I started these 36 red stars on January 1, remember? Whew! I just finished sewing them all together.
For those of you not familiar with sewing star blocks together side by side, this is what makes it so hard. The star points should just meet, not overlap or leave a big space – just meet perfectly.
They’re all perfect, thank goodness, because it took me a long time to get them that way.
Now I get to work with blue and make 9 patch blocks. Before I start that I’m going to straighten up the sewing room and move out all the red scraps. I’ll need reds again for the bars but this time I’ll need longer strips. And then it’s blue stars. I am going to love hanging this quilt up for spring and summer.
Today I changed out the Christmas quilts at Concord and put up winter quilts although it doesn’t look. Ugh like winter here.
I have been glued to the tv today – first the funeral which was so moving and so wonderful and then the fires which are too terrible to think about. Oh, those poor people. And tonight the Orange Bowl.
What’s keeping YOU busy?
P.S. No mail today – did you send your card to Joan?
Gee whiz Mary,
Making all those beautiful and perfect blocks in a few days with all the other chores you have to do along with recovering from surgery. You definitely are wonder woman.
Janet – well, I didn’t make them overnight – it was 9 days! And I sew every evening for hours but I do not normally sew during the day. I will admit when I start something I am driven!
Hello Mary and everyone. We spent the day at Mayo. Jay had his CT scan with no IV issues, thankfully! All of his reports were good! And we go in two years! It was snowing lightly in Rochester making the streets wet.
But, we are home safe and ready for a good night in our own bed!
Fireworks in California are so sad!
Sleep well!
Joy – I’m jealous. No issues?
Your red stars are perfect on so many levels, and the variety of red is impressive. I look forward to seeing more progress on it. We got just a light dusting of snow here in middle Wisconsin, but more it to come this weekend. I suspect we will get to use our new snowblower. We managed to buy and assemble a new bookcase for my quilting space so now I need to unbox my many boxes of books and take an accounting. Our daughter is flying home from Florida (a work trip) and has gotten stuck in Florida due to a lack of crew. With the snow coming to our area of the country, I hope she can get home and not spend it in an airport. My card to Joan is in the mail, love sending the cards, it brings me joy to do so. Thank you, Mary.
Where did you get the red stars pattern?
Sherry – GeoffsMomPatterns.com
801-566-9020
I searched for it and found it at Timeless Traditions, Norma Whaley.
Love the star quilt. Sometimes it’s just relaxing to do multiples of the same block and watch them get better as you go! Ha! I’m itching to start something now that the holidays are done. Just have to decide what!
Love, love, love your red stars. I do believe they are one of my favorite blocks to make. We have snow in NE Indiana but we missed the nasty stuff from a few days ago. I’m very okay with that! I did not get to watch the funeral but I heard many great things about it. I watched the 4th quarter of the Orange Bowl. We get to see most of the ND games here locally but I am not a ND fan. I so desperately wanted Indiana to win at least one game in the play-offs, They had an amazing season! PS I got my masters degree from IU. Go Hoosiers!
My card to Joan is in the mail today.
I love your red stars. I like looking at them, but I don’t enjoy making them. You did a wonderful job on them and red is my favorite color. It will be a wondeful quilt when finished.
We just got a skiff of snow last night. Unusual for the south to get it instead of us. I guess it’s their turn, and I know they aren’t used to it.
I hope all our friends in the LA area are safe……so very devastating. Prayers for them.
Your stars are beautiful. I know no such thing as perfect myself and trying to do that would drive me crazier. I now click on the ads before I read the blog so I won’t forget. Have you ever ordered something from that place? I saw a couple of things I really liked but would like to know if anybody has knowledge of the quality of the items. We have snow here in Georgia today, depending on where we are in the state. In our area it may turn to sleet and ice. Not a good thing. The governor has declared a state of emergency apparently till Tuesday. We are not used to such weather often, so we don’t do well.
