LOTS TO DO

 As usual, I have lots to do. Last week I taught Oh My Stars! to 19 students locally. Some flew in, some drove a long distance, some were locals. It was great "practice" for me as I will be teaching this in Houston to 25 "strangers"--those not yet friends.

At my Retreat in March I taught this to 15, so this wasn't the first class presentation. Each class teaches me something, how to improve the way I present the class instruction. And for this class I wrote a 10 page "Addendum" to the pattern.

The students did great. Let's start at the end, with the "class photo":

It was especially great to have a friend come from Mobile to take the class, fellow quilt teacher Nina Clotfelter. She provided a chance to critique how class went and added helpful insights, even during class. And she made a great star:

All the students work, toward the end of the two-day, 10 hour class:

After class I made a couple "step outs" that will visually help students understand how to select and cut and sew the 5 fabrics needed for a star. I sent this to the class and they all agreed this visual will help understand the instructions: 

The next time I teach this will be in Houston. That class filled in less than 30 minutes when enrollment opened and has a Waitlist. I am teaching it at EMPTY SPOOLS SEMINARS April 29-May 4, 2026. And a Colorado guild has selected it for a class in June 2026. I love teaching this class and hope to get a few more opportunities.

After class Nina came to my home and while in the studio looking at my completed Laurel Ridge quilt top on the design wall, she noticed "something". Oh, NO! Upon careful study we found I had turned one section completely around. And it had to be fixed, since it's still a top:

Then, as if that wasn't enough, during my LIVE broadcast a few days later, someone with a good eye found 3 more blocks turned askew. Yes, they too have to be fixed. This is going to take some time. Even "professionals" make mistakes. Big Sigh...

The next project looms. In September I am teaching on two cruises, back to back. 10 days to New England and Canada followed by 5 days to Bermuda. The quilt for the New England/Canada cruise is On the Lily Pond, my own design, and the quilt is totally finished: 

The other day I received the Kit for this project and have to "check" it. This means counting every piece to be sure they are all there and that all the needed pieces have been provided. This is going to take some time.

I love the fabrics selected and having them pre-cut will make this a breeze to sew. At least I don't have to make this top before we sail, just get Step-outs ready for teaching: 

The Bermuda class project is much smaller, since it's a 5 day cruise. And that top I do have to complete before we sail. The Kit for it came this week so it had to be checked. There was an issue with one of the required shapes so they will be recut. And I am hard at work on the sample:

Only 10 more blocks to go: 

Next up is pack for a teaching trip to the Eastern Shore of Maryland with the Bayside Quilters. One lecture, a half day class and a full day class will keep me busy. Then I am taking a side trip to Philadelphia to see friends and family. That will be fun.

I hope you are busy too! 

Let's quilt.

Barbara

LAUREL RIDGE -- MONTH 7

Laurel Ridge is the 2025 Block of the Month quilt designed by Lynn Wilder exclusively for The Quilt Show.  Star Members have FREE access to the patterns starting January 1, 2025. Made in two colorways, the complete patterns are excellent. You will love making this quilt. Lynn supports the pattern instructions with Videos too. 

Month 7 finds us making more Four Patch in a Star blocks. We first made these in Month 1. Find my post here: MONTH 1 FOUR PATCH IN A STAR

This month we make 24 blocks. If using the Kit Fabrics, follow the pattern instructions for fabric selection. If using your own fabrics, select whatever you like. 

MY CUTTING ADJUSTMENT: I like to cut the E triangles from squares that start at 4.75". CUT 3 STRIPS 4.75", sub-cut into 24 squares, 4.75" each. Draw a pencil line on BOTH DIAGONALS, then cut the 4.75" square into 4 small squares, 2 3/8" each, with the pencil lines already drawn. 24 squares 4.75" = 96 squares 2 3/8". 

I found it helpful to have that slight extra amount. To follow the pattern instructions, cut the squares 4.5", that creates 4 squares 2 1/4" as per the instructions:

I used my Month 1 blocks, saved after I changed all my other star blocks to have a dark green square running diagonally:

First set of blocks I made

Second choice, all blocks have dark green squares on the diagonal

Because these blocks are exactly the same as Month 1, Lynn has not done a video for Month 7--go back and watch the  Month 1 Video--it's very helpful.  The LIVE broadcast for this month will be THURSDAY July 3, noon Central Time. For my USA friends, enjoy the Fourth of July holiday!

