Tinkering with Riviera Star

One of the problems with the Judy Niemeyer newsprint foundations is that there are really no "do-overs." Once they're sewn, there's no going back. That is doubly the case for me, because the limited-edition fabric I'm using sold out months ago, so I have to use what I've got.

Looking back at the Compass Star that will be in the centre of Riviera Star, you can see that the fabric around the edge has a greenish undertone:

The green tablecloth underneath makes it look better than it is. It was not the best choice to go with those yellow fabrics. Here was my original colourway:

There would have been more yellow beside that greenish fabric, and it would have been bad. Plus, Sue Garman posted a photo of another Prairie Star variation this month, which got me thinking again. Out came the coloured pencils:

Using a red fabric next to the greenish fabric will make it work again, and of these three variations, I think I'll go with the one on the left. I don't think I have enough red fabric to make the one on the right. The middle one is striking, and closest to my original plan, but now I worry that it will be a little boring close up and on the bed. The left one will have a bigger variety of fabrics, so there will be more to look at.

The final decision may be affected by how much fabric is left after I piece all the outer edges. But right now that's the direction I'm going. Lots to do!

Flying Geese

I am trying something new for me this month. I've decided to just work on one thing at a time! LOL. My quilt guild will have their next show in April, and I've decided that Riviera Star, which is based on Judy Niemeyer's Prairie Star foundations, will be my main entry. So I made a plan, and if I stick to it I'll have the top done by August.

Today I finished the eight Flying Geese units. Here they are laid out with the Melon Spike units I made previously:

I think it's looking promising. It certainly meets my dad's requirement to be "lively!" It's fun to play around with the pieces, too:

I've given myself two and a half weeks to sew the next group, which will combine with these units into square blocks. I've also changed my colourway a bit, which I'll tell you about tomorrow. Onwards!

Summer Sampler, Take Two

Back in March I came to an inglorious end on my first run at this great Summer Sampler from Janlynn:

It didn't take me long to decide to start over will all new materials. I bought some Cashel linen (28 ct) in light sand, which is really more like light yellow, and proper DMC floss. I've been working it for a while now, and it is all so much nicer to stitch!

Rather than repeating the section that I goofed on before, I started at the bottom this time:

My plan is to fully complete one section at a time, backstitching and all. A professional stitcher gave me this tip as a way to minimize the tedium of the backstitching at the end, and so far it is working for me. Next up will be the little cruise ship motif.

Remember this fabric? No wonder it reminded me of Hawaii!

Anyway, I also want to apologize, because not only have I not been keeping up with my blog, I haven't had a chance to keep up with everyone else's either. I've been dealing with a health issue this spring that is fairly serious, but completely fixable. I think that when it's all over my life will improve considerably, but until then I may be absent once in a while. In the meantime, happy stitching!