A bit more progress on the Veteran quilt. All of the stars are made. There are four types, eighteen stars altogether. Next, each gets a background to complete the blocks. Those are deep reds and blues. I pre-washed the fabric, so they wont leach dye onto the lighter color. Meanwhile, when I get tired of working on this one, I take breaks by working on batik stars. They were going to be practice, maybe a wall hanging. Then they grew on me, so I'm making them into another quilt. There will be 36 stars, not so much background. That will be my fill of making "Ohio stars" for a while. Not hard to make. I like trying different themes.
@Daniel W Beautiful design and I guess I would feel way over Ohio Stars too if I had made a quilt loaded with them.
Daniel, both of those look really nice! I think that deep red is the same fabric I used for the border of the granddaughter quilt that likes red. I have the border of one and another full quilt top and all 5 quilt tops are done. Then I can go in once a week to quilt them and Christmas is done for all the grands.
@willow, did you have any bleeding with the red? I wondered about that, so I prewashed it a couple of times. I did the deep blue, too but that was in cooler water and by hand. That's great your Christmas gifts are nearly done!
I worked on the Veterans' quilt top today. I was procrastinating because I didn't know how the next stop would work. Four triangles get sewn to each star block. I didn't know how to center them. I decided to fold the block and triangles, and use the creases to center them. Then sew the seams, iron open, and repeat with the other sides. Worked pretty well. I finished six of the eighteen so far.
As if I didn't have enough projects. I'm drawing up plans for a temperature quilt to make next year. There are many variations. https://www.modafabrics.com/inspiration-resources/tempquiltintro https://www.quiltingdaily.com/how-to-make-a-temperature-quilt/ These grow through the year, one block each day. At the start, each temperature range is given a color. Example(from url) I liked this pattern too. https://quilting.craftgossip.com/8-point-star-temperature-quilt-free-pattern/2024/05/18/ But I was thinking to make it with circle blocks, like this pillow sham I made a couple of years ago. Each quarter circle would summarize one day's temperature range. I calculated, if I make 20 across and 20 down, that would be 400. More than a year, but there's no law that says it has to be exactly a year. Since each circle is 4 days, it needs to be a multiple of 4. Next I need to figure out the colors. For each day, the inner quarter circle will be the high, and the outer section will be the low. For colors, it might be something like 10-20 is blue, 20-30 is green, 30-40 is yellow, 40-50 is red, etc. or celsius might be better? One block each day. I think I can do that.
I also press shed it. I was worried about that as well. There's a lot of white on both the quilts. One granddaughter likes red and the other pink. See it's the red but there's a lot of white. And this is the pink one. And this is the one that needs a border around the green with gold stars. It'll be blue because he's Seahawks all the way.
Here is the veteran quilt top (Quilt of Valor program) so far. It was only today that I realized, yes it just might come together! Some of the fabrics only had a few square inches left over. I wondered if there would be enough. I contacted the coordinator at the local Quilts of Valor group, and she will help out with the backing and batting. That's a big help.
Thank you! I messed up the outer edge blocks, didn't leave a quarter inch seam allowance. So I took them back apart and ordered replacement fabric to do it over. The fabric came two days ago. I starched and ironed it. Next to cut the triangles, the right size. Meanwhile, I made more blocks for my summer quilt. Might not be completed before summer ends! Three more blocks to make, then I move on to the next part. If there is enough fabric, I will make a special border. If not enough, I'll use what's left for binding. There will also be narrow white sashing to separate the blocks a little. The veterans quilt needs to be completed first.
I'm still working on the last quilt top for the grandkids. I'm squaring up the blocks then I'll sew them together. I haven't made it to the senior center. My granddaughter decided to take summer school and by the time she's out there isn't time. The lady is there once a week until about 2. My granddaughter is out of class at 12 and this center is about half an hour away. So it would be 1 by the time I take my granddaughter home then leave. I'm hoping I can get them all quilted in August and September. Yours is coming along really nice, though!
I hope you'll post your completed quilts, Willow! Those Ohio Stars are pretty easy. In a way they are just nine-patches with 4 of the patches being made from two half square triangles. I starch and press the fabric ahead of time to get good points and alignment. I use corn starch for that. When these are done, I'll start another Veteran quilt for the Quilts of Valor program. I have another star quilt on-going for when I'm tired of the others. I want to finish that, this year. Sewing was really helpful when I was sick and not able to do heavy labor type work. It keeps my mind busy and lets me be creative.
I completed the quilt top for the Veteran's quilt. Sort of. I think it needs a border, so i will work on that tomorrow. Those on-point squares were quite a challenge. I triple-pinned the corners to get them to match up. I made the last blocks for the summer quilt I I posted previously. I think it needs a nice border, so I started that. I tried to calculate how much fabric it would need. In the end, it's just a wild guess.
