The Turtle Wins the Race, Right, Rabbit?

While working out this morning I found myself listening to one of the TED Radio hour podcasts from NPR.  Odd topic it was – “Slow”.   The subject focused around appreciating that sometimes, things move slowly for a reason, and that high-tech may not be the ultimate savior of everything; that slow is sometimes the best, most effective approach to a problem or issue. 

Then, as I was looking through a few blogs, it kind of hit me – I am a “slow” quilter.  But, I like that.  I’ve never been one to only want to sew in a straight line – I like curves, I like hand piecing, and I like taking my time to enjoy the process of making the quilt – top to bottom, back to front.  I think that’s why I can easily get frustrated with new patterns and "new" ideas – because some of those are aimed purely at the notion of how fast can we churn out a quilt and move on to the next.  I'm not the rabbit, I guess, and want to enjoy the process of making and composing a quilt - and making it my own.

I see this notion of "slow" relating in one of my latest endeavors – make this quilt that uses 3 ½” blocks – little pieced star blocks.  And, oh yeah, it’ll take 256 (yes, that’s 2-5-6) of them.  But, that’s just the start.  In addition, it takes numerous additionally-cut 3 ½” squares.  What am I?  Nuts for taking on this project?  Yeah, probably so.  But having to make 3 ½” hunter’s stars was a challenge for me.  I normally like to work with big, bold patterns and this one is small (small!).  But, last weekend, I accomplished (crossed the finish line) what I thought would take a lifetime – over 256 little, 3 ½” hunters stars completed. I think this actually took me about 2 years, working off and on.  I admit, I must have gotten overzealous when cutting the last star pieces (probably because I saw the light at the end of the tunnel), and cut a few too many.  Oh well – completed as they are, I’ll use them somewhere. 

Here's the quilt I'm patterning from.  Lots of squares.  But, for me, that's dull, so I'm mixing up the colored squares and free-piecing scraps to add more interest.

So, out of a fabric I bought on-line – and it looked really neat on line, but when I got it, I kind of hated it and set it aside – I now have 256+ star blocks that I smile at every time I look at them.  Funny, when something is cut into little pieces and sewn in a different configuration, something once icky becomes enjoyable.  Lesson learned:  don’t discount those fabrics you don’t like:  cut them up and you may find they take on a new life.  

The original fabric, being cut into 1 1/4" strips to make the stars.  I didn't like this so much to begin with, but cut apart and paired with the white star, I really like the effect.

So, here’s what 256 star blocks look like. 

Staging for keeping track of all the pieces I needed for each star. A block of Styrofoam comes in handy.  

Close up of the 3 1/2" stars.  I liked some of the printing on the edge of the fabric, that I included in the stars.  Gives some clues as to what fabric was used.

And, to complicate the quilt further – instead of cutting all those additional 3 ½” squares to put the block together, I decided to modernize and retro it at the same time by creating the pieces I need out of scraps sewn in wonky ways.  I rather like this treatment as it adds more interest to the quilt.  If I have a path to choose  - one easy and one hard – I’m pretty much taking the “hard way home”.  I’ll get there; it will be slow.  But I enjoy this process and enjoy the excitement that free-sewing can provide.  It’s a bit of freedom that comes along with the process – it’s challenging and fun at the same time. 

This is the finished block.  Each block will look slightly different as I free-piece the colored side of the block.  I'm doing this instead of cutting all those 3 1/2" squares.  I like the effect more as it provides much more interest (at least it does for me).

This the back of the block.  Just for fun.

Have fun in what you enjoy doing.  I think it frees your mind to be even more creative. Linking up with friends this week, after being gone for a while... 

Happy Quilting!