Simple Stars and Stripes

This turned out to be one of my favorite quilts!

It was inspired by this patriotic stash of fabrics I pulled together from my stash and lived with it for awhile in a vintage tool box. I had never made a red, white and blue quilt before so wanted to try it. I used creams instead of whites which gives it a vintage look.

I knew I wanted to make some kind of stars with stripes. Since I love an informal quilting process I started with a square and then I cut random sized triangles for the stars. After sewing, I trimmed to 1/4 inch.And squared up the block after both point were added.

For the stripes, I started sewing strips of reds and creams in random widths. Then trimmed to a width I liked. (Save the cut edges and piece together for small projects)

 

 I cut random sized triangles for the stars.After sewing on at an angle, I trimmed straight across the bottom. Notice the star points are larger so no matching was needed!

 On my design wall:

 

I quilted in 1/4 spaced rows for a modern look.

Cutting Instructions for each block:

Center star blocks: 
Cut 1 Blue fabric and 8 Cream fabrics 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" 
Star points cut 4 Blue fabrics 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" and cut in half (trimmed after sewing)

Boarder stars along red and cream strips: 
Cut 1 Blue fabric 4" x 4" 
Star points cut 4 Blue fabrics 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" and cut in half (trimmed after sewing)

Boarder Stripes: 
Cut Reds and Creams in random widths then cut to 4 1/2" long (will be trimmed to 4" later).

For sewing follow photo steps above.This quilt is 34" x 34" so has:

• 4 center star blocks 
• 9 boarder stars (note some of them are partial for the boarder)
• 2 red and cream strip sets

Hexies made with markers and rubbing alcohol

I took a class at my art guild on making cool shapes with rubbing alcohol and permanent markers. We made a bunch of these on muslin stretched over a cup. You just draw some lines with the markers and drop on the rubbing alcohol in the middle and the colors run into cool designs. Some times the colors change in surprising ways as they blend. They dry in no time. Hexies are a great way to use these circles in projects. These are sewn on a cotton dish towel.

 This is a hot pad made with the hexies also:

I ironed them with a hot iron and steam to make sure they wouldn't run when washed. This would be a great project or young kids to make!

A few of my early quilts

I was taking a look back on some of my earliest quilts when I was teaching myself to quilt. I still love this jewel quilt and it was easy learning to machine quilt this.

This snowball quilt was really fun to make with just two colors. This one was all hand cut pieces with templates way before rotatory cutters. Then was hand quilted.

This is a flannel baby quilt with half square triangles. I like the rows of colors.

This is also one of my earliest quilts that I made for my son when he was little. He got to pick out all of the fabrics and then I just started playing with putting it together. Now I want to make more with the random width strips.

The doggies get to use this now!