Of course, I have been following all the President Carter celebrations of his amazing life. With his being from Georgia there have been many celebrations locally not seen nationally. Many people
have some lovely stories to tell. My daughter-in-law worked for him as a photographer from the Carter Center and traveled with him to Cube and Africa. I have always admired him and wish more leaders could be so awe inspriing. Thank you so much for your blog, a delight of my every day!
Love your red stars! The piecing is great. Makes me want to make star blocks, but I have sooooo many UFO’s that I need to work on.
We are getting snow today. Love to sit inside and watch it snow, but it wasn’t so much fun earlier when we were outside feeding cows. Want to bake some cookies today, and maybe get into the sewing room.
Mary, love your red stars & you are right, those are hard to get them perfect. Beautiful piecing! I watched the Jimmy Carter funeral as well. What an incredible life he lived! I felt the funeral was beautifully done as well. We are expecting more snow on top of the 10-12″ we already have here later this afternoon. Could be 4-5″, & there’s simply nowhere to put it! At the end of the streets it piled 10′ high or more, so of course people complain. All driveways were shoveled by hand by the ground crew! I can’t imagine shoveling all that! We’re talking 200+ homes with double driveways!! I’ve taken on a project of finishing a quilt for a friend at church. It was hand pieced & the last row not completed. It’s been a challenge, but luckily she’s good with anything I can do with it. At least she’s paying me to finish the quilt for her. There’s a story behind this quilt that I’ll share when I post a picture of it completed. One of my favorite authors is Elin Hildebrand. She has a series of books about Nantucket & I believe I’ve read all of them. They’re an easy read. I’ve also read The Women & it brought me to tears. But an excellent book. I download books onto my tablet & read on Libby. I prefer a book as well, but during the winter months downloading is so convenient. I don’t belong to a book club anymore. There didn’t seem to be an interest after Covid. I do miss it, but I do make sure I still read quite a bit. I have one cousin in LA, who has marked himself safe. Will be checking on his parents who live East of there. I just can’t imagine losing everything! So heartbreaking!
Mary your stars are just perfect. I’m working on a table runner. The weather here has been very snowy & the wind blowing & so cold, I haven’t been anywhere since Monday. School was closed yesterday. I agree though, I still have my home, terrible in fires in Ca.
Love, love , love the star quilt progress. I have pulled out your Country Star pattern to tackle this year. Nothing is better than a red, white, blue quilt w/ stars❤️🤍💙
SW Ohio has bone chilling temps and snow covered ground and more expected this afternoon.
We ran errands yesterday, attended 7th grade granddaughters basketball game and took care of our daughters dachshund. He needed fed and snuggle time. He is on muscle relaxers as he has strained his back playing too hard. That is their weakness but he is such a lap dog too. He is much better this morning but on ‘bed rest’ for 2 weeks😊
Started to clean sewing room. Decided to take leftover binding strips and jelly rolls strips into 9 inch blocks sewn on the diagonal. My husband joined in to help. We have done close to 100 blocks and more to do. I am thinking 80 in a quilt will make a good utility throw quilt. A spot will be cleared on a shelf too!!
W/ a snowy, cold weekend coming, I hope to finish this project and get back to actually cleaning.
I recently read Melania. My friend loaned me the book and marked the last 4 chapters and suggested I read them & look at the photo section. Well, I was hooked and read the book. It was a very fast, easy read and gave me an insight into the misinformation by media and incorrect persona. It was time well spent.
I too watched the Carter funeral. Loved the Gerald Ford eulogy and the Carter grandson tribute. So well spoken w/ humor interjected.
Your red stars are perfect! What a great quilt it will be.
I’ve been working on a GE Designs quilt using 30’s fabric, and I was thinking that I probably purchased the fabric thirty years ago. It is still good fabric and will make a graduation quilt, that is if I don’t keep it for myself!
I’ll send a photo.
