still stuck on stars

I've spent the last few days playing with star blocks
- again {sigh!}

I already had a pile of large cut out triangles in Denyse Schmidt's fine plaid
that I had tried using in an earlier project but they didn't work quite as I'd imagined they would {sound familiar?}

Anyway, determined to use them up, I started mixing in a few other fabrics, just playing really
- some Liberty, AMH, Basic Grey and a good old Kaffe spot {ever so useful}
 a bit of an eclectic mix of gentle muted fabrics...

... and I've got about 5 stars up on the design wall now
Loving how it's going this time
so I think I'm going to gather them all up and get busy sewing a scrappy vintage-y quilt!

Linking up with Esther for WiPs on Wednesday here
with Lorna for show & tell over here at sewfreshquilts
and with Myra for 'finished or not Friday' over here

bringing the outdoors in...

... along with a little bit of new inspiration for some scrappy sewing!

{movingonlawns by Jen Kingwell}

auntbetsquilt

I've made some progress on my latest WiP this week, 

a simple row-by-row pretty quilt, 'auntbets' quilt by Jo from frankieandray 

2 rows of 1/4 log cabins, tick

4 rows of simple patched pieces of fabric, tick

et voila!

Lots of scrappy fabrics from my stash, including AMH, Denyse Schmidt,

'fresh cut' Basic Grey, some C&S

- along with a special piece of feed sack fabric and just a little bit of Liberty

I love this sweet mix of fabric

... and now it joins the 'to be quilted' queue!

Linking up with Kelly here for 'needle and thread Thursday'

with Myra here for 'finished or not friday' 

and linking my 'modern utility' finish with Kaja & Ann here for AHIQ

and with Cynthia here for 'oh scrap'

gathering up the flock

3 rows of flying geese, tick!

I'm having fun combining colours and pattern with scraps of Liberty, AMH, Basic Grey, C&S

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here 

improv with a plan

Lots of my latest inspiration comes from on-line pics, you too?

Like a sweet quilt pattern that I downloaded recently, all soft colours & scrappy.

And suddenly I'm busy mixing & matching fabric from my scrap baskets

for a project that was so totally not on my 'to do' list!

and yes, a bit more improv, colourful & informal

but this time, improv with a bit of a plan

Linking up with Lorna over here for show & tell

it's all trial & error

Improv =  tricky {for me!}

But even though I do struggle, I find I keep drifting back time & time again to give it another go.

I've been working playing a bit more on my 'madness' quilt... I needed to feel happy with things, and as Audrey from quiltyfolk.blogspot points out, I needed to "put the details together in a way that is genuinely YOU."

I decided to simplify things ... more horizontal rows of strings of different widths. Still scrappy. With a little nod to the original inspiration! {see here  and here for earlier details}

and here's what I learnt:

• There's a serious shortage of dark fabrics in my stash... perfect excuse now to go shopping!
• I found that repetition helped - whether it's a colour, a particular fabric, or a shape... if I used it once I used it again (thanx Kaja) 
• Making up sections was definitely the way to go here, a little organisation amongst the chaos!
• And taking a b&w photo along the way also helpful - in my case, it quickly showed up an interesting lack of those dark fabrics in my initial attempts and was a great way to check my distribution of values overall. 

An exercise in trial & error for sure, but the end result was pleasing and very liberating!

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here
and for October's scraptastic Tuesday here at shecanquilt

friday favourite #6

'shelfie' pic ... more spring colour... Clivia in vintage Russian teapot

What are you loving this weekend?

Linda