May Blocks

I completed my May blocks fairly early this month, there's still more than a week left in the month! :) Hard to believe I've been keeping up with this, I didn't really get too far on last years BOM! It's been great working along with everyone else, helps to give me that little push to get my blocks done on time!

Hi, at last I made my first block :-D

It was not without problems, I guess my rotary cutter get a cold to!!Just look at this.













Isn´t it lovely.........

April & May Blocks

I was able to spend a lot of time at my sewing machine this weekend.  It was a very nice way to spend some time.  Here are some pictures of what I was able to get to.  Both April and May blocks!  Wohoo!!  It feels so good to be back on track, and May isn't even done yet.  I have the half square triangles done too, just no picture of them.

Here is what all of my blocks look like together so far.  I LOVE this quilt.  I did come to the conclusion that it is a really good thing that we are doing the half square triangles each month.  There is no way I would want to tackle more than one month at a time. 

See you all next month,

Kristin 

Nedra's May Blocks

We are now up to 30 of us from all over the world making Star Crazy together, with new people joining us all the time.

How are you doing? I can see that some of us have had a chance to work on our May blocks.

I have had a lot of inquiries asking if it's too late to join Star Crazy Log. My answer is:
"Anyone can join us anytime! The only requirement is that you are a member of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. This is necessary so you can download the patterns each month.
To learn more about joining The Quilt Show go to:
http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/join.php

If you have any questions about joining Star Crazy Log, please e-mail me at nedras@mstar.net

I just finished the May blocks.

For some reason, as I got ready to sew the 8" Feathered Star block, I could only find 7 of the yellow and white half square triangles.
I had just made 8, ironed them into a stack, and then poof! One of the pieces was gone.
Oh bother!
Have you ever had that happen?

I'm still not sure how the piece could have disappeared because the blocks are paper pieced into a set of 8.
Like a crazy woman I hunted throughout my sewing room high and low.
Did the piece end up on the bottom of my shoe? Did I sit on it, and was it clinging behind?
Someday I am sure I will locate it in some unusual space, and the mystery will be solved.
Meanwhile, I made a new half square triangle and completed the Feathered Star block.

Five months worth of blocks now sit happily together on my design wall.

Nedra

May BOM

I got done with my May BOM for the Star Crazy yesterday. After I was finished with it I took photos and then this morning I was resizing the photos for the blog when I noticed my mistake on the Irish Chain block. I have the lower left corner reversed so will need to pick that out and restitch that section. Isn’t it weird how you can sew – press, step back and place it on the wall,take a photo and never notice a thing wrong until you are resizing a photo and look at it again!

214 Half Square triangles - I think they are 2 1/2 inches if I remember right. I'm not sure how many of these are needed but we have been making between 24 and 48 of them every month. They are stacked in the box in the color groupings that I used.

This months 3 larger blocks - including the Irish Chain mistake. Some of these I wasn't sure if I would like using lighter colors in the stars but decided a few here and there will be fine. If I find I really don't like the light colors when it comes time to do placement and sewing together I can change them then. But because this is a scrap quilt it might turn out to look just fine.

Sue's May Blocks

I think this is my favorite set of blocks so far. I just love these stars with a little 4-inch block in the center. I'm also very happy to be all caught up!

TQS Forum post

There's a new post on the forum that was added yesterday having to do with Sue Garman's husband, Jack. It's the first post I have seen on that subject in awhile.

For those of you who have not been watching all this, Jack is going thru some just terrible medical problems. I really don't know how they are coping.

Sue's April Blocks

Here are my April blocks, and the triangles are done too. I love the star in a star block--my favorite so far. All the pieces are cut out for the May blocks, and I'll start knocking those out on Thursday. Almost there!

Welcome Elisabeth From Sweden

We have a new member who has joined us.
Welcome to Elisabeth Ostlund from Sweden!
We have been communicating back and forth for the last few weeks, and I am so impressed with Elisabeth's efforts.
She is a new quilter, and wants very much to make Star Crazy.
She had questions about how to gather fabric and color plan.
She has never had a blog, and has contacted a friend who is teaching her how to do a post.
She is writing in a language that is not her own.
That is a lot to learn all at one time!
Thank you Elisabeth for all the time and effort you are putting forth. We hope being part of Star Crazy Log will just be the beginning of a new world where you will not only learn how to quilt and blog, but you will also make friends all over the world.
Let's all do our best to make Elisabeth feel welcome.