Mary your stars are awesome & you are such an inspiration!! Your pink log cabin was too darn cute & the table mat at Christmas is on my ‘to do’ list for different seasons. So creative, the scrappiness is adorable 😍!
Keep safe & warm everyone.
Mary,you are the queen of quarter inch seams!! Perfect! I’m impressed how fast you are. Just got snow last night but haven’t ventured out to check how much yet. Have a great day!
Hey, good for you Jamie,I i love it! You’re my sort of person.
Looking forward to seeing the red quilt finished Mary, great pattern.
Recently finished Paula Hawkins’s latest book The Blue Hour. She of the Girl on the Train fame. I loved it, best fiction book all year. No loose ends at the finish.
Leave it for you to read about it on line (not too much) as a bit complicated to tell you about the characters and plot. Enjoy!
Denise – thank you for not giving too many details – I don’t want to know the whole plot.🫤
Your stats are looking mighty fine with their perfectly matched points!! How big do they finish at? Gorgeous!!
Carol – stars are 6”
I watched the entire 3 hr. funeral. What an incredible man! I asked if they could turn it on in the Bistro and they said no, they are not allowed to show funerals ( but they constantly show movies with people being shot up or blown up). I said “really? this is a national day of mourning for the oldest living President in America.”. I then sat down at a table in the Bistro, cranked up the volume on my phone and watched the remaining 2 1/2 hours!
Jamie- way to go!!!! You are a very honorable woman. It’s history and respecting the highest role a human being plays in our country.
I am sewing churn dash blocks for my quilts 1 and 2 of this year. One quilt for me, one to give away. I sure don’t sew as fast as I use to. Mary those points of your stars are perfect. It will be a beautiful quilt. Snow is on the ground here and our winds every day since the new year have exceeded 26 mph. It’s brutal being out in it as the cold makes it worse but thankfully we don’t have any fires.
And see our houses a pile of ashes. So much rebuilding. Our friends in FL are still repairing since the hurricane in fall and the water came inland. She said many homes around them are uninhabitable and because of insurance so high they can’t afford to rebuild. Our friends golf cart sat in 3 feet of water in their shed till they got down there and have already spent $3400 in repairs. It stopped working again now. Their house has been over $20,000 in repairs out of pocket. I’m thankful to have a nice sewing room to be in this afternoon.
Your stars all sewn together are beautiful! It’s going to be a gorgeous quilt! Hug,
I asked the son to come help me put handles on my kitchen and bathroom cupboards. They never had any and I’m not as nimble as I used to be. So we got 30 handles put on. Fresh look after 16 years of none. I asked him to help me, drilling is not in my skill set anymore.
My granddaughter lives in LA, she says she’s fine. She’s a NICU nurse at Cedar Siani. Still worries me though. She just started this week. She’s living in someone’s Mother In Law apartment. After this, she maybe there for a long time. Housing will be at a premium.
Talked to my sister in Oklahoma tonight, they have had 4.5″ of snow this evening. They can keep it!
Have a good day.
Well done on the red stars. Piecing nine inch ohio stars here with variations in the value placement. 23 down, 12 to go. Very scrappy. Considering what to choose for the border with every piece that is cut. Probably a 3/4″ stop border for sure and then what kind of pieces or just one print is the question of the day.
Your stars are beautiful! I’ve been glued to the news, as our son and DIL had to evacuate from Los Angeles. They’re fine but all the fires! I’m just ….. without words. Prayers please for all those affected.
Christine – I’m happy for you that your family escaped.
I really like those red stars and the secondary patterns of diamonds and a four patch square. I’m looking forward to seeing it done. I’ve been working on my preemie quilt. The bears are done and today I sewed together two of the 8 bear paws. You can do a lot in half and hour, it’s quite surprising. So in three days I should have the rest of the bear paws done. My knee is improving daily.
Teresa, I asked my computer to pronounce the city you are from tonight! So glad I did, I made it much harder than the speaker!