Me and my compass

I haven't made progress on my broken star quilt in a while.  I've been stumped about what to do around the outer star, including the corners.  I've looked at a LOT of ideas.  I've seen a LOT of beautiful star quilts.  And, finally, I saw the one.  It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was the right inspiration for me to envision exactly what I wanted. 

This is hot off the machine, just this morning.  Only needs the background, and I'm still not quite sure what I want to do there...but now that I've seen it completed, I'm leaning one way over the other.  You'll just have to stay tuned to see it.

 

This is my new compass.  I finally found one that will accommodate a water soluble ink pen.  With that, it only took a few seconds to draw the circles that I'll need to make that feather wreath. 

 

I think I might be able to knock another one out this morning.  I have today off.  And, no plans but to quilt, meet a friend at a quilt shop and have lunch after, and then some more quilting.  In fact, if it wasn't for this pesky devil of a hurricane, Nate, I'd have the whole day to play.  Instead, I get to monitor that thing all weekend. Ah, the joys of being gainfully employed...

On Monday, I turned in the baby quilt to the baby bundles group.  I walked up and first thing I said was "I don't follow instructions very well".  And, she got a worried look, but like the trooper she is, said "That's okay, we don't do instructions very well."  I handed her the quilt and the leftover pieces and she unfolded it and her smile came back.  And, when she did her officer's presentation to the guild, she showed the quilt I'd brought in and a couple others as inspiration for folks to participate. 

The flanged binding worked well...the second time.  There was no "heft" to the quilt (because of the poly batting), so when I tired to fold the binding to the front, the part of the quilt that should have been inside the binding didn't give me enough resistance to be able to feel it, so some of it got folded over and some didn't and I ended up with a very curvy binding.  So, the second time, I used a seam gauge along the edge and folded over a straighter line.  And, it only slowed me down a little bit.  So, I'll be using that binding technique again. 

Quilting my hand print in the quilt didn't work like I planned, so I tried something different and it worked.  I quilted a hand in each block.  And, I was all proud, thinking that the Mom might think  that someone would always be holding the baby in their hands and wasn't that a nice sentiment.

And, then I thought the Mom might think that some stranger will have their hands all over that baby all the time, and isn't that creepy?

But, I didn't pick the hand prints out.  So what if it's a little creepy.

Everybody have a great Friday.  Enjoy your quilting!!!  Lane