LUCKY STARS -- NEW HANDWORK PROJECT

 Recently I decided I needed a new Hand Piecing project to take with me on my travels. My friend, Jackie Kunkel, has been showing her tantalizing LUCKY STARS blocks on Social Media and she SUCKED ME RIGHT IN.

A few of Jackie's photos:

Who wouldn't be tempted with all these fantastic fabric selections of such amazing COLORS?! 

But I don't have a lot of orange, or lime green, or aqua, etc. A group swap would be the perfect way to get some. Fortunately, my Sunday Sew and Sews were all excited to join in this project. 

Twelve of us are swapping 3.5" squares of a LIGHT and a DARK shade of specific fabrics each month.

Cyndi took on the task of ordering the 12 sets of patterns. She also made us each a set of cardstock templates for the 3 shapes needed so each person could get started right away. That was an unexpected surprise! Thank you, Cyndi:

The pattern is excellent and a reasonable price for all the information included. There is an additional password-protected file online with even more instructions, including the best way to baste each shape and files for printing your own paper templates. There are video instructions there as well.

See the designer's website: Kustom Kwilter.  There are several options for ordering.  Just the pattern--printed or PDF, the pattern and 3 acrylic templates for easy cutting of the shapes, or a complete set with the pattern, templates and ALL the pre-cut papers for the 60" x 72" quilt. There are additional intriguing designs available as well:

We met recently and did our first swap: ORANGE:

I made a name page for each of us and as people arrived they put their LIGHT and DARK orange squares on each person's page. I didn't get a photo of the beautiful stacks but here is what I received:

We are using lights and darks for the 15 wedges that make the circle around the star and background shapes. We will discuss color and contrast--"COLOR gets all the credit but CONTRAST does all the work."

As a demo for our first meeting I was working on an ORANGE block:

Next month is GREEN so I cut that one out too:

Cyndi had also done some pre-meeting work so we could discuss alternatives to the pattern instructions. Here you can see what we had ready for the group to enjoy, Cyndi's orange and aqua stars and my two in progress:

We are looking forward to seeing what each person does. There are NO RULES, and NO DEADLINES, each person can do as she pleases. I love picking the fabric and using glue to baste shapes to the papers. The sewing is not as exciting to me. But I love how they turn out. 

This is going to be FUN!

Find a project you like, see if a few of your friends want to join in, and get a group together. These small squares of fabric would easily lend themselves to a "distance group", where those not nearby could mail the fabrics in a regular envelope. 

We are a group of 12. Cutting 3.5" squares from a Fat Quarter is easy--cut two strips 3.5" x 21", lay them on top of each other and cut into 3.5" squares--exactly 12 are cut from those two strips. And you still have a 11" x 21" piece of fabric left for your collection. So buy ONE LIGHT and ONE DARK fat quarter of a color and get 11 more different fabrics for your rings. Easy and fun!

Let's quilt.

Barbara