Saturday, May 26, 2012

New Project--Stretched star

I'm back...we were gone on a cruise through the Panama Canal on the Celebrity Infinity. A huge cruise ship, there was only 2 feet clearance on each side as it was going through the Canal.  It was really great, just to see the canal and Panama, plus we also stopped at Cabo, Puerta Vallarta, Punta Arenas, Coata Rica, Puerto Quetzal, Guatamela and Cartegena, Venezula.  Wow, all that and 15 days of cruise ship food and entertainment.  I'll do that again any time.
And when we got back we went to Tucson over Mother's Day weekend to see the Sonoran Desert Museum in full bloom and I visited some of my favorite quilt and yarn shops there. I got a great idea for a quilt from the Cactus Quilt Shop--Stretched Star.
 We also enjoyed Sonoran hot dogs.  If you haven't had one, try it at BK's.  Really good.
Then last weekend I celebrated my birthday, Mike took me to Rosie's Calico Cupboard, and then lunch at DZ Akins.  A little something for both of us.
So now I am finally in a position to start another quilt and Stretched Star seems great, so try it along with me.
It is a great pattern to use up scraps. It only needs 90 six inch squares for star centers (all scrappy), 1 1/2 yds. for the stretch corners and 2/3 yd. for outer borders (or 2 1/4 yds total for corners & borders).  This makes a nice lap quilt that is 55" x 61".
I have had this roll of autumn colored 6 inch strips for years since they are already 6 inches wide it seemed a no brainer. So I just need my star corners and borders and after a little stash diving and consultation with Mike we decided on:


It gives you a look somewhat like this:


So start picking out your scraps and cutting the 90 six inch squares.  The corner fabric can be cut in strips 3 1/4 inches wide then cut the strips into 3 1/4 inch squares, you need 180 of these small squares.
  If you want an idea of the stretched star take a look on my web site www.reesekesworld.com.  It is the first quilt on the Bed Quilts page.  That one is done in star fabrics and in very small squares pieced together, the one we're doing now is easier and will go much faster.  So happy quilting.  Chris