I will be away from sewing and the computer for the next week or so as we move to our new home. Today was spent packing up our belongings used over the last month while living at my in-laws. There will be a lot to update you on when I return and am plugged in again (we have been having the DSL vs. Cable Internet discussion). Before I packed my computer I wanted to post about starting Spinning Stars - yes I have been working on it!
I ordered two 1/2 yard bundles of the Loulouthi line in the Eleni and Isabella colorways from
The Intrepid Thread. I was so thrilled when the package arrived that I did a few mental jumping jacks and eagerly ripped open the box. In other words, I failed to do a proper show & tell of the beautiful packaging job executed by
The Intrepid Thread! Forgive me, instead I will describe the elegant white tissue paper wrapped around my bundles with purple ribbon and the thoughtful touch of the matching purple business card attached. Oh, and I cannot fail to mention the fabric samples that were also included in the box! Miss E immediately jumped on them and was simply enchanted with the
Alphabet Soup sample we received. Thank you Intrepid Thread - I hope both my girls will come to love fabric as much as I do!
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| Loulouthi |
Every once in awhile you come across fabric that is so...well the only word I can use with all honesty is delicious. Yes, delicious. I felt this way about Amy Butler's Midwest Modern, Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks and I feel this way about Anna Maria Horner's Loulouthi. I enjoy it so much that it hurts. I just want to immerse myself in this fabric! Whew - okay had to get that fabric lust out.
I laid out the two colorways and switched a few things around to better suit my Free Spirit Designer Pink and Orange solids. The first photo below shows the original colorways with the solids...and the second photo depicts my slight changes.
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| Original Colorways |
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| My Colorway: switched two of the fabrics with each other. |
Then I finally started cutting. I decided to start on one quilt at a time as it is likely that I'll be able to learn something from the first to ease my creation of the second. I hope! So I chose to do Pink first. I printed out the
pattern instructions and template and got started.
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| Transferring Templates onto Cardstock or Cardboard is extremely helpful |
For the center star pieces I decided to cut them alongside each other essentially emulating the star pattern. (see photo below) Because I had my fabric folded over I was able to limit my cuts to 4 cuts per 1/2 yard and I have plenty left over to do use for else. As this is for a the new design for the Squishes' Room I plan on using the extra fabric for details such as pillows, curtains and other accessories. Because I am using solid fabrics to surround the spinning stars I didn't need 1/2 yard of each patterned fabric and probably would have been safe with a Fat Quarter for these center pieces.
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| Piece A for Centers of Spinning Stars |
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| Cut pieces in the star pattern. Fabric is folded over. |
Then I had to do some math to figure out the other piecing. I realized that the original instructions ask for 72 pieces (36 right side, 36 wrong side) of Piece C...which is perfectly doable...when you cut Piece C from every 1/2 yard of 10 different fabrics. In my design I am only using two fabrics for Piece C (the Hugs & Kisses fabrics). And...I only had 1/2 yard of each of those two fabrics. Agh...this basically meant I had to be creative with my cutting! I barely have scraps left of the fabrics I chose for Piece C. So if you are doing this method buy a yard for the Piece C fabrics so that you aren't taking as much of a risk!
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| My math on side of instructions. |
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| Cutting Piece C. Figuring out how to cut 36 Pieces from 1/2 Yard. |
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| This is all I had left to show of this fabric! |
Of course after the Piece C fiasco...which by the way was the worst shape to cut...I realized I wasn't going to have enough Solid Pink for Piece B. Luckily I ordered more Free Spirit Designer Pink Solid from
Pink Chalk Fabrics. It just arrived here yesterday - just in time for me to pack it up! I'm off to move to far far away. Until I am back at the computer take care...
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