Puppy Stars (Sea Stars Pattern Test Update)

Hi, I am sharing an update on my pattern testing of Sea Stars by Meadow Mist Designs (my quilt version called Puppy Stars at the moment).

I love, love the design of this quilt pattern. But I have had some user errors/difficulties and it has taken me way longer to get this top finished than it should have. It was the squaring up of all my half square triangles. I tried the technique of trimming before final pressing and I thought my blocks were the correct size but they were just shy of a 1/4 inch too small. I had to rework and resize my half square triangles. I am back on track this week and have 8 of my 16 blocks completed.

Puppy Stars

I am hoping to get my last 8 blocks laid out and sewn up this weekend. I thought by having 8 different solids to place around my blocks that it would be easy to  get a good mix. I think the pattern was to be more random in the placement of the hsts around the plus block than what I may have them, but I think it still works out nicely this way. I am just trying to not place a cluster of the same color combinations all in one area.

I am glad to see my piles of half square triangles getting smaller. When I start sewing and creating the massive amounts of hsts for the baby WoW-E quilt that is the companion to this quilt, I will be sticking with the press open and then square up technique.

I did not get a Fresh Sewing post made for the first of June. I did not make much progress on May’s projects other than getting the flimsy made for Mod Gears and it’s backing. My plan for June is to get this Sea Stars test quilt completed, and get my other two test quilts (Grande Scrappy Tiles and Plus Plus) quilted as well. All these patterns will be coming available later in the month.  I think the blog hop over at Meadow Mist Designs is June 17th or close by so I have my work cut out for me. It does not take that long to baste the quilts. It’s deciding how to quilt them that takes the longest for me sometimes.

I have joined the 2015 New Bloggers Blog Hop this month. There is a nice group of close to 70 “newish” bloggers who have been blogging for less than 2 years. We get help from 4 bloggers (Quilting Jetgirl, Late Night Quilter, Meadow Mist Designs, and Childlike Fascination)  from last year’s New Bloggers group. We will be working with each other and critiquing each other blogs and learning ways to make possible improvements to it. It is a great way to make new quilting friends and mentors.

This week I will be starting to participate in the Midnight Mystery Quiltalong over at Meadow Mist Designs. I am deciding on what colors to use and will be digging and pulling fabrics from my stash for this project. It goes from June 2015 to March 2016. Quite a few of the gals from the New Bloggers group are also participating in the mystery quiltalong so that should add the fun to it and it is another way to get to know each other.

I will be linking up my post with Crazy Mom’s Quilts, Can I get a Whoop Whoop? and Prairie Sewn Studios Crafty Comment Karma linky party.

Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley