The Case of the Shrinking Quilt

No, I didn't have an incident with a quilt in the washing machine.
Do you recall this little quilt that I designed and made almost two years ago for my family reunion auction? I called this "Stars and Stripes Forever".

 It is 14 1/2" square. My daughter won the bid, but it was popular enough that I made another one, very similar, for the auction last year.

My brother won this one. It is the same size as the previous one, but the centers of the stars are different.

Shortly after making this second one I began making AAQI quilts. I wanted to make a patriotic one and  still had little parts and pieces left from these two quilts. Size restrictions on AAQI quilts required that I make it smaller somehow. I chose to use only 4 of the blocks, put pinwheels in the centers of both stars,  and orient the stripes all in the same direction. This ended up being 8 1/2" square.

I called this one "Liberty and Justice For All." It was sold at the AAQI booth at the Houston Quilt Festival, so I have no idea where it ended up. If you've seen it, let me know. : )

This is my latest mini creation.

Not very good lighting on this. I made it half the size of the quilt above, so I have named it "Stars and Stripes Forever .5". It is 4 1/2" square.

I don't believe I will go any smaller on this. : )

If you are tired of minis you may want to skip my next few posts. I'm sure there will be more to come.

Until next time,

Janet O.

May I have the envelope, please.

The lucky winner of Lynn Roddy Brown's third book, "Patchwork-Play Quilts," is grendelskin! Actually, her name is Sally, but grendelskin is her blog name. Thanks to all who left comments and posted links for this giveaway. I'm glad so many of you were introduced to Lynn's books. They are a great resource for scrap quilters!

Recently several bloggers have been putting the word out about John'aLee's request for star blocks in muted reds, whites, and blues. She is making five quilts for the loved ones of her almost SIL, who was shot in Afghanistan shortly before he was to be married to her daughter. Instead of a wedding they had a funeral. So sad! Make sure the people you love know you love them. Life is tenuous.

I was motivated by Freda's post (The Adventures of the Empress of the Universe) sharing her initial efforts and decided to jump on board. I got fabric pulled Saturday evening and started cutting. I hoped to spend yesterday afternoon and evening sewing them all up, but alas, life interfered.  I did get the cutting finished and thought I would just share the blocks in the "design board" stage. I will get a little done on them tonight, but the finish may have to wait now until my monthly "quilt with Mom" event this Thursday.

This is the Missouri Star block, though I did throw in a
9-patch in place of the plain center square. Every fabric
in this block is printed with some type of star.

This is Ohio Star. I used Barbara Brackman's
directions, but there are easier ways to make this block.
I think the red fabric looks like fireworks.

I punched up this Sawtooth Star pattern by adding
the 16-patch to the center of the block. There are tiny
flags in the tan fabric in the 16-patch.

This is called Barbara Frietchie in Barabara Brackman's
CW post. By different color placement you could make
this into an "easy Lemoyne Star", right Freda? 

Finally we have a block named Richmond, after the
Confederacy's capital city. I may play with the
color placement on this one a little more.

These blocks were all made from my "Patriotic Scraps" drawer. I am pleased with how they are coming together. If you'd like to help make star blocks click the link here for the details.

Now I have the urge to make a patriotic quilt. I made one years ago and donated it somewhere. It would be nice to have one in the house when Independence Day rolls around. I guess that urge will just have to wait in line behind all of the other quilting urges.

Until next time, from the little mountain valley where the sagebrush grows,

Janet O.