"Sister's Choice" My New Quilt Project

As my friends that follow my blog already know, I have a little bit of a fabric stash. ;)  (I wrote  about it here.)  It was purchased with the hopes that one day I would learn to quilt in my spare time.   Last year, the opportunity to learn presented itself  with Sewn's "Skill Builder Challenge".   My skills have grown by leaps and bounds.  Thanks to Leila, my little Kenzie and I have been humming ever since!  Now, I can open quilting books or look at patterns on fabulous quilting sites and understand the directions... WOW!!

After completing over half of the challenge, and due to the fact that we are on a break from the Challenge (Hope your feeling better Leila!), I went on a search for a quilt pattern for my bedroom.  Since I wanted it to be from my stash, a scrappy quilt was called for.   My design preference has leaned towards star based blocks with a simple design.  So with that in mind, I looked through some favorite sites to find my first major quilting adventure.  The search ended at Bonnie K Hunter's "Quiltville's Quips & Snips" site.  Bonnie has several wonderful free patterns that I am anxious to try, but for this project, I fell for the name and design of the quilt "Sister's Choice".  (You can click on the title to view the pattern and check out Bonnie's outstanding blog!) 

Our front room table transforms into the designated area for construction of my quilt... for at least twice a week anyways! ;)  The center of the star block is a nine patch and at least one of the two colors will be a form of  red/burgundy.  The only other set color will be the star points, which will be done in a shade of green. 

I hunted for the right fabric out of my stash and cut the pieces for the nine patch centers first.  It took quite a while, but I loved every minute of it! :)  On my new work at home schedule (desperately needed it to keep my home business art and hobbies organized... Aaaagh!), Friday and Sunday afternoons are allotted for sewing machine piecing.  These were the first nine patch centers that were assembled.  More blocks have been added to them today.  I plan to finish all the nine patch blocks before starting the outer border of the stars. :)

I thought that I would share this final block from the Skill Builder Challenge, since this post is on the subject of quilts. :)   It was one of the applique challenge blocks.  This block surprised me in being a fun project.  Needle turn applique would not have been a technique that I would have looked to learn on my own.  

 

I cannot honestly say that I am in a hurry to start an applique quilt with cotton fabrics, but it does get my mind spinning about the possibilities of wool applique.  Penny rugs and candle mats are something that I am anxious to try.  This block gave me the push to begin drawing my first mat.  It will be fun to stitch on at night! :)