IT'S DONE! IT'S DONE!

Last fall, when I was taking my very first quilting class, I saw this 1840s reproduction fabric at Ye Olde Schoolhouse. After looking at it for several weeks, I decided to buy it and make a Friendship Star quilt. Since I really was a newbie and only had directions for one 12" block, Jeannie helped me figure out how much material I would need.

I finally started cutting the material last spring. I felt like I was cutting and sewing half square triangles forever. I cut and cut and cut. Then I sewed and sewed and sewed. Finally I was ready to piece all 72 squares.

I pieced in rows, eight across and nine down. I sewed the first row and stopped. Then I made enough blocks for 4 more rows and sewed them together. Four more rows to go or 36 more blocks. Then I stopped.

I finally gave myself a deadline of October 1st to finish. And, I made my deadline with 4 hours to spare!

It's not that I don't like this quilt, I really do. I love the nose gay fabric and the red stars. I think my problem was that I had/have too many other quilts going on. Lately I have been enjoying the fast gratification of adding borders to panels and having them quilted. They are fast to sew and fast to bind.

I have a lot of things I want to get done this month. One is to start a Broken Dishes wall hanging quilt. It is a kit I bought last December in Georgia. It is next in my ever increasing line of quilting projects. After that it is a lap quilt. So, it will probably be well after the holidays before I start another queen size quilt. By that time this Friendship Star quilt should be back from being quilted by Meandering Mary.

I like having several things going on at one time - in different stages, but too many can be overwhelming, which is what happened with the start and stop process of this quilt. Plus, it was the same pattern, block after block. I am starting to enjoy a little more challenge in my quilts. It's done now and I am happy!