PQ 10.4--A Little Pixelated

This week's challenge was just that for me.  I struggled a bit with what I wanted to do.  It went through several permutations before I started piecing.

Project Quilting--8 is great!

I've been following along with project quilting for 2 or 3 years now, but I always had other things going on and was never really able to jump in.  This time, however, the theme, was just up my alley and I felt like I could squeeze in a little something.

Stash Bee Hive #7--January Tutorial--Hunter's Star

Hello, Hive #7!
I'm excited to get to know you guys this year.  You had a quick overview of me in my intro here a couple of months ago.  You can also read my About Me page on my blog if you still want to know more.  I've spent the last couple of months preparing for and taking my teacher licensure tests--in fact, my last three are tomorrow (Jan 2.)

Buzzy as a Bee

This is my vacation stash.  I visited 4 or 5 quilt stores along the way and came home with some fun new fabrics (and other quilty goodies) to play with.  Some of these are mine, some for swaps and other extras.  After playing with these for a little bit, I spent this morning finishing up some bee projects that accumulated while on vacation.  I also figured I should work ahead just a little in anticipation of sewing along with Sewvivor over the next few weeks.

A SLSB Week

Because I finished the center stars quickly last week, I was able to also do the chain piecing for the side and center units.

This-is-so-Cool: Wonky Blocks

          

These are my two quilt blocks for Stash Bee this month. I've seen these done on other sites and thought, those are cool, but too much effort ...  THIS is one of the big reasons I wanted to do the Bee thing:  it forces me to do what I otherwise put off as being too difficult, too time-intensive, too fussy, too elaborate ... You get the picture :)  There are lots of other reasons, but that's a biggie.  Both months, so far, have been blocks I've looked at and put on my far-off future to-do list.  Now I can check them off.  And you know what else?  They were FUN to play with.

Hooray for the Red, White & Blue!

Welcome, welcome, welcome!  For those of you who are visiting for the first time, my name is Heather and I am the Reformed Heath'n.  This is my first ever blog hop experience.  I've loved skipping around in other hops and seeing all the amazing projects that everyone was working on.  I thought that was way beyond my experience level, though.  BUT, when I saw spaces open for this blog hop, I knew this was the right one for me to get acquainted with this experience!  I hope you enjoy my project as much as I enjoy all of yours!

Thanks so much to Jane @ Jane's Fabrics & Quilts for organizing this two-week-long event and also to Madame Samm for cheering us all on.  I'm especially excited to be coming to you on Independence Day!  For the full line-up, click on the button on my sidebar.  Here are the rest of the lovely ladies who are also posting for you today:

Jane's Fabric & Quilts

A Reformed Heath'n (you're already here!)

krislovesfabric

Katie's Salt Marsh Path

The Recipe Bunny

Quilter in the Closet

I've always loved this holiday--and anything related to celebrating our pride in the stars and stripes.  One of my fondest memories growing up is visiting the Smithsonian Museum of National History.  I was in second or third grade and recovering from the chicken pox.  I was no longer contagious, but not yet ready to go back to school.  My dad worked at home and offered to do anything with me that I wanted to do for a day.  I think he was a bit surprised that I requested a museum trip :)  In those days, the original Star Spangled Banner was hanging in the entryway behind a protective screen.  They would lift the screen and play the national anthem at certain times.  That day, we planned our trip so we would walk in just before the music started and I could be front and center by the railing.  I remember being in awe of the flag that was so old, that had survived so much and was the inspiration for our national anthem.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/national-treasure.aspx

This memory is why I wanted to do a traditional star block.  After much searching and playing with designs, I found this one that I absolutely love:

(http://www.connectingthreads.com/tutorials/Stars-Intro_to_the_Star_Block__D10.html)

I looked through my 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks by Judy Hopkins and found the one I was looking for on page 227.  It's name is The Sickle, and with a couple of modifications, it is one-fourth of this quilt block.

I used the dimensions from the book and here is what I cut for each larger 12" block:
Main Color:  4 squares of 3-7/8" cut in half on the diagonal to make 8 triangles
                    8 squares of 2"
Second Color:  8 squares of 2"
White:  4 squares of 3-7/8" cut in half on the diagonal to make 8 triangles
           16 squares of 2"

1.  Chain stitch all the HSTs together--half white, half color.  **Note:  The next time I do this, I will not cut the HST's apart until they are stitched.  For this alternate method, see my other tutorial HERE (under Day 3).

2.  Chain stitch all the 2-1/2" squares together the same way--half white, half color.

3.  Press all the seams.  Because I want this to lay flat as a table runner, I chose to press them all open.
4.  Combine the rectangles to make four squares.   Then combine two of the 4-square blocks and two of the HSTs to make the reformed Sickle block.  (I like how these smaller squares kind of look like butterflies.  Opens up a whole new can of, well, ... )  Press the new seams.

5.  Lay out all your squares to create the desired pattern.  Each large finished block is made up of four smaller blocks.  There are tons of possibilities, but this is mine.

Stopping here is the one red, white and blue block, as promised.  Keep going to see the table topper ...

For the table topper, I made four blocks.  One-half yard is all you need of both the red and blue, and one yard of the white.  For the thin border, I cut 4 strips that are 2-1/2" x WOF (approx. 1/3 yard) and for the outer border, I used 5 strips that are 4" x WOF (approx. 2/3 yard.)  I'm planning on using about 2 yards of fabric for the backing and 2 packages of regular old white bias tape for the binding.

I sure hope you all enjoyed the project and come back often to see what's going on around here.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Independence Day!!

**Thanks for your patience everyone.  I had it scheduled to post at 12:01 AM today, but apparently I did something wrong.  Thanks for coming back!**