Tuesday, February 7, 2012

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!

4 comments:

Debbie said...

Beautiful blocks! Wow - you must really love paper piecing! ;-) And great RE: your kids - sharing times like those are the best!

Jessica Kelly said...

Great blocks Tina, these are amazing
!!

Archie The Wonder Dog said...

Love your Rose Star blocks! And congratulations to Pete and Julia!

Sinta Renee said...

I love your blocks... super cute! Each one of them are so adorable.