Stars Are Coalescing

After a couple days of tweaking the pieces of this quilt to get it to where it feels right, I’ve thrown up my hands and said, “That’s good enough!!!”

Having only ten different fabrics in this quilt, and 8 different fabrics in each block, it was hard to keep fabrics from ending up right next to the exact same fabric, or to keep from creating clumps of color. But I was able to solve the things that were bothering me the most.

I started sewing the blocks together this evening and have the two bottom rows all done. This is another quick assembly as these rectangles are big. I should have this done tomorrow.

Here’s the final lay out with the bottom two rows assembled.

Ick. Photos taken late at night do not do these fabrics justice. But I do like the look when the blocks are sewn together. It’s just more cohesive and feels like it’s one piece rather than a collection of smaller pieces.

The backing to this quilt will be the green Antwerp flowers that appears in the top. I bought a big piece several years ago for a ridiculously low price from a wonderful quilt store in Corvallis, OR, that closed a couple summers ago. It’s so sad to see so many local quilt stores closing.

My friend who was working on a black quilt at the same time as me sent a photo of her completed quilt top today. We used a lot of the same fabrics, but not completely the same. Here’s her quilt.

And here’s mine for comparison…

It’s kind of amazing to me how different our quilts look. Granted, her photo is better than mine (mine looks like a flash bulb exploded on it). But I just love her quilt!

Her top looks more organized, you can see the individual blocks, and you can see different fabrics and colors.

Mine looks like a chaotic blob. I knew it was chaotic, but it feels really chaotic next to my friend’s.

I was hoping to get a better photo of it outside this weekend, but the rain is starting tonight and will continue for four days. So it’s not going to happen for a few days.

The weather has been so amazing the last few days. High 60s and sunny. Fall is definitely in the air, but it always makes me a little sad because I know the rains will come soon and the winter will be long, dark and wet.

On our walk last night we saw the tallest turkey I have ever seen… just standing, uncontained, in a front yard with a couple chickens.

Honestly, he must have been four feet tall!!! He stood there regally and let me snap several photos. The dogs were not impressed. Probably because they didn’t realize how delicious he would be.

Work has busy this week as we’re having our fall membership campaign on our radio station. It’s a ton of work and lots of early mornings. The drive ends tomorrow and it will be good to see it end. It’s been going well, so we’re all very happy about that. I actually get to be on the radio about a half dozen times during the drive, raising money to keep the news coming in Oregon!

I’m going to take Monday off to recover. I was thinking about heading out to the coast for a walk on the beach, but it’s supposed to be raining. I may just take the dogs for a good swim in the Columbia instead. That’s a lot closer drive for a wet and rainy walk.