was a little nonplussed because I don't usually run out of a specific fabric. I was not too hopeful of finding it as it is an older fabric but when my friend L. and I went out for a quilt store day, I was successful. So I can now finish another Illusion Quilt and perhaps it will work out...

After I finish the wonky tiles quilt the next projects on my list will be to add the borders of the Winding Ways Quilt and to the mate of the Trip around the world quilt.
Kim has posted some of the other people's projects and giveaways on her blog for the August Challenge. You can find Kim here. Finishing projects is indeed very satisfying...

How are your projects coming along?

Thank you for all your comments about last week's post. It is always nice to hear from other bloggers and to look at new and old blogs. I have tried to comment back on most of your blogs. I do hope that you will come and visit again.

The summer vacation is disappearing and so am I for now..

Happy quilting,

Warmest Regards,
Anna

Wonky Stars and a Stormy Night...

Yesterday, we went off to see my friend L. and her family at her beautiful lake house. It was very pleasant to sit and watch the lake, look at her beautiful flowers and get in a good visit. We had a delicious potluck supper of spareribs with blackberry sauce, potato salad, corn and a spinach salad with feta, almonds, and black berries. There were chocolate chip muffins, apple or strawberry rhubarb pie and fruit for dessert.

The day was hot and sunny but the evening turned stormy and the sky put on its own pyrotechnic show with sheet lightning. It was the most serious storm of the summer and, when we returned to our home in the city, many trees had been damaged and some significant damage was created to buildings and roadways around the city.( We were lucky and had no damage to our property.) The power outage caused enough trouble that our local newspaper, The Edmonton Journal, was not able to print today.

Bonnie's Maverick Stars linked here is very similar to my current quilt project.(f you have not checked out Bonnie's website then I urge you to do so- especially if you are looking for a scrap quilt pattern. She generously offers a number of her patterns at no cost and has excellent instructions with each of those patterns.

The Quilt pattern that I am working from is called" Autumn Evening" from an Old Quilter's World magazine. My quilt is a variation of both of these patterns- I chose to make my stars all from different star fabrics(the original pattern's stars are all orange and yellow done on black background fabric) and my background is a dark blue with a black thread running through it.

Presently, I have stopped to do my weekly post and ponder whether I want to do the border on the star quilt, the way the pattern says, or whether to do something different. My dilemma is that I have run into fabric problems - if I do the border the size that they recommend, then I am going to have to play with the fabric to make sure that there is enough fabric left to make more stars.( I started with 7 and a half yards that I had bought for a backing for a queen sized quilt) There is barely enough fabric to make the required number of stars. My problem is that I like to audition my blocks and take out the ones that don't work. This is an unorthodox way of of quilting, I realize but it generally works for me-

Often my finished quilts come in pairs or even trios because I have cut and created so many extra blocks VBG.(Unfortunately, that really is not an option for me this time, because of the pattern requirements for background fabric.) I had just enough fabric to create the pattern as it was originally laid out- What to do? Making a varied background doesn't work for me this time either... Hmmmmmm

By the way, I have collected a number of orphan blocks that perhaps I will use them some day to create an Orphan quilt - I will have to name it my Little Orphan Anna quilt....LOL



We really enjoyed going to see The Lion King. It was a spectacular visual show - I loved the animals - the giraffes, elephant and the warthog were particularly noteworthy. It was great fun to go to Live theatre and see this show. My son, K. had a huge collection of lions when he was a young boy( over 25 were in his pride) and his favorite lion was one that we called DandyLion. Dandy Lion had a voice that was deep- akin to Louis Armstrong- One of his songs was " The Lion Sleeps Tonight... I thought of those days often listening to the music and seeing the jungle come alive on the stage....

This week I will hopefully get my own computer repaired and have some of my own photos to show you.
Recently, There have been a number of interesting blogs about The Sisters Outdoor show in Oregon last week. Check out Tonya's blog on July 16 th for some good links to photos and stories about this wonderful quilt show. I enjoyed reading the stories and am a big fan of Freddy Moran,Gwen Marston and The Gee Bend Quilters. I am awestruck thinking about 1300 quilts hanging outside being admired by many many people in one weekend.
Jean and her daughter Valori Wells have hosted this show for a number of years. You can check out Valori's blog here. Their store " The Stitching Post" must be a fascinating place.

This week, I will do more work on the star quilt and a little bit of rearranging,and perhaps a quick trip down to visit my parents at the end of the week -
One of last week's accomplishments was that I got my summer things put up around our living spaces so summer has truly arrived in our house - How about yours?

I love seeing all the various fruit and vegetables in the grocery store and spend my cooking time making salads and enjoying barbecues. For those of you in the southern hemisphere, perhaps you are enjoying time around the fireplace and foods that warm you- stews and such.
Where ever you are I hope that you are enjoying life with family and friends.
Warmest regards,
Anna