Snowflake QAL: Week Ten

Kelly Levant's quilt pictured here (her photo) called Summer Stars was recently accepted into Quilt Canada 2018! Congratulations, Kelly!

WEEK TEN!

Inspiration time! Kelly participated in the first Feathered Star QAL this summer. Just this week it was accepted into a juried show–her first! Well deserved, Kelly! We will be rooting for you this May!

Snowflake Sampler: assemble quilt top, p.62

Star Flurries: assemble quilt top, p. 39

Feathered Star Blizzard: assemble quilt top, p. 44

If you haven't removed your papers, I would highly suggest you do that before you sew any applicable sashing strips to your blocks before assembly. I think it is soooooo much easier to pick out papers block by block instead of having a whole lap of work to get through.

Refer to the pages of your pattern given above and complete the rest of the pattern!

OHMYGOSH, I'M GETTING SO EXCITED TO SEE YOUR TOPS!

Nagging reminder time! To get great results, go slow, take one step at a time, check and re-check your sewing in relation to the diagrams, PIN CAREFULLY AND FREQUENTLY, sew and press with care. 

You've got this!!

Snowflake QAL: Week Nine

Joan Cumming has been working ahead on her Blizzard quilt! Isn't it spectacular?!?! She added even more stars to make the whole top bigger. Beautiful!!

Welcome to Week Nine of the QAL!

Snowflake Sampler: two 36" Fierce Feathered Stars

Star Flurries: one 20" No Y Seam Feathered Stars or Fierce Feathered Stars (your choice of construction method)

Feathered Star Blizzard: two 16" AND two 8" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

Can you believe there is only one week left? Time flies when you're piecing one million tiny bits of fabric together... isn't that how the saying goes? ;)

Congratulations if you are caught up! Congratulations if you're still hanging in there! Congratulations if you're waiting for the right timing to dig in! The point is, you've challenged yourself to do a difficult thing and I admire that. It's so worthwhile to push yourself and learn new skills, I salute you!

Sampler folks: I have a video tutorial series now on how to construct the Fierce Feathered Star. If you feel safe and cozy within the confines of paper piecing (no shame in that) and are nervous about tackling the non-paper piecing star, watch the videos! They'll give you the boost you need to begin.

Next week, we'll sew our tops together! If you want to get yourself prepped, make sure all of your papers are removed. You could also begin cutting out any sashing strips if you have them (Sampler and Blizzard) and sewing them to the appropriate stars. Again, not part of the challenge this week, but if you're looking for ways to get ready, those are good places to start.

I cannot tell you how satisfying this is to seam together! FUN! This was my Sampler top from the first QAL I hosted last summer.

Hop on over to my closed Facebook group to join the discussion, share pictures, ask questions, get encouragement. We are a community and we'd love to help you out!

Snowflake QAL: Week Seven

Lisa's progress! @duhquilts on Instagram.

Welcome to Week Seven! 

Snowflake Sampler: two 8" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

Star Flurries: one (this is a correction) 20" No Y Seam Feathered Stars or Fierce Feathered Stars (your choice of construction method)

Feathered Star Blizzard: three 8" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

I'm continually inspired by all of the progress photos I see! I say to myself "That's my favorite one!"... for every single star or group of stars I see! :) haha

What I LOVE is the diversity of color palettes. This group is making the patterns their very own!

JessicaQuilter made her own layout design using the 20" feathered stars. Look at her beautiful quilting!

Lisa @shiraz_and_sewing is using soft pink and blue tones (see her Instagram feed for more) and they are fabulous!

YOU CAN DO IT! Keep going, I promise it'll be worth it in the end!

Hop on over to my closed Facebook group to join the discussion, share pictures, ask questions, get encouragement. We are a community and we'd love to help you out!

In the Facebook group last week, I posted an option of adding a flying geese border which increases the size of the Sampler & Blizzard quilts to 90" square. Check it out if you are interested!

Snowflake QAL: Week Four

Hellllllllllllo, Club 129! How is it going?

Just joining our adventure? Catch up on the first three weeks here:

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

As for this week, here are the specifics:

Snowflake Sampler: Boders & Bonus Stars

Star Flurries: two 12" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

Feathered Star Blizzard: Borders & Bonus Stars

Star Flurries participants: You know what to do! By now, you're an expert!

Snowflake and Blizzard patterns:

Go ahead and cut everything in the Putting it all together cutting section toward the end of your pattern, even though we will not use all of the pieces this week. 

As for the first sewing assignment, complete the instructions on the bottom of p. 64 (Sampler) or p. 46 (Blizzard) under the Inner borders section. Don't worry, it's two tiny seams and some trimming. Piece of cake!

The bulk of this week's work will be completing pp. 65 & 66 (Sampler) or pp. 47-49 (Blizzard).

We will be using the Magic 8 method for making half-square triangles as detailed in the pattern. I just wanted to mention here that the HSTs are intended to be a little oversized and trimmed down to exact specifications.

As you're sewing the larger squares together, try to align the outer edges as best as possible, but don't worry if they end up like the next photo. I don't pin the squares together or go to any other heroic measures, the trimming step will make them perfect!

I set my stitch length is a little shorter (2.2) than what I normally use to discourage unraveling after all the cuts are made.

