Rose Stars

 Sorry I haven't been around much lately.  I'm off to a slow start, but I really need to kick into high gear soon!

I've been playing with the Rose Star block this week for a couple of reasons.  I will be demonstrating English Paper Piecing at a guild meeting on Wednesday, and I thought it might work as a bee block.

 Did you already recognize my colors here?  (pink, yellow & orange)

The test block was based on a 2" hexagon, but it is just a bit too big to fit into a 12" square.  12.25" from point to point.  Really?!  I might remove the dark pink triangles from my block to make it fit.

Take 2: 1.75" hexagons.  

The pretty blue block will be for Christine in the 4x5 bee.  She asked for some Denyse Schmidt prints that she can't get in the UK.  I will probably hand applique the star to the white background.

I print and cut my own paper pieces on card stock. Visit Karen's tutorial for basting instructions.  Since these were bigger pieces, I needed to take a few basting stitches through the paper.  I have been using incompetech to create accurate hexagons in various sizes. 

I think the backs look so cool!  You can see that I haven't removed any paper yet.

 

To see more Rose Stars, visit Self Sewn for Clare's linky party.  She also has a tutorial and a flickr group dedicated to this sweet block.  Thank you, Clare!

In family news...

Julia recently performed in her school's production of Anything Goes.  Here she is making the pre-show announcements in the cutest costume.  She was one of Reno Sweeny's Angels, Purity.  She has a gorgeous singing voice!

That's Pete on drums with the high school Jazz Band.  We are so proud of him for being chosen for the All-State Jazz Band!

It's time for more stitching!