I asked Elisabeth to share a little bit about herself. She wrote:
I live in Sweden with my husband and children. Three of four children
living at home. We run agriculture and forestry and have a few cows. When
I have time on my own, I would sit at the sewing machine and sew. I love
sewing, quilting and see that I create an object.
A good friend help me make the blog. Thanks to her! I have started to pick
fabrics that I want to operate in this project. I will do my best to post
it on the blog :-)

Nedra

Blocks for May

I really like these two star blocks; I'm still not any fonder of the Irish Chains......*S*

"Granny Went Star Crazy" in May

Here are my May "Granny Went Star Crazy" blocks.

This photo shows all of my blocks to date.

I am REALLY enjoying this project.  I do have to confess that I have not made the border HSTs yet because I've been indecisive about using the gold or the cream to set them in.  I'm leaning toward the creamy colored backgrounds at this point.  Also, I'm trying very hard to get my "Dorinda" quilt top finished FIRST.  You'll have to look at my Daughter's of Dorinda blog to understand what I'm talking about.  I started it over a year and a half ago.  I dyed all of the fabrics except the backgrounds, and most of it is needle turn applique.

Sue's March Blocks

I'm behind with my blocks, but I'm not worried about catching up. I got two big quilts done over the last couple months that had deadlines, so now I have plenty of time to work on these blocks.

I just finished the March blocks this evening, plus the requisite half square triangle units. There sure are a lot of those, aren't there? I use them as leaders and enders while I'm sewing the blocks, and that makes them go much faster.

I have lots of cutting to do over the weekend for some new quilts, but I hope to get some more Star Crazy blocks done on Monday. Ann had a great idea to cut up extra background squares and rectangles for upcoming blocks. I've done this too, and it's a real timesaver; so I'll cut up some more of those too.

One more thing. I sliced my finger open with the rotary cutter about a week and a half ago, and it's still bandaged. Probably not bad enough for stitches, but bad enough just the same. Please be careful with your rotary cutters!

May blocks

My daughter has been working day shift this week, so my evenings have been free to sew.

Here are my stars and Irish chains to date.

And the May blocks.
The feather star has tiny pieces. So glad I am doing the 1/2 square triangles using Sue's paper pattern. They would be much more difficult without. And yes, I too found that the background was missing the directions for 2 of the pieces. Be sure seams are exact, or the feathers won't end up matching the square in the middle.
Also a hint I learned a few years ago, that is working well with the background material. Since we already know we will be working with 1 1/2 inch, 2 1/2 inch, and 6 inch squares every month, I have cut a bunch of my material in strips of these 3. We also have a lot of 5 1/2 squares, so I have 1 strip of that also. I have them marked and in 1 qt storage bags, ready to cut to what I need for the next few months. And the fabric stays straight. Very little waste. Hope this helps someone else.
I have not done this with the colors, as I am using up my stash of fat quarters and am not sure what I will need from month to month of them. I don't seem to be wasting much, though, so I will continue to cut as needed.

pattern mix up

I started to make my stars today for May and found that in the pattern cutting instructions two pieces were left out. She does not list using the background fabric to cut a piece that is 3" x 4 1/2" for the Shoo Fly Star inside Star. Also not listed to cut from the background fabric is a piece 4 1/2" x 6" for the inside of the Feathered Star hst's . Check your measurements to make sure as I am writing this after I already made them and forgot to write down for sure when I figured out they were missing. Both of these missing pieces go with the paper piecing pieces.

Hope this helps anyone that is searching their pieces wondering where they went to! Now if they are listed somewhere tell me where as I didn't see them.

I have the two stars done and now I am off in the morning for a visit with mom and family will be back on Monday to get started on the hst's and the irish chain block. :)
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/