Paper Piecing Monday…the jet lagged edition

After three weeks of sunshine, family and fun I am back to the cold wet reality of Portland… with jet-lag and suitecase full of Aussie sweets!  It is the said “jet lag” that I am blaming for the lateness of Paper Piecing Monday…

For those of you who have not experienced the joy that is jet-lag, and in particular East Coast Australia to West Coast America jet lag it boils down to this…I want to be asleep when it is daytime and I am WIDE AWAKE at 2 am.  Augh!

Enough whingeing and complaining and onto fun stuff…. this weeks block…

simple star finished block

In my jet-lagged haze I named this one Simple Star, do not ask me why!  The block is a 32 piece baby, and not really simple, but quite effective.

Block piecesYou can find the free paper piecing pattern for this 8 inch block here…simple star.  Have fun with it.

Now that I am back home I promise that my posting will involve more than just green stars (not that there is anything wrong with green stars).  A couple of months ago my laptop died and I have had to post from my husbands desktop…and for some strange reason I find writing posts in the office, surrounded by masses of Lord of the Rings Lego and Dungeons & Dragons books off-putting and un-inspiring.

But I promise to work through my discomfort and catch you up on some of the exciting things that have happened in my quilting universe in the last couple of months.

Are you bored with 8 inch green stars yet?

I hope not, as I have another one this week….

Crest star

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.

Green with envy yet?

If not, give this block a look…

Triforce star

This block is called the Triforce star block…and if any of you know Zelda you will know where it got its name from.   A little geeky I know but I love it.

Triforce star pieces

The block has a few more pieces than the last couple but only a few… 28 in total.  The free pattern can be downloaded here…Triforce Star.

As promised I also took a photo of the stars I have made so far….

Green stars wip

More green…

Surprise… I am back again with another installment of Paper Piecing Monday…. and today’s block is another nice one (though I may be a little biased!).

fan star

 

When I designed the pattern it reminded my of the fan block, which is why the block is called Fan Star… though when I sewed all the pieces together I must admit a better name would have been Pinwheel star.  Naming the blocks is the hard part for me.

Fan star piecesAny way you can find the PDF paper piecing pattern for this 8 inch block here….Fan star. Now I did promise a wip photo but this week kicked my butt and I have not done it yet… next week, I promise.

Another Good finish…

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.

scrappy low volume quilt 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.

Do Good Stitches Cross quilt

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.

cross block detail 3

We also managed to sneak in some great novelty prints too…just for fun.

cross block detail 2

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.

cross quilt detail

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.