candi

A few months back, a member posted about the paint cards quilt challenge and offered to create a challenge for interesting board members, well I complied and got two paint cards with various shades of peach and orange! I was pretty excited as I LOVE orange.The challenge was to make a quilt of any size, using colors from the paint cards we got and no neutrals! Initially, I thought of a trip around the world in orange for the challenge, but then a couple of weeks ago, I envisioned an orange lone star! Talking about obsession, and trying to bite off more than I can chew!!!

I realized from the beginning that a lone star was beyond my skill level, but really does anyone pay attention to that rating on patterns? LOL, I don't. I picked my fabrics, and did a lot of research on the board and Internet for tips and hints. I had a four-day weekend while hubby was working, so I decided it was a good time to tackle the lone star.

Thursday evening, I started starching (heavily) and cutting my fabrics into strips...cutting went great, and I remeasured and everything was the 2.5'' it was supposed to be! Awesome start!

On Friday, I started sewing the the strips together, more starch, more measuring, everything is what it was supposed to be. I am feeling great, I never have really checked at every step and never tried that hard to be so accurate. I couldn't stop until I cut my strips at the 45 degree angle, measured, it is all so good. I just had to sew one diamond and see what happens. I am pressing all my seams open, marking my 1/4 inch line, and using straight pins to match the points, the first diamond turned out great!!! Could I have just gotten that good overnight??? I am beginning to question the rating on this pattern! I end Friday on a happy note and can't wait to get into the sewing room on Saturday! The rest of the diamonds are sewn, they all look great, I measure, make sure my 45 degree angle is correct, measure all sides and all my diamonds are pretty darn close in size, less than 1/16 inch variation surely I can fudge that! I did it before!

I am too excited to stop now! I attempt sewing two diamonds together, two out of three points match, I rip and try again, and again! Can't get that last darn point to match! I am using the same technique I used throughout, surely things seem to be the same size, why can't I get it to match??? Must be tired and it is time quit and start over tomorrow!

The frustration continues on Sunday! I can't understand why one point in every two diamonds won't match! I can match the others pretty close, but one in every set just won't cooperate! I am really bonding with my ripper, going really slow and easy, don't want to stretch out the pieces, it is taking forever, I am beginning to get really hot and frustrated, I need to put the project aside and walk away, but I am glued to my seam ripper, my diamonds and my machine, I need to get this right. But how many times should I rip to get right? I decided enough was enough, I had half the star sewn and on my design wall, and was working on the second half when my husband gets home from work and walks into the room. I don't know if he realized the level of tension in the room, the sea of thread snippets all over the place, or my face which I am sure showed my extreme frustration with the points I can't get to match! He knows the drill, he turns his head to the design wall and wows my half quilt! Then he goes on to say that I was getting really good at this, the star must be hard but look at how sharp my points were!!! I couldn't help but grin, even though I know not all my points match, and I explained to him the frustration, and point to the points that won't match, and tell him about the ripping and resewing experience. He calmly told me that he doesn't see any problems with what I made and that everything looked like it was supposed to look (I do love my man). Well, I guess that was the perspective I needed! I stopped ripping and just put the rest of the star together, with unmatched points and all--well not all, but some just won't match, oh well. :roll:

Played with inset seams today, added some borders and the top is finished!!!! Not all the points match as I would have liked them to, but the top does lay pretty flat and it is pretty square and I learned a lot making it. It measures 48'' square, and I think I like it. Ooh, and I have the tidiest back on a quilt top that I have ever had!! That must mean something, lol :mrgreen: This is my story and I am sticking to it!

Thanks all for reading! I just had to share with you all!