Next month we'll move on the a fun, easy block, Cat's Cradle.

Here's what I've been up to--it's DONE!

Let's quilt.

Barbara

MY FAVORITE BLOG POSTS

 While I am away I thought I would share some of my most favorite blog posts that I have written over the last 13 years. There are almost 1100 posts to date, here are my Top 10.

If you have followed for many years, you have read these. If you are new here, I hope these will be interesting. They are the ones that have gotten the most comments or mean the most to me.

MY TOP 10 BLOG POSTS:

1. RED AND WHITE -- THE WRAP UP

By far the post that tells the most about me as a quiltmaker. The story of a very special event and what it meant to me.

2. LESSONS WE CAN LEARN  

Important life lessons from a simple antique quilt. What a story this quilt has to tell.

3. QUILT LABELS -- DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT THEM

I am adamant that all quilts NEED A PERMANENT LABEL. The future will thank you. 

This second post on the subject expounds on the first: 

LABEL YOUR QUILTS

4. FLOATER BORDERS

Certainly one of the most important lessons I learned in quiltmaking is using FLOATER BORDERS to make pieced borders fit together perfectly. Taught by Sue Garman in the Block of the Month quilts she designed for The Quilt Show, I am forever grateful to her in teaching this. It is a skill I use in almost every quilt I make. Sue gave me permission years ago to write this Tutorial

5. MY FIRST LIFETIME QUILT

Subtitled "WOW"! this quilt captivated me for 3 and a half years. It was fun to make.

I wrote more about it here: QUILT # 23

6. MY SPECIAL EXHIBIT AT HOUSTON 2021

Surely the most important event in my journey as a quiltmaker was to have 25 of my quilts in a Special Exhibit at International Quilt Festival in Houston TX. I told my family "this is the equivalent of the Oscar's Lifetime Achievement Award". Entitled MY JOYFUL JOURNEY, it was designed to show the progress of a traditional quiltmaker from humble beginnings to four Best Of Show Quilts

I wrote additional blogs about each of the quilts in the Special Exhibit. Start with # 1 to see them all:

MY JOURNEY QUILT # 1     They ran from December 2020 to March 2021. 

7. A TRIBUTE TO SUE GARMAN

I would not be the quilter I am today without a lot of wonderful quilters who inspired me, taught me, befriended me, and supported me.  Sue was a dear friend, to me and many, and I still miss her:

8. A TRIBUTE TO BONNIE

Another woman who taught me so much by the way she lived her life is Bonnie Spencer. If you knew her, this will make you cry. If you didn't know her, read this to get a small chance to know a wonderful person. 

Maybe the most important lesson she taught me: Take the time to write a letter:

9. A QUILTER'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

None of us will live forever. What happens to our stuff when we're gone? The steps we should take NOW to help our loved ones when that day comes. This one hits home for a lot of us.

10. HOW I LOST 100 POUNDS

Finally, the personal one, having nothing to do with quilting. It took a while for me to choose to write this but I'm glad I did. And ALL SIX POSTS I have written about taking charge of my health are easily found up there on the top bar under HEALTH JOURNEY. If you want next year to be better, it starts with what you do TODAY: 

My health journey continues. Two years later I am still down more than 100 pounds. My doctor is thrilled with my progress and success. I eat smart most days, exercise every day, and look forward to a long and satisfying life going forward. 

Now, there are quilts to make! Let's quilt.

Barbara

LONE STAR BLOCKS WITH NO Y SEAMS

I like Star blocks like Lone Star and Lemoyne Star. Traditionally they are made with Y-Seams. While that is not particularly difficult, it is not fast, it takes time to stop at the right place, backstitch, double check it's all right, etc.

