{Post 1,211} A New Experience I Don't Wish to Repeat

I went to a new-to-me place today...a Goodwill clearance center.  All clothing is $1.29 a pound.  I got 9 shirts for $7.  That's the good news.  More good news is that one of the shirts was for a dress-up occasion my daughter has for youth group Wednesday night.  I was meeting my son for lunch afterwards and felt like I had to wash my hands with bleach up to my arms.  The clothes didn't smell, but it was the aura of the place, you know?

When I got home, I washed and dried my new haul of shirts (like I needed some more).  Then I machine quilted a little more.  I got to about halfway on my Shooting Star quilt.  It is a bit tedious for me, so I'm only doing a little at a time.

I was gone most of the day today, but tomorrow is laundry day, so I'll be downstairs most of the time.  Sounds like a good time to do more machine quilting.

{Post 1,210} Stop Me Now!!

Rachel had a piano recital today.  The recitals are in a nursing home.  I don't know why.  I have never asked.  Anyway...she did swimmingly, as usual.  She did the arrangement herself.  That means that it is a published song, but she added flourishes.  I tried to upload the video here, but it didn't work.  User error, I'm sure.

I started another mini.  It's half finished already.  I am so tired from my 3:30 awakening that I can't machine quilt any more tonight.  I'm exhausted.  

Memory fails me (so what else is new?) about where I saw this template, but it came in the mail a couple days ago.  I wondered if I could cut pieces from 2" squares.  Guess what?  I can.  So I zipped up 3 rows to see how big the finished product would be.  I think I'm just going to add 3-4 more rows and call it finished.  The template is 2" tall.  

In case you can't see the laser printing on it, it's by butterflythreadsquilting.com.  I got mine on Etsy.  Great service!

This little piece measures 5" x 9":

{Post 1,209} Shooting Star Quilting Started

This next paragraph might seem disjointed, but bear with me!

Last night I was finishing up some piecing and was still plugging away at my new leader/ender project (501).  I had so many 2" red squares cut out from long ago that I thought I could spare a few for this first item pictured.  I am making some mini quilts for a quilt wall.  I don't know if it will be in my bedroom or sewing room.  Maybe one in each.  Anyway, I pieced and basted this last night (for future hand quilting).  It is 14-1/2" square.  Mostly Thimbleberries.  A few oddball creams thrown in.  It is a charming quilt, meaning the same red was not used twice.

I went round and round with quilting ideas for the Shooting Star quilt.  I am not as accomplished at custom quilting as I would like.  I wanted to do something outstanding since it will be our guest room quilt, but not spend a lifetime on it, you know?  I have an amazing binding treatment I am going to use.  You will just have to wait for that.

Although I was eager to get this started, I had some self control.  Last night I went to bed determined not to start any quilting until I had cleaned out our kitchen desk area.  Six upper cabinet doors that hid a plethora of junk plus four drawers beneath.  Intimidating, but I wanted to do it before my son (who has been visiting at his aunt's this week) got back (tonight).  That is his school desk and where he uses the computer.  Weeeeeell, I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at...wait for it...3:30 AM!!  I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't.  I hate it when that happens.  But then I stopped hating and got busy.  Not only did I finish the desk/counter, but I also scrubbed the wood around all our countertops.    The messy build-up and grunge happen so gradually, you know?  I didn't realize how nasty it was until I had cleaned a small portion.  

I ironed my quilt back, so pleased with how it turned out.  Then I loaded this monster.  It. is. so big.

Here is a picture from the front (on the 10" wide black border) and one from the underside.

{Post 1,208} Shooting Stars Back Surprisingly Finished

Much to my surprise, the backing for my quilt is finished.  I just sewed like-width pieces together in 100" lengths, then sewed them to each other in rows.  When I tossed it up and over the design wall to see how big it is, voila!  It was a little too wide, but that is the seed for my next back!  Amazing!!  It's not pretty, but it's functional!  The second picture is when it was in strips on the floor.  Very difficult to judge size there!  I only had a few small pieces of what I had already cut left over.  So satisfying.

A bonus is that I have 60/180 five-inch squares cut for a future shirt quilt as well as a basket of 1-1/2" strips (for log cabins) and lots of pieces for my Shirts Abound coming up (and already under production).

Here is the before and after of my shirt stash.  The 5 shirts on the shelf (which I mistakenly thought were 4 in my previous post) are back there.  I haven't completely deboned them.  I took a sleeve off of each for Shirts Abound.

{Post 1,207} Shooting Star Quilt Top Finished

Here is my whole Shooting Stars quilt top, finished!  It is huge...108" x 94".  Should cover the bed quite nicely.

The black border is 10" wide.  I am debating about how to quilt it now.

{Post 1,206} Shirt Scraps Being Tamed!

I have been cutting aforementioned shirt pieces for nearly 2 hours.  Sooooo much progress.  In fairness, the top 4 shirts in the basket were just set aside.  But I have made a lot of headway towards the 180 5" squares needed, the borders for my Shooting Star blocks, and heavens, the pieces for the quilt back!  They abound!!  My scrap/string box also overfloweth.

I ended up cutting 3 widths of strips for the quilt back.  18", 11-1/2", and 6".  The 11-1/2" was selected because it's the width of two 6" strips sewn side-by-side.  

Here's before, after, and in the basket after (a different view):

{Post 1,205} Shooting Star Blocks Added

This AM I sewed the last 5 Shooting Star block centers.  I took a couple pics in progress for a new e-friend who asked for directions.  I double sew the squares so I have a little HST block for my future pinwheel quilt.

The thing to notice in the picture is that the square is 1/4" away from one edge of the rectangle.  This lets the stars "float" a little inside the black so no points are cut off.

Here is the finished star block center:

Here is the quilt with the new blocks laid out beside it, all ready for borders on them:

After lunch I will be doing much pressing and cutting of shirts.  I am going to make a 9-patch on point in the future with shirts as the alternate blocks, and I will need 180 five-inch blocks for that.  I am going to use up non-favorite shirts for the back of the Shooting Star quilt.  I will use the biggest squares possible, plus rectangles.  I am going to make rows of blocks for the back, not necessarily the same size, but the largest I can to utilize the biggest chunks of fabric.  I figure while I'm handling the fabric, I might as well cut for all of these.  Naturally, all else goes into my scrap bin for half hexagons or string quilts/borders.