Oh My Stars! quilt along blocks #11 & #12

I'm quite behind on my production of Oh My Stars! quilt along blocks.  I was away this past weekend at a quilting retreat in Phoenix Arizona (a delightful group of quilters from About.com's Quilting Forum .. it was our 10th anniversary of having this retreat!).  I didn't sew any blocks for this quilt along during the retreat.

Upon my return home and after non-sewing obligations were fulfilled, I got busy ... blocks #11 (Radiant Star) and #12 (Checkerboard Star) were made.

The Radiant Star is interesting as it has an on-point square for its center.  I made myself a window template that would enable me to fussy-cut the center square.

The Checkerboard Star was a welcome relief from complicated blocks ... most of the sub-units were cut from a strip set!

I seem to be having some problems with sizing these blocks correctly.  When I'm finished sewing, the untrimmed blocks are slightly oversized.  Normally, this would be fine because I can then trim away the excess.  Unfortunately, it wasn't *just* the background pieces that were oversized ... the entire block was! 

AND ... to add insult to injury ... when the block *was* trimmed to the proper size, sometimes I didn't have a 1/4" seam allowance beyond the star points!  aaarrrggghhhh!!  This means the points are going to be clipped when the blocks are sewn together.  I *hate* that! 

But  ...  ::shrug:: ...  I don't hate it enough to re-do all those blocks.  There are just a whole lotta blocks that I still need to sew.  I'll just try, with each new block, to be better at the proper seam allowance and use proper pressing techniques.

On an entirely different topic ... I received an Anonymous/no-reply comment that my blog wasn't able to be seen properly in the Chrome browser.  Concerned, I installed Chrome and looked at my blog with it.  Honestly, I couldn't see where there was any problem whatsoever with reading the blog or in its formatting.  So ... dear Anonymous .. whoever you are ... I did try but can't see where there is any problem.  Please do let me know of something specific so I can research further.

Technology is wonderful. :-)

Through another blog, I found a fantastic widget for a blog page!  How many times have you wanted to print out a blog post but upon printing, you find the printed layout is less than optimum?

I've resorted to copy/pasting blog pages into my word processor, just so the printout would be acceptable.  This process can be very tedious.

The widget is from the Print Friendly website and allows the reader the ability to print the blog page either as a printer page OR as a PDF!   Personally, I think that's just awesome.

The only drawback is that their directions refers to the old layout of Blogger.  It took some mucking about for me to find the similar areas in the new Blogger layout.  But, I persevered ... and ..

Ta Da!

I now have a green oval "Print PDF" button at the bottom of every page.  :-)  Just one of the fine services that I offer. :-)

Oh My Stars! quilt along: #10 Quattro Stagioni Star

I was very happy to be working on a simple layout!  It continues to amaze me at the sheer variety that Sheila is able to pull out of her imagination!

This layout is called Quattro Stagioni, as it reminded Sheila of the 4 pizza choices in one that she had in Italy.

We only have 5 more variations left before the assembly process starts!

Oh My Stars! quilt along. #9: Nested Star block

This is a good looking block!  With the inner portion of the star the same as the surrounding background, it looks like it's a see-through block!

BUT ... oh my gosh ... once again the small 4" block is a killer.  I made (3) 4" blocks, being Very Careful each time, but every time, the points of the inner star were chopped off.  Very, very discouraging.  And annoying.  Not to mention the 4" block is very bulky with seams.

So, after the 3rd attempt and not getting any better, I decided that I would fill out the rest of this set with basic Sawtooth stars for the remaining (2) blocks.

[A sneak look at star #10 showed that the center of the star is a 4-patch.  Oh hooray!  Even the 4" blocks should be good!  :-)   Proceeding to Star #10!]

Oh My Stars! quilt along (#8)

The #8 star variation of this Sawtooth Star block for the Oh My Stars! quilt along is called the Chevron Star. 

Thankfully, the smallest star (4") of this design wasn't so difficult to put together; I did the requisite 5 of them.  (Sometimes the variation is truly obnoxious when trying to do the small size).

I'm somewhat behind in block production.  Sheila is *killing* me with releasing two tutorials a week !  Needing to do some home business work also had some small part in preventing me from sewing the blocks as I would have liked to do.

On to block #9!

Yard Sale Saturday :-)

Over at Quiltsville, Bonnie is organizing a linky Yard Sale ... and I am participating! :-)

Here are my offerings:   all fabrics are 100% cotton, quilting quality unless otherwise labeled.  Some pieces have been washed; some not; some I'm not sure about.  Groupings were done for photography purposes; they do not need to be purchased as a group.  Everything is priced at $5/yard, prorated appropriately.

Postage is extra.  Delivery confirmation, optional (Let me know if you want it). Paypal accepted.

Please leave me a comment if you are interested in any of these fabulous pieces! :-)
 

Photo 1:
1. Mary Englebret diagonally set squares.  not washed.  1-7/8+ yards.  $9
2. license plates. washed. 1/2 yard. $2.50
3. multi-color (primary colors) plaid on white.  1 yard + 8".  $5.50
4. Judaica print on white.  1/4+ yard.  $1.25

Photo 2:
1. unicorns on mottled turquoise/gray background.  1/2 yard.  $2.50
2. Nemo & Dory licensed fabric.  1/2 yard.  $2.50
3. road signs on black background.  1 yard.  $5
4. cellphones on blue background.  fat quarter.  $1.25

Photo 3:
1. tennis words on blue background.  washed. 7/8 yard.  $4.25
2. yellow/green tennis balls.  washed.  1/2 yard.  $2.50
3. tennis rackets & balls on dark blue background.  washed.  1/2 yard.  $2.50
4. tennis rackets, balls & shoes on white background. 1/2 yard. $2.50
5. tennis montage on beige background. 1/2 yard.  $2.50
6. tennis rackets & balls on beige background.  1/8+ yard $1
7. golf clubs & balls on green background. 1/2 yard $2.50

Photo 4:
1. carrots on green background.  3/8 yard plus 22"x22".  $3
2. carrots on white background.  5/8 + yard. $3
3. orange "linen-like".  1/2 yard (minus a small piece) but it's only 41" wide.  $2