Les étoiles de Cécile - Brille

It is finally May! I just realized that I haven't showed you my little 16 stars challenge hosted by Béa et Cécile in France. It has been waiting for April 30th for so long and then I forget about it. lol.

It started with some applique stars that took to long to make. So I switched to little 3 inches Ohio Stars. Much easier.

Altogether, sixteen stars were made and then they grew a lined border on two sides.

(Please remember that this project was started back in January 2020. There was no way I could have foreseen what was about to happen in March 2020.)

I did this quilt to show that we are all unique and beautiful.

Brille/Shine tells us that we are Stars and even though,

some of us are shy to let our light shine ...

or that we feel awkward in front of people (that's me) ...

or we have some handicap, physical or mental, or we have been broken by abuse and lies, or we are a wallflower,


we can all shine a beautiful light that can brighten up other people's day, moment or even their life.

And this is even more apparent during this hard time of COVID-19. Thank you to all of you who still make this world go round; Doctors, nurses, truck drivers, police, firefighters, first line people all over, thank you.

No matter what happen today, you can still shine. Give your light to others. No one knows what the other went through.

A candle looses nothing by lighting up another candle.


Back of Shine.

Overcast day makes very poor pictures. Sorry. All it needs is a good wash and blocking.


Merci Béa et Cécile for this fun sew-along. Gros bisous.

Stay safe everyone. 💗

;^)

Joining
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy

Quilting Over Sewing

Didn't sew much but did a lot of quilting this past week.

Field of Poppies got its first border. I am so happy that the corners are even in the sense that the light are next to the dark all the way around. I love how it looks too.

Plenty of teal, aqua and turquoise in this one.


Then I attached the quilting foot back on the machine and quilted my heart out. (not even, haha!)

The car seat mats were first to go. These will grace a co-worker's van. She asked for dark grey or black with yellow.

Some simple free hand design. To me, they are free motion practice pieces and I had a lot of fun with it. You can see my quilting on this picture. I used a navy blue thread as I couldn't see the black thread in my dark basement.

This is the back. Not sure what happened with the lighting here as it is actually a white piece of fabric. I might add some quilting in the black border ... maybe not.
They are ready for Slow Sunday Stitching as the binding is already attached.

Now that the navy blue thread has been removed from the machine, I can continue on this one. Only have a few more "petals" to do. I don't know what I will quilt in the green border so it might have to rest for a bit while I decide what I want.

And then I can start on the Ohio Star mini quilt, a.k.a. the Cécile's Star Quilt.

I know how or what to quilt on this one. What is stopping me is the backing. I have to look for something pretty.

And then, I'll switch foot on the machine again because I miss piecing. :^( Field of Poppies needs a second green border ... but that's for another post.



So far, we are surviving the empty shelves syndrome at the stores. None of us are coughing or have a fever. So far, so good.

At work, the Centre is closed. I am at home with my workload, working on my old computer in the basement. (Wish I had a laptop so I could move outside. Sigh.) I still have to work my eight hours and report daily. I don't know how long this will last because there is just so much I can do without my office and co-workers bringing in requests, data, papers, problems, shopping lists, etc.

Hopefully the sun will stick around. It's so nice to feel its energy again.

Enjoy your stash. There's no need to practice social distancing with it, so cuddle up.

;^)

Joining
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Kathy at Kathy's Quilts

Pondering

Ever so slowly, I am hand applique these little stars. They were my first attempt at Cécile and Béa Stars Sew-Along. They were demanding too much time to sew so I went for Plan B.

The yellow one is partly done. I have some difficulties with the points. I'm afraid to cut the fabric too short. It's a learning process and I like it.

These stars are my Plan B. They are sewn together and waiting their turn to be quilted.

I am working away on this project as it needs to be finished before the stars. I got a long piece of batting and attached both seat mats to it. It's fun as both are now quilted in the centre. Now working on the black section. I chose a navy thread because I was afraid of not being able to see a black thread on these fabrics. I'm doing this for free for a co-worker. They are my machine quilting practice pieces.



Pondering
I am very puzzled by the people's behavior.

I come from, and still live, in the country where we know that good things need time to grow; where we know hard times and bad seasons come to pass; where we know our neighbours and who's children are playing in the street.  We know that we can rely on neighbours when hard times hit.
These tiny little villages are growing steadily though as more and more city people come here to settle. They don't know our way of live. They listen more to the media then to common sense.

Poultry section

This is what my grocery store looked like yesterday morning. We always go grocery shopping on Saturday morning and it has never looked like a war zone. That scared me.

Beef section far right. Pork on the left.

It seems like pork is the least favourite.

My thoughts go out to those who already rely on coupons and rebate to put food on their tables. Even though my husband hasn't work a day since the beginning of December, we will manage as we know enough farmers to be able to feed my family directly from the producers if push comes to shove. I am blessed.

Yep, we ran out of toilette paper too. Even paper towels have disappeared. I guess it could be a good alternative. (not!)

Since I have nowhere to go I'll sit on my deck, soaking in the sun's rays and stitch away. Hope you do too.

Hope you are all blessed with good health and good neighbours.

;^)


Joining
Kathy at Kathy's Quilts
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

As the Snow is Gently Falling ... again!

I am still sewing little bits of pieces. I am so addicted to these little pieces.

Sixteen little stars for Cécile Sew-Along. They stand at 3.5 inches at the moment. They came out of my scrap bins and from gifted bags of scraps. So much fun.

Then I decided they need a special treatment. A different fabric was chosen for each star. Such a beautiful array of colors around my sewing machine, because I am also working on ...

a multi-colored fabric basket.

Plans are laid out. It was my leader-ender as I was sewing the stars but now it will jump up a notch because the stars are done.

