Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Texas Star Turns 100!

It is just under a year since I started my Texas Star project. Today I have posted Star #101 in the Texas Star Ticker in the right sidebar. Woo hoo! That works out to a little more than 2 per week, which, for me, is pretty good. The ticker idea continues to motivate me, and I have enjoyed photographing almost every single star along the way.

Nevertheless, there is always room for improvement! I realized this month that it will be easier, and maybe faster, to batch the stars a little, rather than doing each one individually from start to finish:


Thinking about which fabric to do next seems to really slow me down, so hopefully this new method will result in less thinking and more sewing!

I also had a complicated plan to sew the individual stars into blocks of four:


...and then join the small blocks into larger blocks:


I originally liked this plan because I thought it would be too boring to join all the stars at the end, and I thought I could assemble the blocks as I go. But, I've abandoned this idea too. There are too many points, the thread is constantly snagging, and the whole thing is very hard to manage.

My new plan is to finish all the stars, mix them together in a large box, and pick them one at a time randomly and sew them onto the whole. I did that with the yoyos, too, and it was a lot of fun. (No, the yoyos are not done yet either!)

I owe a couple more updates on other projects, and I'm very close to a finish on one, but it didn't seem appropriate to show a finish for WIP Wednesday, which I'm linking up to again today. In any case, the weather has turned, and we are enjoying some wonderful crisp northern air, so I think things will start moving again around here!

18 comments:

  1. Love your Texas Stars and thanks for sharing your experience with sewing them together. Good to know.

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    1. Thanks, Linda! I am always happy to let others learn from my mistakes, lol. That's what blogs are for, imho. :)

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  2. The colours of your star blocks are working together very nicely. With the white background, I think that the idea of picking blocks at random to sew together will work out very well. Looking forward to seeing more of it come together.

    I also really like the ticker idea in the side bar. I'm thinking that I should pursue that as well. Thanks for the post.

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    1. Thanks very much, but you know, it's going to be a while now before I join any more!

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  3. this is going to be fabulous, how many starts are you planning to do? Picking threm out in a random way sounds like a good idea

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  4. These stars are very pretty Monica...love how bright they are.

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    1. Thanks, Marjorie! I'm hoping it will be very cheerful when it's done!

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  5. Some day I want to make a Texas star quilt. I just have to get brave.:) Yours is wonderful and very inspirational! The ticker at the sidebar works great for me too showing my progress all along the way!

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    1. Thank you very much, Audrey, you have made me see this project in a new light! There is not much art in this quilt, but a whole lot of persistence, so I'm glad that's appreciated too!

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  6. These stars are so pretty! What a good idea to have a ticker in your sidebar. 100 is a real landmark. I like your plan of just pulling the stars out randomly and sewing them together.

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    1. Thanks, Rachael. You know, I'm so excited by this random idea now that it's re-invigorated the whole project!

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  7. Sounds like you have a really good plan for your Texas Stars. You just have to keep at it and eventually, it will all be done.

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    1. Thanks, Dolores! You're right -- at this point persistence is the whole game. :)

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  8. Wonderful piecing, and that ticker looks like a great motivator, I might have to get one (or rather several...).
    And I agree, choosing the fabrics takes a lot of time and brain power.

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    1. Thanks, Regina. You know, though, that the fabrics for the quilt are already chosen, and it is choosing again which one to sew next that slows me down. *rolls eyes* I'm pretty sure that reducing the number of decisions I have to make along the line will be very helpful!

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  9. Congratulations on passing your century! They are looking stunning - love the background. Your new plan sounds like fun. Variety of task is good, but there is nothing like getting on a roll - which your new plan accommodates.

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    1. Thanks, Jillian! Fun and fast, what could be better? :) I am amazed too at how good that background fabric looks in photos. I don't remember any more why I bought it, but I think I need to keep it as a background for a while longer!

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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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