Sunday, November 11, 2012

Filler Diamonds for Texas Star

This is pretty much all I have been working on this week. Today I have forced myself to take a break to give my hands a rest! Earlier in the week I cut some more fabric for the project, including these stripes, and the white filler diamonds.

I wanted to start putting in the white diamonds now, so I am not stuck with them all at the end. Now that I have done some of them, I am doubly glad of this plan, because the diamonds are somewhat more challenging.  The points are heavier to baste, and the white fabric is heavier too.  That's why there are holes in my finger that have to heal! But if I just add three diamonds to each star for now, I can arrange them as I like at the end:


I will have to leave a few without the diamonds to finish off the top and right edges.

I have also decided to make the whole quilt bigger. My original plan was to make it about 60" square, but recently I have found myself preferring rectangular quilts, so I am going to bump it up to 60" x 80". With a 4" border, that will require 315 stars. I find that 3 lengthwise strips from a fat quarter give me 4 to 5 stars, so I am going to shoot for about 70 fabrics total. That should be plenty of variety!

I have realized that this is probably not going to be a very blog-friendly project, because I think you can only look at so many stars, but I will try to show a few of the more fun fabrics that I have for this quilt.  The only fussy cutting I am going to do is for the stripes, so it is only here and there that a complete motif shows:


Fortunately, a little bit of mystery about how exactly each star will look keeps it interesting!

15 comments:

  1. This non-quilter thinks its going to be fascinating. I do love the shape, and the problem solving is really interesting.

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    1. Thanks, Jillian! I find that logistical issues are a common thing in quilting, which for me is definitely part of the appeal. I've met quite a few quilters with left-brained backgrounds - engineers, accountants, various science degrees, etc. It's nice to give BOTH sides of my brain a workout!

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  2. Monica you have some great pieces here, and you will certainly use up some of your stack of fabric making it into a family heirloom.

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    1. Thanks, Margaret. It actually is not making as much of a dent in my stash as I'd hoped!

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  3. This is going to be a wonderful quilt. I saw a photo on the facebook page of One World fabrics that was made from Japanese taupe fabrics and is english paper pieced. The stars are made of 60 degree diamonds. It's similar to yours, but there are no hexagons in the center of the stars. It's on my list to do after I finish a Christmas table runner from "Hexa-Go-Go."

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    1. Thanks, Mary Ellen. I love those Japanese taupe quilts too, but so far I have managed to avoid buying a whole new set of fabrics! Have fun with yours!

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  4. Love it... the white filler is really going to make it pop!

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    1. Thanks, Metanoia. Light and bright is the plan!

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  5. Love your stars! This is going to be a stunning quilt!

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  6. Just curious...how big are your stars? It's hard to tell from the photo. I made my first taupe star as a test and it is only 4" across. I am thinking of making them a bit larger.

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    1. Hi Mary Ellen,

      From point to point they are 4 3/8" across. The sides of the diamonds measure 1 1/4". I did look at that taupe star quilt you mentioned. It is really nice too, but a little different from mine. That one adds 6 white diamonds to each star to complete the hexagon, while mine will only use 3 diamonds and nest the stars closer together.

      For a runner though, the smaller stars may be nicer! Smaller is cuter is my mantra these days. :)

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    2. Maybe I conflated your two projects - are the stars going to be a whole quilt? That may be a different story!

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  7. If they are going to be the little 4" ones, then it will be a table runner. I made a second star with diamonds that measure 1.5" per side. It seems a bit large and I was thinking that 1.25" might be just right. Sounds like Goldilocks. In either event, my interest may only take me as far as a table runner or table topper. I agree, smaller is cuter.

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    1. That's the same way I felt - 1 1/4" is "just right." I can imagine that a table topper would be quite nice!

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I'm told Blogger has been bouncing some comments, so if it happens to you I'm sorry! But the settings look right so I can't explain it. In any case, thanks for reading!

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