The missing ones are on the ironing board. This project is coming along very quickly ... for me. :^D

On the other hand, this project was not coming along quickly. Do you remember this quilt in flannel? I started it in 2014. I worked part-time on it for like 3 years, finishing all the blocks in 2017. Finally got the last border on last year.

and it's being quilted ever so slowly since then.
It measures 100 X 75 inches and the backing is also all flannel. The quilting of this beast on my little Janome was so demanding on my neck and shoulders that I did very little at a time.

Well, I finally got it done.

I tried to bind it with the backing fabric folded to the front. My result was not nice.

I am pulling too much on the backing I think because the border got all puffy and distorted. :^(  There is obviously a trick of the trade that I don't know about.

And I couldn't get the corner to look half decent. So, out came the Super Seam Ripper and the rotary cutter. The backing was cut down and a "real" binding was added.

Later tonight and tomorrow I will hand sew the black binding down. 350 inches to go. Sounds like I'm gonna have a lovely time. It's good to finally have a finish too. :^D  More pictures to come next week.

Have a great one everyone.

;^)


Joining
Denise at For the Love of Geese
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework (Sunday)
Kathy at Kathy's Quilts (Sunday)

Green Star? Why not?

I did little sewing this week, like in 3 inches Ohio Star kind of sewing.

Some are from my stash of little pieces.

Others are entirely made from given scraps bags.

(I can tell I was tired. The stars aren't as straight as they could be. Sigh! Whatever!)

I love this piece of scrap.

Unfortunately, big prints don't work well with little pieces. I know what fabric it is so it still makes me smile. :^) (the colors are truer in this picture)

So my design wall looks like this now. Only two more stars to do. I think I need another purple and a light one ... or two lights?
I had a plan on setting the stars with alternate blocks but now I have another plan. Hopefully, I'll get more sewing time next week.

Meanwhile, the green basket is still a wish to come true ... eventually.

Did two units so far. (Not in their final place.) I love the "wood" print. My intention is to work on this project this weekend.

Have a great one !

;^)


Joining
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Denise at For the Love of Geese

Seeing Stars ... not really!

I am participating in Cécile and Béa sew along. I got my stars ...

... but they don't line up.

Love this.

Love this.

Lo... nope!

The warm colors are so nice on the grey background but the blue one does nothing to me. I don't know what to do. Sigh!

We are passed the middle of January and all I have are three stars not even completely done. I need 16 stars! This is taking way more time than I obviously have. I need to do something that doesn't take that long so sew.

On Facebook, I saw a participant making Ohio Stars. I love Ohio Star. So, Ohio, I go! Ran down stairs and whipped up one Ohio Star block.

Love this.

This morning I made two more.

Not sure what happened to the orange one but it definitely needs some plastic surgery. The blue is so yellow. It steals the show, don't you think? Am I going soft colors or bold? I don't know. Sigh! I've been following patterns for so long that I don't know how to play anymore. :^(
I hope my creativity will resurface soon.

Btw, I don't have giant pins. The pattern for my Ohio Stars comes from the 365 Challenge. They measure 3.5 inches to finish at 3.

My design wall this morning.


Meanwhile, because there's always a "meanwhile in Canada", when the centre where I work moved, the employees were allowed to take the furniture home (after all the other departments took whatever they needed).

I came home with these two pieces.

If you're thinking that I "just threw stuff on the shelves", you are absolutely right. In an attempt to get rid of some bins and boxes, things were roughly stacked up. Since I was able to close the doors, it was acceptable ... at that time. Now? Not so much.

My goal this year is to make basket à la Fiona. The second unit has nice shelves to hold an array of colorful baskets. (Never mind the blue dots. They are made of fabric and came from a gifted bag of scraps. I just slapped them there as the interfacing was still tacky.)

As I am putting away the blues and browns leftover from the 365, I am cutting up a kit. (I am running low on sewing capsules.)

Adding the grey fabrics from the applique stars too. It will be a quilt for my man, not that I am starting something new. No, no, not yet anyway, haha.

And since 365 blocks have vacated this container I am putting it to good use again. It is holding the 4 patch blocks that are now 2x8 units for my Field of Poppies. So many more to sew. Fun!

That's all for now.

;^)

Joining
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching
Denise at For the Love of Geese

Les étoiles de Cécile

New year; new project.


Cécile and Béa started their annual sew-along and the theme this year is Star. Whatever kind of star you wish to sew is okay. The only two rules which are 1- a minimum of 16 star blocks and 2- it needs to be finish for May 31, 2020.

If you wish to join, you can do so here. But hurry, the registration closes on January 15. There's some wonderful prizes to be won.

If you just want to see the parade of beautiful quilts, you can join the FB group here.

So far, I have made :

Quilty Friends which was inspired by Cécile sew-along.

Then there was the basket quilt...

... which I didn't finished. It is still waiting to be quilted.


And this year, it's stars.

Last summer, I got from an online store, a set of templates for English Paper Piecing. All kind of shapes are included and they come in three different sizes. I have the outline and the full template.

It looks like a lot of fun, right? I don't know 'cause I haven't tried them yet.


Cécile's Stars quilt is the perfect opportunity to give it a try. So, I picked out the diamonds and started to trace them onto fabrics.

Okay, it's not perfect but it's the first time I work with diamonds. I'll learn along the way I'm sure.

Of course, orange and blue had to be my first choice of fabric. :^D

So I need to do 16 of these and then what? Uh .. I'll applique them on ... something ... neutral? Or should I add little diamonds on the sides so I can attach them all together? Hmmm! I'll sleep on that.

Stay tuned.

;^)


Joining Denise at For the Love of Geese
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Kathy at Kathy Quilts