Free Fabric!

I love my local quilt shop, A Scarlet Thread! The owners, Ken and Karen Taylor, have created an atmosphere where shopping is so much fun. Their employees, who they call their "quilt divas", are warm, welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. They cater to their customer's every whim. There are several times I have mentioned something new on the quilt market and they either (a) already have it in the store (b) have it ordered and it's on its way or (c) get it in stock because I mentioned it. What more could you ask for in a quilt shop? How about FREE FABRIC? 

Last week was A Scarlet Thread's 9th birthday. In those nine years they have been in three locations and each has gotten bigger and even better, but has never lost the personal touch they are known for. They celebrated with three days of "Buy 9 yards, get 9 yards free"! Who could possibly pass that up???

Not this girl! I need more fabric like I need another hole in my head, but I could not let this opportunity go by without taking advantage of it.

I had no idea what I was going to buy when I walked in the door, but I don't ever have to look hard to find something I "need" for my stash. Since I am so drawn to polka dots these days, I picked out grey, yellow, red and blue dots and got a yard of each. I found a terrific green that would be wonderful in my new "brights" stash. Two Kim Diehl fabrics, two neutrals and three Kansas Troubles rounded out my purchases. I bought four yards of two of the KT to use for backings. Two of the bolts I bought had a small amount left after my one yard purchase, so I went ahead and bought it too. My total yardage ended up being 18 3/4 yards. 

I had done some rough math at home before I left. The fabrics were approximately $12/yard and I was going to be paying for nine yards. That's rouhly $108 + tax. Plus I was getting nine more yards for free! Sweet!!! To make it all even better, I had a $100 gift certificate from my mother-in-law to spend! 

So, with tax and after my gift certificate, I spent a grand total of $28.30 for 18 3/4 yards of fabric!! Win-win!! I am a happy camper.  :)

Disclaimer-The opinions expressed in this blog post are mine. A Scarlet Thread has not sponsored this post or paid me in any way for writing this. 

Star Formation Quilt

Every now and then I find a quilt pattern that I have to make RIGHT NOW.  When I got my October 2011 American Patchwork and Quilting magazine I fell in love with the quilt on the cover.  I love star blocks and I love scrappy quilts, so what was not to love about this one?

I have been "collecting" Kansas Troubles fabrics for years and years and I knew they would be perfect for this project.  The quilt measures 74 X 88"-about the max size I am willing to tackle. There are 50 8" star blocks-each block has 8 HST (half square triangles) and 8 2" squares.  Doing the math, I realized that I was going to be making 400 HST for this quilt!  Good thing I like to make them.  :)

Lots of people make HST using Thangles. Others cut triangles and sew them together.  I like to cut two squares, draw a line diagonally across them, stitch on either side of the diagonal line, and then cut down the center. My favorite HST tool is Eleanor Burns' triangle square up ruler. After I cut my square in half, I use the ruler to square up my block before I press it open. Perfect HST every time.

I like to cut all my fabric before I start a project. I spent hours at the cutting table cutting 871 squares for this quilt. Next I sewed, squared up and pressed all 400 of the HST. Now all I have to do is lay out the 16 units needed per block and sew. Each block takes me about 20 minutes to complete. By having all of the components of the block finished, they roll off of the assembly line easily. 

I was making great progress on my quilt for several weeks.  Even though I had a very busy schedule I managed to get into my sewing room to make at least one block every day. I had 28 blocks made and was so pleased with how it looked on my design wall.  Then the holidays arrived and all quilting came to a screeching halt. After that I seemed to have lost my momentum and was more interested in an applique project in progress.  Today I got back into my quilt room and I made eight more blocks.  Now I am up to 36 now and only have 14 to go.  Hmmm...I'm hoping by the end of the week I may have all 50 blocks made.  Then it's  on to sashing, cornerstones, setting triangles.  I have never made a quilt set on point before, so I am looking forward to this new challenge.  Check back soon for progress pics. I want to get this top finished because I have another UFO that is really nagging at me to complete. More about it later. 

I hope mine looks this good when it's finished!

Here are my 36 blocks! Yeah!