Green Star Quilt...Getting Started

I've had so many positive responses and comments about sharing the process of my Little Yellow Quilt being born I thought I would take you on my next journey too!

I was recently invited to have a Featured Exhibit at the National Quilt Association's show in Columbus, Ohio.  This show will run June 27-29, 2013.  How cool is that??? :)  Well I decided that I needed to have at least a couple newer pieces and there's nothing like a good deadline to get things done...at least that's how I work.

I have three pieces set aside...it's my goal to have all three pieces done but realistically I think only two will actually make it, but you never know.  This first one is a fabulous linen I purchased off of Ebay earlier this year and it will be perfect for the exhibit.

I get many questions, especially from my Craftsy students, about marking the designs on a top.  Many quilters feel that they have to mark all of their designs prior to basting and that just isn't true.  I used to do that, but not any more.  You have to learn to "listen" to your quilt and it will tell you what it needs.  Sometimes that little voice isn't heard until after you've quilted other parts of the quilt.  Your quilt changes as you work on it and something you thought would look good in the beginning just doesn't later on.

I decided upon a fan type of medallion for the middle.  The circle in the middle of this linen is of course not perfect...linens are never perfect.  This particular design allowed me to "adjust" the length of the fans to fit the space.  Once the bones of this were quilted it did absolutely nothing for me.  I will be filling this in with feathers and lines but it still was very weak.

I decided to put another linen in the middle and embellish the devil out of it.  My friend Karen did some personal shopping on Ebay for me and we found a doily that seems like it will work.  I copied the photo from the seller and placed it on top my quilt to see if it would work...I think it does!  The actual linen will be a couple inches bigger but at least this gives me an idea.  I liked the fact that it had a center medallion and the designs that came out from the middle seemed to highlight the actual design on the linen.  Because this is a crocheted piece all my quilting underneath will show thru.  (Remember this is just a photocopy sitting here...not the actual crocheted piece!)

I have to do my "homework" just like everyone else does and I have to ESS around every stinkin dot, line, curl and on both sides.  This takes forever to do but is so important to the overall piece.

Once this is completed my quilt is VERY stable and I can go in and start doing all the fluff and stuff...adding the beautiful details, feathers and beads.  I am back on the road again on the 3rd...by having my ditching done I can take this with me and start adding the freshwater pearls to all the little holes and the other beads to the middle of the flowers.

I also wanted to give my blog readers a heads up that I have a Pinterest board.  I started this several months ago and never really messed with it much as I was so busy.  Now that I am rewriting all of my handbooks, going thru old photos and taking lots of new ones to illustrate my books, I thought it was a perfect time to start adding to my Pinterest boards.  I'm having a ball.  This is a great place to quickly add photos of my work, my students' work, personal stuff, inspirations, etc.  Pinterest is a "black hole" for time...once you get started on it you get sucked in and pretty soon you've lost hours!  I go there occasionally and get inspired from all of the other boards.  Just log on to www.pinterest.com and be prepared to have some fun.

Hugs, Cindy :)