Diamond Star Quilt

I started this quilt in early October and just finished it a couple of days ago. It has been my main sewing project over the past few months though I did set it aside more than once to work on other projects. It measures 73" x 83" but will surely shrink a few inches when it gets washed. A trip through the washer and dryer is definitely needed - all the star parts were drawn with marking pen before being hand stitched and it has spent a fair amount of time on the floor. 

The star blocks were hand pieced in four parts, heavily inspired by Alison's quilt, shown here on her blog, Little Island Quilting. I fussy cut most of the centers and sewed the four triangles together by machine. The quilting is also a combination of hand and machine stitching - utility stitching by hand with size 8 Perle cotton for decoration and plenty of stitch-in-the-ditch by machine to stabilize and strengthen the layers.

The stars dominate the design, as they should, but together the blocks also form a nice secondary pattern. I started out with a couple of odd colored blocks, coral and green, but then leaned toward a warm and bright palette. Eventually, I think I ended up with a nice balance of color and contrast.

The backing is an Amy Butler print with a lighter coral polka dot for binding.

The two border fabrics are dusty pink cameras and peachy hexagons and were hand quilted with pink Perle cotton. I did a lot of the hand quilting after I had sewn down the binding.

The borders weren't quilted yet but the volunteers were available!

Baby Sweater

A friend gave me a few balls of yarn that she was no longer interested in and I made a baby sweater and a hat from two of the skeins. The yarn is a neutral color, "Misty Taupe" (yikes!), and machine washable so it is on the practical side for a gift. Babies in the newborn to three month size range don't get a lot of use out of their sweaters in any case. Perhaps some infant with just the right skin tone will look good in it. 

I will donate this set. I am working on a few other child size hats - using up some leftover yarn - and will have a small pile to give away soon. I joined the Cookie A Sock Club this year and will have fancy socks to work on beginning next week.

The pattern is Infant Guernsey Sweater and Hat.

The yarn is Spa.

US Size 5 needles.

Family

Katherine, Dave and Ray

It was good to see Katherine - she was here visiting for a week after Christmas. I sort of had to herd them all together outside the cinema for a family photograph which is worth the effort, I think, even though it is just a phone snap and there are cigarette butts littering the ground.

Ray and Jazmin

Jazmin gave this drawing to Ray for Christmas. She had it made by an online friend of hers, a girl named Pan. I would like to have more info on the artist to give proper credit but it was all I could find out. It's such a sweet depiction! It really captures them - how do artists do it? They look exactly the right age.

January Cheer Circle Quilt Blocks

These two blocks get shipped off soon for the January quilt being made by the do Good Stitches Cheer circle. The quilter, Lindsey, asked for pink with low volume. The tutorial for the block is here, at Fresh Lemons Quilts. This is going to be such a pretty quilt for a little girl!