No, not Van Gogh (although I have seen the original (copy above) in the Musee D'Orsay in Paris and it is a stunning piece), and not Don McLean (although I do like that song - and even more now that I know it was written about/for Van Gogh), but Christmas stars!
Following Anne's stars pattern (which she so kindly sent me), I've been making nine of these lovely little stars over the last couple of days. I won't tell you exactly how I'm going to use them, as at least two of the recipients read this blog! But I'll be sure to post photos on Flickr so you can see the projects before Christmas! (And my family can not look if they don't want to spoil the surprise!)
My little helperI described the stars as 'little' for a good reason - despite Anne's pattern saying the unfinished size for each star would be 9.5", mine are only 8" unfinished! I wasn't quite sure what I had done wrong, until I worked out that I had sewn the bits together lining up the edges pre-stitching instead of working out how the even edge would be formed after stitching, so that when pressed and opened out, the edge wasn't even, it was a quarter inch short. So I ended up losing quite a bit of star when trying to match up seams, etc.
A beginner's mistake, but one I'm not too fussed about, as for this project, 8" unfinished is just fine - a half inch border will be added to each star (1" unfinished) to frame it, so the finished size with the frame will actually be 8", which is pretty much spot on for what I've got planned. I like the stars as they are, so there won't be any remaking. :)
Scrutinising mum's workAnother silly mistake - when cutting the bits for the star, I got a bit carried away and sliced straight through a piece. I didn't realise until too late and I had cut through all nine layers! A bit of stabiliser on the back and some micro-zigzag stitches and I made a pretty good fix. One that will hardly be noticeable by the time the whole project is stitched and quilted. I hope!
Am still feeling awful and so is Romily, although she seemed to be a little improved today. Poor Carl has a 'tickly' throat, so we are hoping that he's not getting it too. Very hopeful anyway.
7 comments:
Sorry to hear you are not feeling well. Get better soon.
What a cute little helper.
Stars look great - to be honest it's not an exact science and one of mine was a few mm short on one side - just go with the flow - love the fabric choices
The stars are wonderful. Praying you and Romily feel better soon.
those stars are gorgeous and I love your fabric choices. Can't wait to see the finished product. You're racing through things are the moment!
Isn't being ill at the weekend just the pits. Hope the Lily household is soon up and running on all 4 cylinders.
Hi Lily,
Just letting you know I tagged you if you'd like to join in.
The stars are beautiful - I can hardly wait to see what you are going to do with them. I'm so sorry you've all been under the weather! Sounds really nasty. I sure hope you and Romily are on the mend and that Carl stayed healthy.
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