Instant favorite

My family loves this quilt so much and I don't know how I forgot to unveil the finished Vintage Stars.  It is in constant use by whomever happens to be lounging on the sofa, or by Kieran when he's in his "tv chair" (which he is soon to outgrow). 

I stitched down the binding on this quilt a couple of Saturdays ago at Martina's soccer game (I wanted to finish it in time for my guild meeting later that afternoon) and had a lovely conversation with a lady whose granddaughter was playing for the opposing team.  She was a fellow quilter who was tickled to see me working on a quilt whilst cheering my daughter's team to victory.

This is the first quilt I've made with rounded corners.  It's made primarily with prints from Rosette by Juliana Horner, plus kona solids and a stray Garden Party print.  I quilted in straight lines on the diagonal 1/4" on either side of the seams. 

Martina's calling it "the reversible quilt" because "the back looks like another quilt(!)"  I won't disabuse her of the notion that I invented the scrappy pieced back- she thinks I'm brilliant, and I'll take that when I can get it.  I used several fat quarters and odd cuts from various Anna Maria Horner prints.

The little guy is such a camera hog... he demanded that I take his picture with the quilt, so I did.

Linking up to Finish It Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Progress

I've been working in earnest on Vintage Stars (from this publication) and 41 this week.  At my guild's Sew Day over the weekend, I managed to sew the binding onto 41, as well as make significant progress sewing star blocks together.   After much sewing, un-sewing and re-sewing last night (I kept pinning the rows together the wrong way), the Vintage Stars top, my first attempt at piecing a quilt on-point, is finally done:

Absolutely adore the Rosette collection by Juliana Horner but I snuck in a couple of Garden Party blocks, just because.

The 41 quilt will be finished by the weekend, which should satisfy my hubby.  It drives him crazy to see so many unfinished quilts about the house.

On the cutting table

There's a new project on my sewing table.  I should be working on burying loads of knots in this quilt, but after burying about twenty of them, I'm taking a break.  Threading the needle over and over gives me headaches, thanks to presbyopia.  Also, two lines of quilting need to be ripped out and done over. 

So I took out my lovely Rosette yardage and started cutting.  The quilt pattern is from BHG's Antique Quilts and is called Vintage Stars. 

Very unlike me, to cut into newly purchased fabric!  I usually let new prints sit and marinate for a while in the stash.  But I've been wanting to make Vintage Stars for ages, and the stack of Rosette sitting on my sewing table seemed a perfect match.

Now I've got three quilts in progress.  Next week the older kids are back and school, which may or may not mean more sewing time to work on Vintage Stars, 41, and Kieran's brick quilt.  The little guy may be clingy until he adjusts to not having "the Big Kids" at his disposal at all times!  

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Go on over and take a look at what others are working on today!

Summer update

It's funny how a summer that feels busy to me can seem boring to my children.  At dinner tonight, Antonio remarked that the summer has been lonely (read "boring") so far.  This, after a six week visit from his grandmother, a mini-vacation in Twain Harte with a side trip to Yosemite, July 4th with family friends, day-trips Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Francisco, a couple of trips to the movie theater, and a week-long "summer camp" here at home with friends.  What's a girl gotta do to keep her kids entertained?  Sheesh!

Now that our guest is gone and things have gotten back to normal, my sewing mojo is slowly returning.  Lots of progress has been made on the binding for Goose Creek, thanks to an encore showing of Sharknado on Syfy, and some late night "Arrested Development" on Netflix.

This quilt should be finished in a day or so, at which time I can get back to Kieran's quilt.  Or my own quilt.  Or this chair.  Or curtains for the kitchen.  Or something from this book...

On the fabric stashing front, I made a little purchase at Joann's this weekend.  Upon walking into the premium fabric section, my eye was immediately drawn to these prints:

I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were a collection called Rosette from Juliana Horner.  It's the first collection from Anna Maria Horner's eldest girl.  Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  There are four prints not represented here because I didn't buy them.  I'm thinking to go back to buy this one and this one.

In other summer news, I can't believe in a few short weeks Antonio and Martina (or as Kieran calls them, "Big Kids") will be back in school.  Martina's last year of elementary and Antonio's first in middle school.  I think I just got another gray hair.