The next two borders: STARS

For each color combination, four 6-inch blocks and eight 4-inch ones are made. The half square triangles are created by using paper patterns, then cut apart and put together into a variety of star designs. These stars will be laid out on point, then, to make the next two borders. It's fascinating to me to see the effects of combining the colors in different combinations.

There are 17 colors altogether in this quilt, and they are ones I chose to replace the colors designated by the quilt designer. This means my teeth chattered when I chose them, from fear that the colors are not going to  work in the whole design. I'm a real beginner here, but I tend to jump into complex things early in learning a craft, just because it's more interesting. I'm too impatient.

One of the challenges is that the printed out half square sewing paper patterns are just about 1/32 off on one direction, so every six inch block had to be sewn with that in mind. Next time watch me use the professionally printed grid sheets instead of my own printed out ones.

Getting Ready for Christmas

I get lazier each year, it seems. This is the 13th of December, and I’ve accomplished almost nothing: a few presents purchased for parties (thus “required”), a few decorations placed, but no serious work done yet. There seems to be an internal shift to doing just what makes me feel good, and less of doing what other people might think I need to do; that’s not my family expectations – we all enjoy the very simplest things. It’s more the perceived expectations of those “out there.” I suppose I’m thinking of the magazine articles and all the beautiful decorations everywhere that made me feel  in the past that I should be doing MORE!!!! Maybe I’m finally learning some balance between what I think I should be doing and those things we deeply enjoy.