Friendship stars and card tricks

As part of the October challenge over at Modern 8 Create, I had to create a card trick block.  This is the first time I have been really successful with this block.  I actually made two of them, cut apart the second one and created this.

If you want to see more interesting things people are doing with this block, head on over to Modern 8 Create.
I also spent some time working on Hokule'a.  I built a stack of friendship stars out of old shirts, a muumuu, and some bright gold batik. This is where she is now,

I have decided to keep the star in the lower right corner as I build the quilt.  I am actually listening to what the quilt wants on this one.  I have quite a bit of Hawaiian fabric left to use from yardage I bought when I lived there as from clothes we no longer wear.  I have another quilt in progress using some of this fabric.  I will show it later when I get more done.
The last thing I did today was make my September quilt for AAQI.  I am calling it Calm.  Be sure and check out the other mini art quilts for sale over at the AAQI site.

We are having company for the next three days, then I am back with Bella on Tuesday, so I may not be posting much for the next week or so.  I will do what I can.
Joyful quilting, everyone.

Back finished and a fun quiltalong

I finished the back for the wedding quilt.  I think it looks very modern.  As I was sewing on it, and the black was picking up every piece of stray thread around, I thought I was very silly for making a black back for a couple who have two long haired kitties.  It is a good thing it is washable, in the machine.  These are the colors they are decorating with, and I hope they like the quilt.  The wedding is only three weeks away, so I need to go get thread today and start quilting.
I also pulled some fabrics for a quilt for Bella.  A girl can never have too many quilts.  This one will be very simple.  Her Grandma Diane is the spectacular quilter who creates beautiful works of art in a traditional style, and Bella is lucky to have three of them.  I will stick to a plain nine patch to add to the mix.

Bella loves pink and purple and polka dots.  She picked out the fairy fabric.  It will be the center square in each block.
I have also decided to join a Jacob's Ladder quiltalong at Adventures of the Empress of the Universe.  She is using a pattern by Bonnie Hunter that I fell in love with, except for the yellow.  I decided to use older style florals and pulled these beauties from my stash.

I will have to find more for the entire quilt, but these are enough to get me started.  Now, I have to decided on a solid for the ladder part.  I think I will check out some kona colors and see what strikes my fancy.  This will be added to my stack of ongoing long term projects to be squeezed in between quilts to make for others.  I do love to have many projects going at once.  I have read others call this quilter's ADD.  This, added to my quilter's dyslexia, keeps quilting interesting and challenging.
Joyful quilting, everyone.

Studio day

The first thing I did this morning was to make the back for the corduroy pillow.  It is about 17" x 17".  I think I am going to make red piping to go around the edge.  But that is for another day.
After finishing this, I ran across the street to a garage sale.  I have been scouting garage sales lately looking for 100% cotton shirts.  I have noticed that the thrift store prices are going up, and I am still searching for the $1-$2 dollar shirts.  I scored three this morning for a total of seven for the week.  When I got home, I decided to deconstruct some of them.  I am building a nice stash of blue plaids, checks, and stripes, and a nice jar filling with buttons.  I have darks and lights.  I haven't found the perfect pattern yet, but these are going to make a very cool quilt or two.  I have also found some wonderful patterns in other colors that I have been using in scrappy things.  I love to quilt, but can't afford LQS prices all the time, so I am glad to have found this other source.

My last project of the day this sample of the raffle quilt I am proposing to my guild for next year.  At least, that is what I started out to do.  I was following a pattern that had stars in it.  I kept reversing the HSTs, so decided to go with it to see what happened.  Now, instead of stars, I have crosses.  I think the guild group will want to go with the blue and white, but I threw in some tan just to see what it would look like.  These blocks will be more scrappy than the ones I did, but I went with what I had.  I think I like the crosses better than the stars in the pattern.  Sometimes, I do reverse HSTs without realizing I am doing it.  It seems I have a form of quilter's dyslexia.  I don't mind when it turns out this way.
Have a wonderful Labor Day if you are in the US.
Joyful quilting, everyone.