A New Journal Quilt, a New Toy, and Some News

"Morning Sentry"

9" by 12"

I haven't done a journal quilt in a while -- I've been too busy doing real quilts (and a whole lot of other stuff). I used the color palette (here) from Three Creative Studios for last month.  The stars are cute little three (3!) inchers that I made with my new toy.

I don't buy a lot of gadgets.  Not that I don't want to be a gadget girl, but I am not rich and famous (it's hard to believe, I know), and therefore have a limited budget for fun things.  Which makes it easy to talk myself out of rulers and things that aren't fabric.   I tend to think of costs in terms of fabric and thread; as in: hmmm.... that's equal to how many spools of thread (or yards of fabric).  And then I decide that I don't really need said gadget.  

But this one was different.  It makes Lemoyne stars and the stars are still diamonds!  And the edges are all on the straight grain!  And because I'm a smarty pants, I had to test it out with wee little stars!  And it works!  I'll have more on this in the next few months, I'm sure.  Here is a link to the company: http://www.studio180design.net.

The news is  that I have been invited to join the creative minds at the technique blog "...And Then We Set it on Fire."  Also, there is a link on the right side of this blog.  I did some guest blogging there a while back -- I put up my first post over there as a member today.  I'm "up" next month and I'm still mulling over my technique....

The technique for the bird is here.  I ironed fusible to the back, ironed it on the pieced stars, then covered it with thread.  To check out some more appliqué, go to Angie's blog here.