Robins in Winter

I spent much of my sewing weekend working on Houston Modern Quilt Guild projects.

First, I made my very first wonky stars!!
These stars are for fellow member greeneyedsilversmith. She has made many many Quilts of Valor and has signed up to make many more this year, but has recently had shoulder surgery. (See her flickr stream for some photos that just make you want to make her a cup of tea and bring her a snuggle-y quilt.) So, several of us said we would help her out by making stars. Now, I have never made wonky stars--they were on my New Year's list of things-to-do--so I was eager but nervous about taking this on. I am happy to report that I now know what the big, dang deal is about wonky stars: they are really easy to make, they are really fun to make and they are awesome!

Here is my first attempt:


So now, like the dog in "Up" ("New Project!") I am distracted from my on-going projects and looking for wonky star fabrics!

Next, I started and finished the row I have this month for the Row and Round Robins our group is doing.



The robin has been going on for about 5 or 6 months now. We have two round-ists and ten row-ists. I have watched with interest and trepidation the various bees and swaps that happen on the interwebs, but have never participated. So this is a first for me and I am having so much fun. It is such a learning experience to work with someone else's palette and someone else's instructions. The group has discussed who had to buy what for who's rows or rounds; I hadn't enough of the pale aquas and soft reds for Saf's row (shopping trip!), I will need the cream-cicle oranges for scruffycat's rows. But the one thing I had to buy for several rows, which I had NEVER BOUGHT before was solid white! (I! Know!) I've used acres of white-on-white over the years, lots of white-on-muslin and lots more plain muslin, but never solid white.
But now I am a convert!
And a major project this year will feature lots of solid white!