I hope not, as I have another one this week….
This 8 inch star is based on a couple of patterns I have found online and in books. This 8 inch version is done for my ongoing green star quilt and you can find the PDF pattern here….Crest Star Pattern.
I am on vacation/holiday at the moment so I am keeping it short and sweet.
I am plowing my way through my “must do before we leave” list… and this week it meant finishing up last month’s Do Good Stitches quilt top. I was Queen Bee and set a simple, but fabulous cross block.
I used the dimension from Wooden Spoon’s flickr photo https://www.flickr.com/photos/wooden_spoon/8584301543/ and choose a navy blue cross on a scrappy low volume background. The finished quilt top is scrap-tastic.
I love how the background has an amazing array of colours just subtly hanging out. Because the cross is so dark it was easy to get great contrast with a variety of different colours and fabrics.
We also managed to sneak in some great novelty prints too…just for fun.
I trimmed all the blocks to 11 1/2 inches unfinished, and possibly got a little carried away in making my samples. I made 12 blocks so easily, so that when they were added to my fellow Hope Circle members blocks we had enough blocks to 5 across and 6 down…instead of the usual 4 across by 5 down.
The top is in need of a some extra starch and a good press but it will all have to wait till next month to be completed! December is going to be crazy, I can tell.
This week I managed to finish up one of the Do Good Stitches quilt tops I have in progress. This quilt started with this wonderful block….
I found the paper piecing pattern at Freshly Pieced and fell in love. I set it as my block for August and then watched with delight as my fellow Hope Circle members sent in their blocks. A little bit of sewing and voila a quilt top was created…
I loved the subtle variations in colour that were added by other members. The deep orange adds such a pop and the soft quiet yellow gives the eye a resting place.
You may also have noticed some fun little sashing on the top. I love this touch, but it was not planned. When I set this block, I forgot that several of our Circle’s member had not done paper piecing before… and I had forgotten to give instructions on downloading the paper piecing pattern.
You see if you print a PDF straight from the website it prints out slightly smaller than standard. You need to download the PDF to your desktop/computer and then print from the download to get accurate sizing. 
Also if you select the print dialogue box “print to fit” when you send the document to print it will also print out slightly smaller than needed. In the end the best thing to do is measure your pattern before you start sewing it, to make sure it is the correct size.
The four blocks that were slightly under size got a special border which added a wonderful pop of colour to the top.
So many times in my creative life I find little mistakes or hiccups make me think more creatively…make me rethink my original vision…force me to think outside the box. The end results have always be so much better than my original plan. This has been true with my painting, my film making and my quilting.
I am also linking up with Finish It up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.
For today’s paper piecing Monday I present the kitty corner block….
And yes that is a kitty in the center of the Kitty Corner… I could not resist. The pattern is another simple square nine patch block, have I mentioned I am obsessed?
To make this block all you need is the 4 1/2 inch simple square pattern (WQ Simple square block) and the Kitty corner component.
I was a little stuck on putting a kitty in the block, so my alternative block layout is not too much different…
But I think there are more exciting possibilities if you are not cat or fussy cut focused. I would love to see a block with no white space – with a pattern fabric as the background. Maybe if I get time….
Last week saw the start of my new obsession… 12 inch classic blocks that use a simple square block. This week I have been playing with another block which I have seen called Joy Bell, Salem and St Gregory’s Cross to name just a few….
This block is another easy one to put together. You will need…
All these components are 4 1/2 inches unfinished and you can find the pattern for the arrow blocks here….arrow block. And of course the wonderful simple square, which will be in all the blocks here..WQ Simple square block.
When you have made the components the block is easy to put together, row by row.
When I was researching I found so many variations on this pattern… the simple layout above was usually called Joy Bell, and I also made a block using the layout referred to as a Salem block…
There are so many possibilities with this block, so to help with the “playing” process I made a colouring sheet (joy bells color sheet), so that you can come up with your own combinations. Download the sheet, grab some colour pencils and go to work…
WOMBAT QUILTS 