Block 3 Stars

Okay girls, here you go. I have had many requests to get this block ready for you and here it is. This month will be the only month of piecing. You will make 4 variable star blocks. I have shown where, in relation to the eagle, they will go. Don't sew them together yet as there will be sashing. The link will take you to the directions for cutting and a diagram to show how to put together. Happy Sewing. Make sure to post your pictures on the flickr page for everyone to see. The link is on the sidebar. http://www.scribd.com/doc/21663211/Vicksburg-Stars Remember all blocks finish at 12". If you haven't joined Pat Sloan's quiltmashup forum do it now. If you downloaded or read the pattern yesterday there was an error. The red center squares should be cut at 4 1/2". The instructions have now been corrected. Sorry, that's why I have an editor.

Pumpkin Patch Primitives

http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/ For those of you who don't know.....

Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe is a shop you can shop online if you happen to live somewhere not near it. The owner Brenda , carries a wonderful array of fabrics and books/patterns. She also has a blog,the link is above, where she shares quilting stories and very amusing stories of the adventures she has with her son. Being the very generous person she is, Brenda is giving away a bundle of fat quarters from Whimsicals. That's right, a fat of each piece of the line. If you haven't seen this fabric in person it is wonderful. Head on over to Brenda's and check out her blog, giveaway and store.

MOKA

I belong to a quilt history study group called MOKA. That stands for Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas. It is a wonderful group filled with collectors and experts on quilt history. We met this weekend in Parkville Mo. Parkville is wonderful historic town north of KC. It is filled with wonderful shops, beautiful old houses and antique stores. We had our Friday night session in a store called Florilegium. It is unbelievable! Filled with buttons, lace, yarns, silks and just about every fiber you can think of. www.florilegium.com

Our topic for the meeting was crazy quilts. The quilts that showed up were spectacular.

This quilt above was owned by the store. In the center is a ribbon from Queen Victoria's celebration. It came from England and was formerly housed in a museum in Birmingham. The following day we had a session on quilt restoration and repair followed by crazy quilts of the utilitarian style. It was wonderful as usual. We also made a couple of stops at quilt shops along the way, Quilter's Harvest in Higginsville and Quilter's Station in Lee's Summit. It was a great weekend.

Button

The lovely Lin from http://www.uniquelyyourscreations.blogspot.com/ has set up the much requested button for the free BOM. It is on my sidebar. To post this on your blog, right click the picture and save. If you use blogger, go to layout, click get a gadget, click picture. Add the picture and this blog address for the url and when people click it on your blog it will bring them here. Many of you have asked about this and thanks to Lin it's available. It has been fun chatting with you all in Pat's forum, if you haven't checked it out, you should.

Looking Like Fall

Many of you have inquired about the pattern/designer of the last quilt. It is from a book called Stitched with Love by Robyn Pandolph. The book is several years old, and came with a cd that had all the templates on it.

Blogger Problem

You may have noticed that my follower widget is missing. This makes it impossible to sign up to follow the blog. This is a problem with blogger and I assume they are trying to fix it as there are hundreds of blogs with this problem. They have pages of reports from all of us with the problem. Please be patient until this is fixed. Sorry if anyone is inconvenienced.
Seems to fixed now. Thank goodness.

Block 2, Pat Sloan Forum and More

Okay quilters, here is the much anticipated Block 2. It is a Rose Wreath. Remember that all blocks finish at 12" and are set on point.http://www.scribd.com/doc/19982491/Block-2-Rose-Wreath /This is the link to your pattern. I used 1/2" bias tape maker to make my wreath stem. I marked a circle that measured 7 1/2" with a chalk pencil to guide where the inside edge of my stem would be. This helps to make sure you have room for all the pieces.

Now here's the fun part. Pat Sloan has graciously set up a forum for everyone to chat about their progress and there is even a Flickr page for all of you to post the block photos so we can see them all. Is that great or what? You will have to head over to http://www.patsloan.com/ and thank her because I could never have pulled that off with my computer skills. http://quiltmashup.com/index.php/board,50.0.html This is the link to the forum. I am very excited about this because it let's me actually interact with you guys! Everyone has been on the ball with the first block but I know sometimes half way in we lose some steam. I think this will be a fun way to stay motivated. Here's the link to post your photoshttp://www.flickr.com/groups/1189771@N25/ . Now get sewing!