Celestial Star Quilt-a-long

I am really having a BLAST with this quilt a long - hosted by Diane at From Blank Pages.

This is my first time doing a QAL and has actually inspired other changes too.  I am pretty new to the whole world of online quilt making and sharing.  I am NOT new to social media.  The marriage of quilting and social media is kind of a match made in heaven for me. 

So I've started a blog!  Not ONLY for this QAL, but this was definitely the catalyst!  Here I will be able to share my weekly ramblings for friends and family and my quilting adventures. 

The first quilting adventure I'm going to share is my progress on the Celestial Star QAL.  I have learned a TON in piecing the first 5 blocks.  And I've got 2 more in various stages of completion.  I think I'm going to go ahead and do 12 blocks - provided I can continue to squeeze out some time!

The first 2 blocks I pieced went together super fast - for paper piecing.  I stopped at the point where it was time to start joining together pieces.  I was too nervous to mess things up!

The 3rd block was a bit of a nightmare!  But I'm choosing to consider it a good learning experience.  I need to make sure that I'm really certain of the design before I start.  And that center seam needs some special attention!

Here's my progress in putting block #5 together.  I would say each block is taking me about 5 hours???  It's a little bit hard to say because I'm usually working on several blocks in different stages at the same time.  (This helps me from getting bored!  HA!) 

Enjoy - and if you want to play along, go see From Blank Pages and join the Quiltalong.  It's not too late!

This is the final fabric selections I made after auditioning all the different choices.  I am using Me and My Sisters WEEDS fabric line for this quilt.  I choose it because I loved it from the first time I saw it - also because this reminds me very much of the Buckeyes and hopefully it will be done in time to use during football season!

Here all the templates are laid out on the fabric in preparation for cutting.

 

I did some fussy cutting with this block - which really just means that I paid attention to how the pieces were cut out so they would all match in the block.  This project is the first time I've ever done any fussy cutting.  It takes me forever...  cutting is my least favorite part - except maybe that center seam...

 

Here's everything all cut out and ready for piecing using the pattern paper templates.

 

After all the pieces were done and trimmed up, I tackled sewing them together - after making sure I had all the necessities - coffee, rotary cutter, phone - GO!

 

I chain stich just about everything.  And normally I've got more than one group of pieces going at the same time.  I'm pretty sure these pieces were becoming wedges at the same time some other paper pieces was happening.  Efficiency is important to me!

 

The great divide!  Trust me when I tell you that there is way more than an inch separating these pieces.  Tackling that center seam is nerve racking! 

 

After staring at those 2 halves for 2 days, I held my breath and pieced them together.  Not perfect, but passable!  Especially for a quilt that I want to be loved and used. 

Here are the (almost) 6 blocks I have finished.  The one in the lower right isn't finished yet. 

 

I'm really loving how this is turning out so far!  It's a challenging project, but there is no better feeling than getting all those pieces trimmed up and laying them out to see what the block is going to look like.  It's kind of like magic.  And speaking of magic...  this pattern is SUCH a chameleon!  It completely changes based on how you lay out the colors and fabrics.  If you are looking for some quilting inspiration, go check out #celestialstarqal on Instagram.  Everyone participating has taken this is a different direction and the results are so very beautiful!