Here is a way to make the Lone Star block without Y-seams. It does require an extra seam in each of the background pieces. Essentially, it is made as a Four Patch:

I found a great video you will find helpful for this process. It is for a much larger star made from 2.5" strips but the process is pretty interesting. It does waste a bit of background fabric but it only requires one size of background squares. I used two different sizes to minimize waste. I just needed to keep the two sizes organized where they needed to go.  

LONE STAR QUILT BLOCK WITH AMANDA CASTOR

 I was very glad I found this great video--I am planning to make a Quilt of Valor from these blocks with the instructions in this video.

Back to our 10" LONE STAR BLOCK. I only used 3 fabrics for the star, the green outer tip, the yellow inside tip (center) and the blue middle round. 

The star fabrics are cut 1.5" wide. Green and yellow each require one half a full strip, about 21". Blue requires a full strip since it is used twice.

The background squares I cut 4.5". There are 8 of those needed.

Be sure to watch the video above. Here are photos of my process:

Press toward the green, and toward the yellow

Be sure to cut at a 45 degree angle, 1.5" segments

Pin and Peek--be sure the center is as good as you want it to be. It is helpful to machine baste the intersection if you have trouble getting it to align with just a pin, an inch of basting stitches is easy to remove and retry if necessary

Maintain the 45 degree angle and trim off the tails

I decided to sew the background triangles on two different ways--the way shown in the video, and the way I did it on my previous 4 blocks. 

The Video method

One half sewn together with the Video triangle method

My original method--I just changed it to use one size triangle

One half sewn together with my method

Two halves

Sewn together

Very carefully trim the complete block to 10.5". Using a large square ruler really helps. 

Here is my Laurel Ridge top. This shows where I used the four 10" star blocks to replace four 5" blocks in each section:

Let me know what you think of this block. It is the way I made the one star block for my small sample of Oh My Stars!:

All of the stars in this large quilt were made the traditional way, with Y-seams:

The "No Y-seams method" is so much easier to me. It's your quilt, you get to decide.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

ALTERNATIVE BLOCKS FOR LAUREL RIDGE

 I was asked about the two alternative blocks I made for my Laurel Ridge quilt, the 2025 BOM quilt designed by Lynn Wilder exclusively for The Quilt Show

Any 5" blocks can be substituted for any 5" blocks in the quilt. I wanted a simple block to help me finish this project. And I wanted a more complex block to add interest.

The EASY BLOCK -- Five Patch Shoo Fly:  Brackman #1847

For a 5" finished block, there are 4 Half Square Triangles (HST) 2" finished, and 4 Rectangles 1" x 2" finished. And a center square 1" finished.  

Make HST as you like. I made two blocks at once by cutting a 6" square of background and the green fabric. Draw a diagonal line in both directions, then sew 1/4" on either side of the drawn lines. Cut apart into 8 sewn triangle pairs. Trim HST to 2.5" and you have 8 HST, 2.5" with seam allowance.

This is the same way we made HST for the Basket Blocks in Month 5: Month 5  These are two different sizes but the process is the same:

Cut 4 rectangles 1.5" x 2.5", and 1 center square 1.5". Sew the block together, in 3 rows, very easy. The block is 5.5" with seam allowances.

There are other ways to make HST. See my TUTORIAL here: Half Square Triangles

The MORE COMPLEX BLOCK -- Mosaic, Brackman #2123:

What I liked about this is the Flying Geese are the same size as those made in Month 1: 1.25" x 2.5" finished. See my blog about that here: Month 1

The HST corners are 1.25" finished. I made 8 of them at once from two 4.5" squares, one background, one dark pink. The process is the same as described above. 

The center square can be made a couple ways. I pieced it. The plaid square is cut 2.25". The background triangles that surround the plaid center are cut from 2 squares cut 2.25":

Sew two opposite triangles to the square, press toward the triangles. Add the remaining two opposite triangles, trim center block to 3" square. 

Now assemble the block in three rows. There are a lot of seam allowances on the back. Here is how I pressed mine. You might prefer to press seams open. I starched it and set two heavy clappers on the block to dry flat:

So there you have the two alternative 5" blocks I made. 

Next week I will show how I made four 10" Lone Star blocks, that take the place of sixteen 5" blocks:

Let's quilt.

Barbara