Starry Bright Sky - Block 1

The deadline is today. I feel like the baseball player who just slides onto first base, just before the first base-person catches the ball! I'm not sure where that came from except that I was hustling it when doing my zigzag stitch!

Block 1 - Appliqué of Starry Bright Sky QAL

Block 1 - Starry Bright Sky

I realised yesterday that I still hadn't started my first block. I really considered not playing along this year, but Alida does such a great job, and I really liked and learned from last year's quilt along, so it wasn't a very difficult decision to make.

I hadn't even thought about fabric. Thank goodness it didn't take long to take out all of my dark blue Kona solids and my printed yellow fabrics. They are now in a project bag, waiting for the next block. 😊

Alida's instructions mentioned using fusible web interfacing. I'm not sure if it's the same thing but I used some Heat & Bond adhesive. I'm not sure if there is a difference, but it worked fine. I tend to skip those part of the instructions but decided to use the adhesive since I didn't want the star to move around while doing all that zigzag.

I have now completed my To-Do Tuesday goal! Now for my OMG (One Month Goal)...

"Not playing the supporting role!" Quilt

I have now finished free motion quilting (FMQ) in-the-ditch most of the seams in the quilt - as many as I'm going to anyway.

I'm looking forward to playing some more. I want to stitch each block, but not too densely since this is my cuddle quilt - perfect with a good book (or my Kobo).

All the seams have been stitched - now the fun begins!

Landscape Quilt

This is the funky landscape Jo liked

One of my daughter's friend graduated from nursing school last year and is now a Registered Nurse, living in her first apartment. She's a real sweetheart and always has nice things to say about my quilts. So my daughter showed her a few of my quilts and she decided on a funky landscape quilt. It's going to be fairly wide but I'll keep it simple and play with the embellishments.

It's always easier for me to have a picture to use when creating these, even if I don't always follow them, so here are the pictures that I chose. My plan is to use the first picture below as the background and to add the driftwood logs (without me) in the foreground.

The Rockies

Driftwood logs for the foreground

My husband and I took these pictures in British Columbia a few years ago. I've always wanted to make them into a quilt, so here's my chance.

My goal for To-Do Tuesday this week is to start on this quilt by auditioning fabrics. If it's going to be a funky landscape, I'm thinking that some colourful batiks could be cool.

What I learned

• Since I don't use adhesive web very often, I forgot that you have to place the pattern on the wrong side of the fabric. I figured that out when I came to iron the applique piece to the background. Oops! Of course by then I had cut out and fused all of the pieces....so I had to start over. It did go faster the second time around. 😊
• I'm happy to report that I played with the zigzag setting and adjusted the width of the zigzag as I came to the points in the pattern. I only did that for the orange flame pieces, but I'm glad that I remembered. It really did a much better job.
• I went back to work on Thursday and was very zen. I wish I could say the same for Friday. It felt as if I had never left :-(  I did like the idea of being in for only two days for my first days back. It was great to have a weekend after that Friday! I'm sure that I will get into the swing of things soon.

Related Links

• Starry Bright Night Quilt Along 2018 with Alida
• "Not playing the supporting role!" Quilt - January 21, 2018 and July 20, 2015
• Whimsical Landscape - Oregon Mountains, October 17, 2017

Linking Parties

I am linking this post to the Starry Bright Night Quilt Along Link-up, as well as the next To-Do Tuesday link-up. Check out what is going on out there in quilt-land: Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? MOP Monday, Free Motion Mavericks, Finished or Not Friday, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday,

Great news - my "Not playing the supporting role!" Quilt was features on Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks Muv 😊