ChristmasStar 2013

 

The pattern was spotted on the back of a current Quiltmaker magazine and it listed a prior edition several years past... sooo.  I  sweet talked all the girl freinds to see if someone had that magazine on the shelf.  YES !!    I thank DonnaS for loaning me her magazine with the pattern. We drove all over the country side for  just the right colors . To Clear Lake,  Osage,  Forest City, Garner, and Mason  !

With some sun shiny late winter days with the  door open   I cut and I cut...

  and sewed all the funky angles.... and cut some more............ and sewed till late hrs. averaging 6-10 hrs  in a day...

. finally there were units to  connect together and the design starts to emerge..

 ta daaa!!. a snowflake !

 and then the rows go together.........

 This method is called paper piecing, all the tiny bits are sewn to the paper,,,,  then its  ripped off !. billions of  paper bits!

 the rows were laid out on the floor. I love this big house with its large floor space !.  The miles of borders were sewn...

 finally its all together! I have a table in the basement perfect for spreading the quilt tops flat. Tim helps me baste with 100's  of pins.

 

  I use an Ulmer brand quilting frame. It folds up when not in use. It is ez to load a section at  a time for  quilting. I usually pin a large extension to the edges  so  I'm able to quilt to the very edge.

Our family holiday party and the  raffle  is coming up soon.  I had Tim help me with so many jobs during this process  He pinned, cooked, made beds,  tended puppies, poked and prodded me. Some days even sent me to bed after being hunched over too many hrs !

 ... close up of all the detailed hand quilting...

 Dec 31   finally adding casing tube for hanging ! and testing it out !

 

  the perfect display wall...........DONE!.. now we can party !!! Its New Years Eve !!

 I  think Ill sort thru all the patterns I've saved over the past few month plus all the colors Ive gathered since last summer. ..  to sketch, dream,, fondle, and plan the next quilt. There's always a next !!!