(Added Friday, February 3: As busy as I was this week, turns out this is my only finish, so I'm linking up this post today with Amylouwho's Sew & Tell Friday and TGIFF at Missy Mac Creations.)
While they were away, I had a fun night of sewing with my son's girlfriend. Her mom has been planning an outfit for her to dance in a powwow at the end of March, and they want to applique a Lone Star on the back of the dance shawl. Would I mind helping her with it? LoL Silly girl.
It was my first attempt at a Lone Star, and I usually avoid sewing diamonds altogether, so I'll admit I was a little nervous about how it would turn out. Still, it couldn't hurt to try.
We started out with this photo for inspiration. We both really liked the swirly layout of the colors, even though it would make the assembly a bit trickier. A little more Googling brought us to "The Challenge of a Lone Star Quilt," an excellent tutorial (though slightly intimidating with repeated dire warnings about accurate 1/4" seams!)
Completely unsure if we were up to the task (at least I was unsure) -- we started a plan anyway. Tessa drew up and colored a diagram for the layout. (This would not be just a challenge, it would be a MEGA Challenge. LoL)
A quick trip to the fabric store, a stop at Subway for dinner, and we were back home cutting up fabric. Tessa laid out the units per her diagram.
Ta-daaah! Ready to sew.
The piecing went surprisingly well, though I'll admit my seam ripper got lots of use! The process went really fast with me sewing and Tessa ironing. Before long we had half of the units together:
So of course, we had to keep on going...
By 1:00 a.m. we were done (not to mention tired and silly!)
What is that random purple diamond doing in the middle? And those blues in the green row? We almost missed the two rows that were sewn in backwards. I think I wore that seam ripper out by the time we were done, but it's all fixed now. And finished!
A few rough spots here and there (curse those inaccurate 1/4" seams!), but not bad at all for a first try. It lays flat, so we're happy. LoL
Since I have never been to a powwow, I couldn't quite envision what the shawl would look like, so I did some more Googling this morning and found lots of info at the Crazy Crow Trading Post site, including this video from the Gathering of Nations Powwow:
Aren't those shawls beautiful? I'm excited to see Tessa's all finished -- and to see her dance!
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20 comments:
Wow! You did a great job with the spiral lone star. I did one several years ago and it frustrated me so much, so I really admire your sticking with it until 1 AM!!
I have never seen a spiral lone star...very cool. Looks perfect for the powwow dancing shawl.
beautiful work
I love this one! I have done a Lone Star, but not this design. Very pretty!
Great job, love the colors. Congrats!
Beautiful! So nice of you to put all that work in for your son's girlfriend. I'm sure she's very thankful to you. I hope her dance goes well. :)
Impressive! For real. I've made Quiltsmart's version of the lone star several times and every time I wonder how anyone does it the way you did. I love that you did the swirl, too. Really nice!
That is going to look stunning on the back of Tessa's dance shawl! Wow! Wonderful job! Thanks for linking up to TGIFF!
Wow, that's really cool with the spiraling and all!
WOW! That is really gorgeous! It almost looks tye-dyed. I do have to say your warnings don't really tempt me to try one for myself. :)
~Michelle
To my naked, untrained eye, the first one looked amazing. The fixed one is spectacular. :-)
wow! i've never seen a lone star with a spiral in it before - yours is spectacular!
Love it. The colours are gorgeous. You must feel so proud. Well done! Thanks for linking up to TGIFF too. That is definitely worth showing off! :)
oh my! you both really did a lot of hard work!
Uff da! I am so impressed with your Lone Star -- I'd never have guessed it was your first one. I share your fear of diamonds and for me, staying up late to sew is a recipe for disaster. I make the most retarded mistakes when my brain falls asleep behind the sewing machine late at night!! Please post a photo of the shawl when it's finished.
Wow! That lone star is gorgeous.
Hi, I found this beautiful quilt on Pinterest and followed the link to your blog. Do you have a copyright on this pattern? If so I'd be willing to pay a fee to use it. The colors are exactly what I need to make a quilt for my (Oregon) Aloha High School graduating grandsons. Using your pattern would make this so much easier for me.
Thank you, Cby Bailey! (Hope you get this message. Your comment came to my email with a "no-reply" address.) The pattern we used was from this link: http://www.quilting-tidbits.com/lone-star-quilt.html We drew it up and planned out which colors would be placed where, and the colors were all Tessa's choice. I believe they were all Kona cottons. It was a fun project! Good luck!
Beautiful spiral. I was looking at your pictures, and it looks like you cut out your diamonds individually? Is that right? I'm thinking of doing a different color pattern as well, and think it might be easier than trying to sew my strips in the right order. Can you tell me what size you cut out your diamonds?
Oh my goodness, Brenda. It was such a long time ago, I don't honestly remember, but yes, we cut the diamonds individually. All I remember otherwise is that we used this tutorial for guidance and it is still available online: http://www.quilting-tidbits.com/lone-star-quilt.html. thanks for visiting! :)
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