New Top

I'm getting very busy at work so quilting time is limited.  But Sunday afternoon is sewing time and I got this top put together:

I'm pretty sure I'll add a dark outer border.  Since I might hand quilt this, I'll decide on the border stencil to use before I cut the borders, so they'll actually fit the quilting design I choose--that's a novel idea!  Most of us add the borders then hunt for quilting designs to fit the space we have.  This time, I'll design the borders to fit the quilting design I select from my closet--I have quite a few stencils. 

Next up is this hand and machine piecing project:

The template is called Antique Rose Star and comes from Material Obsession in Australia.  I learned about it from an English quilting teacher friend, Barb Chainey, when she wrote about it on her blog.  This blog has terrific photos showing how to make this block by hand.  I've done some completely by hand, one completely by machine, and some are "hybrids":  the units of 3 pieces, with a slight Y seam by hand, then joining those units by machine to create the star.  Each way works.

I'll be teaching this to my guild at a summer "Quilt-In" we're having so I hope to get more of these done this winter.  Each block has 72 pieces, and cutting and marking them takes some time.  The hand piecing goes very quickly, believe it or not. 

The quilt show Road to California is held in a beautiful building, with a long atrium inside the convention center.  Each year they feature a California guild and display their work hanging above the crowd.  This year the featured guild is Camarillo Quilt Association and the very first quilt visitors see when they walk into the building is:

Joyful Journey Too--a quilt I made in collaboration with Pamela Joy Spencer Dransfeldt, a super longarm quilter from Camarillo.  Pam was able to attend the show and took this shot as she entered and saw it hanging there.  We are both pleased to see it look so welcoming.  This one belongs to Pam.

Take a look at Judy L's blog to see what others are doing this winter.

I hope the weather isn't terrible where you are--we had a beautiful day here today, upper 50's, with 7 the predicted overnight low for two days from now--crazy!

Let's quilt!

Barbara