Stacks on stacks!

This week of the QAL is sponsored by Tara Curtis of WEFTY!  If you have not seen a WEFTY needle before, you neeeeeed to check it out! There are crazy-amazing designs that can be accomplished with these small but mighty tools!

Tara is generously awarding a prize pack of WEFTY needles, her Woven Stars variation pattern, an EZMiter AND the EZMiter baby quilt pattern! Basically, she's spoiling us! Thanks, Tara!

Follow her on Instagram for innovative and inspiring projects!

Would you believe that we've had our first top finish?!?! I know!!! Donna Barrieau shared this in our Facebook group! Isn't it incredible? And not to mention that she got this accomplished during Week Three! Beautiful work, Donna! Thank you for inspiring us... and making us envious at the same time! :) HA!

Wishing you a productive week! Don't forget to join our Facebook group to connect with other QAL participants!

Snowflake QAL: Week Three

12" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

Here we are! Week Three is already here! Your challenge this week:

Snowflake Sampler: two 12" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

Star Flurries: two 12" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

Feathered Star Blizzard: four 12" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

Let's talk totals for each quilt. The Sampler & Blizzard folks will be tackling all of their 12" blocks this week. The Flurries people will do two 12" blocks this week and two 12" blocks next week. If you are printing templates and cutting fabric this week, you might want to do all that prep at once.

By now, you are a PRO at constructing the No Y Seam Feathered Star blocks! The 12" blocks go together in the same way as the 16" or 20" NYSFS blocks (depending on what you completed in the previous weeks). 

Remember to remove papers as you complete your blocks! I got into the habit of sewing by day and then removing papers by night in front of the tv. It makes the job more bearable, I think. Paper removal is not my favorite part of the process! ;)

I hope you're all experiencing the excitement of having the 129 fabric pieces come together to form each star! I'll leave you with this fanstastic 16" star made by Julie McLane!  What a great example of coordination and contrast! I love how all of our quilts will look so amazingly different and special when we're done!

This week of the QAL is sponsored by Kate Basti of Quilt with Kate.  Kate is a graphic designer tuned quilter extraordinaire and is the author of some pretty great paper piecing patterns! She will be emailing a bundle of THREE pattern PDFs to the winner. Please refer to the weekly QAL email for specifics with how to enter this drawing. Make sure to check Kate out on Instagram, too: @katebasti.

Have a great week! Don't forget to join our Facebook group here: Friends of Threaded Quilting Studio.

Snowflake QAL: Week Two

#ClubOneTwoNine! How is is going!? What do we think of these stars so far? Hopefully you're getting the hang of how they are sewn together.  

This week's challenge is to complete:

Snowflake Sampler: two 16" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

Star Flurries: two 20" NYSFS or Fierce Feathered Stars (method is up to you)

Feathered Star Blizzard: three 16" No Y Seam Feathered Stars

If you did your printing, cutting, and prepping last week, this week should take less time! If you haven't yet made the first two blocks, check out the Week One post for lots of tips!

Pattern error/typo! It's nothing to get too excited about, but the color guides on pages 22 & 23 of the Sampler & Blizzard patterns show incorrect square measurements. YOU DO NOT NEED TO RECUT ANYTHING! To update the pattern, I've just eliminated the specific dimensions because the only thing that matters is whether to use the bigger or smaller squares in each unit.

TIP!!

If you've had a little trouble with your points (like the spines) not being as pointy as you'd like, try this:

• Aim to sew on the far edge of the last sewing line (last in sequential order for the unit). You don’t want to deviate too much from the line, but you might be able to fudge it a bit.

• Realllllllllly open that last fabric piece out and finger press it "aggressively" after it’s sewn. Get way down into the crease! It helps so much.

It has been an absolute joy to see these stars coming to life in your very capable hands! Here's one I'd like to show you, made by JessicaQuilter. If you'd like to see more, come join us in our Facebook group! For even more photos, check out the #featheredstarqal hashtag on Instagram. Did you know you can follow hashtags on Instagram now? They'll pop up in your feed whenever a new photo is posted with a specific hashtag!

I also have a Pinterest board called Feathered Star Obsessed you should check out.

Made by JessicaQuilter, click image to visit her on Instagram.

JessicaQuilter sponsored our first week by giving away FOUR of her Selvage Bookshelf Quilt Patterns!  Congrats to Melanie for winning! Each of these patterns is available on JessicaQuilter's Etsy site and also as a bundle.  These patterns were inspired by a love of books, and a desire to integrate selvages into a pattern.  They can be made to fit any size quilt, and leave room for the quilter to add personal touches in the final design. 

Thanks so much for sponsoring, Jessica, and for sharing your creativity with us!

For all the QAL'ers, check your email each week for the weekly photo prompts to be eligible for the prize drawings!

Week Two is sponsored by Amy Friend of During Quiet Time. She'll be sending the winner a copy of her pattern Flitter (foundation piecing!) and a charm pack of her Improv fabric!

Amy is the author of two quilting books (Amazon affiliate links below) and tons of amazing patterns, you should definitely check out her PDF shop for some ADORABLE pp blocks!

Keep up with Amy on Instagram for more quilty inspiration. She's @duringquiettime.

Have a wonderful week! I look forward to seeing the magic you create!