Monday, February 27, 2017

Texas Braid and Ohio Stars

Recently I taught a Texas Braid quilt class, based on the Texas Braid quilt in Bonnie Hunter's book Adventures in Leaders and Enders.  My sample is King-size:



One of the students was in this class the last time I taught it, five years ago.  She put it aside.  When she saw the class was back on the schedule she knew this was the nudge she needed to get it done:

Joyce hard at her task

Success!  The first two braids are sewn together!
She was so happy to get to this point and is now determined to keep going.  She told the other students, several times, "Don't put it away, keep working on it."

Linda came to class very organized:


She had a plan--this quilt is for her daughter and is going in a very specific bedroom so more retail therapy was required:


Ruth was also organized, almost too organized, as she agonized over every fabric, is it dark or is it light or is it both:


 Once I showed her that it is "contrast" that does all the work, while "color" gets all the credit, she was able to relax and start sewing:


Holly is not afraid of color.  She jumped right in and starting piecing those braids, doing two at a time for speedy piecing:


It was a good day and I think everyone achieved what they hoped to in the class.  I had fun too.

Now I'm working on Random Ohio Stars, a gift for an old friend.  Today it was small 6" stars:


I even made 2 itty-bitty 3" stars.  And my Lifetime quilt leader/ender project saw some action as well--it practically makes itself.

Then I started putting blocks on the wall, hadn't planned to do that today but it's like Doritos:  you can't stop at just one.  Once you start you have to keep going until all the blocks you have are up there.  Layout 1:

Layout 2:


Layout 3:


There are seven more 6" blocks to make, that's tomorrow's task.  Then I'll play some more with the layout until I'm satisfied.  It gets a border print border as well, so I think I need to put that up there too before the decision is made.  Seeing the quilt in a photo helps SO much to see things you miss with the eye.  I'm leaning toward Layout 2 but see a few 6" solid blocks I want to move...

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

8 comments:

  1. Texas braid looks like a successful class!! Love the different sized star blocks in one quilt.

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  2. I love your, the colors are beautiful!

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  3. Love the Texas Braid quilt!! Are bias edges not a problem when you try to sew the braids together? I have only made it in mini size and thought it would be hard if it were larger. How do you deal with that?
    The random stars look great. Layout 2 is my preference as well. Seems nicely scattered, with more of the dark, "heavy to the eye" blocks toward the bottom.

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    1. Two options, cut first or sew first. I cut first, right before I'm ready to sew two strips together. Pin every other intersection, handle with care, yes, all those edges are bias. Sew slowly, carefully. If I sew first, I have to draw a pencil line to create sewing line to be sure the seam stays straight. As my strips were 100" long it was much faster to cut first, then sew. Just my method...

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  4. Gosh, your Ohio Stars are flying together! I like layout 2 the best also as it seems to sparkle more than the other two layouts. I've only made a Texas braid as a border once and found it fun. Your project is stunning!

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  5. What is your lifetime Leader/Ender Project? Have you shown us that? - Susan Tennison

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    1. Susan, I've shown it several times. Here is the post about it. http://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/2016/07/lifetime-leaderender.html
      HST that finish T 1.25"

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    2. Put Lifetime in the search box, upper left, and all posts tagged with Lifetime will come up.

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