Inspiration and Play

     This morning I had volunteered to help at the Seeds of Hope Farmers Market at my church, but the farmer sold most of his produce on a previous stop so ours was canceled.  Since I did not need to work, I started quilting.  I finished free-motion quilting leaves on one border of my chopped flower quilt and I needed a change. ( I love the "flowing leaves" background quilting but it is tedious.)

     Not long ago on “Sewing with Nancy” she showed how she made several easy lone star or large Lemoyne star quilts without the dreaded “Y” seams.  A few night ago I was browsing my July copy of American Quilter magazine in which Victoria Findlay Wolfe has an article called “Dances with Flowers”.  She gives directions for making a large Lemoyne star without the dreaded “Y” seams.  I also LOVE Victoria’s book.

In it she describes a little about how she made this quilt.

     I was “inspired” and wanted to “play”.  I dug through my stash of 3 ½” squares and pulled a selection.  I had 8 of several fabrics but not 16 so I cut them from a red with tiny white dots.  

I laid out the squares how I thought they would create fabric large enough for me to use my large diamond template. 

Next I sewed 8 units of fabric and used the template to cut 8 large diamonds.

I could not get the largest size but close.

I used my diagonal sets ruler to cut triangles for the “easy” process with no “y” seams.

 

With 8 diamond units sewn together I discovered that my plan was not correct for the exact look I wanted, but I was playing and not following a pattern.  I sewed quarter units then halves and the star is together. 

  I will probably add a border or 2 but that was enough play for one day.   What fun!