Thursday, May 2, 2013

Joining a Few Texas Stars

My reading list this morning had three blog posts in a row about hexagons - Metanoia's, Sue's, and Julia's. I thought I better get my act together and show the progress I've made on Texas Star! I've joined a few together to see how they will look:


I did this a few weeks ago, but somehow I put them away without taking a photo. I think this is why:


If you look carefully you can see that the upper left one in the second photo is turned the wrong way. Easy to fix, but it annoyed me at the time!

All the blog posts today made me nostalgic for simple hexagons. If I ever do another paper-pieced project after this one it will be back to hexagons and nothing but hexagons. I have been having a heck of a time with the white diamonds in these stars. This is what happens:


I think this keeps happening because the white fabric is quite a bit thicker than the print. I am going to try shaving off a bit of the diamond paper template before I start next time, and see if that helps.

Anyway, the Texas Star Ticker in the right sidebar is up to number 66 today, which is just past 20% done. Plenty left to do!

14 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I love your fabrics and the vintage look of your stars. The yellow centers is perfect!

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    1. Thanks, Audrey! It actually is a reproduction of a quilt from the 1940s. It's been on my quilt bucket list for over 20 years now!

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  2. looks good to me your latest stars, I have just got the book Quilting on the go all English paper piecing and it is so very interesting a good buy.

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    1. Thanks, Margaret! I will have a look for that book, it sounds interesting!

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  3. Hey, Monica, love your stars. I sometimes have the same problem with points not matching when English paper piecing, too, and it doesn't seem to matter what the shapes are. Someone turned me on to tiny little binder clips to hold the pieces together while hand sewing. This way the points match and I ease in the difference in length (if there is one) as I sew the seams. After the papers are removed, everything looks fine. I have used plain old straight pins, too, but the clips keep you from sticking yourself.

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    1. Thanks, Mary Ellen, I may try that. My left hand tends to get tired from holding the pieces together. This may make it easier!

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  4. They are beautiful! I can see a quilt done in these Monica

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    1. Thanks, Katherine. Just a couple more years, hopefully! :D

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  5. Yes! May=hexagons! But I thought hexagons and triangles were difficult. Surely those jewel shapes are a nightmare!! I love the guts out of hexagons, but triangles are grating on my nerves so I think I will do a plain hexagon piece one of these days. I must not start another new project though so I'll stick to my tiny triangles for now. The other thing I'd really love to do is apple-cores, but I think that would have to be a small project or I'll go mad.
    This is going to be an amazing quilt Mon. Just a little time every week will get it done!! That is what I keep telling myself too.

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    1. My theory is that it's the sharper points, the 60 degree angles, that are more difficult to match. The hexagons are all wide points, 120 degrees, which is way easier and more forgiving. So the jewels are not that bad, with only one sharp point. The diamonds, with two sharp points AND the need to match them to other sharp points, are the sticky part.

      That's why your triangles feel like such a scourge, too -- 3 sharp points!

      Apple cores are in my future too - I've already bought the papers. But just a small project, as you say!

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  6. This will be lovely when finished. I like hexagons better, but mine are still in the closet as UFOs. Makes me want to get them out and work on them!

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    1. Thank you! I find these are a great tv "watching" project. I even miss them if I skip a couple of days!

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  7. The not-quite-matching-up would drive me nuts - one of the reasons I'm not a quilter. And try as I might, I can't see the error in the upper left block of the second picture!

    The overall effect is great though - lovely fabric combinations.

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    1. LOL! In the greenish star with the apples, there is a white diamond attached to the lower left that should be attached just right of the top point. The unit is rotated. Nothing has to come out, I just have to add some other partial units to make up the difference.

      I'm hoping that the mismatched points can be manipulated when all the pieces are joined together. I keep telling myself fabric can be eased to match!

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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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