Ugly is in the Eye of the Beholder

At my guild Christmas party the “Special Projects” committee organized an “ugly fabric” exchange. We were to put 1 yard of an ugly fabric in a brown paper bag and we played a game to exchange them. We were to do something (anything) with them and have it ready to show at our July picnic. I was rather pleased to receive a fabric I didn’t consider ugly – in fact – I liked it!

I recently taught a class at WCTC called Spin Star and it’s my own technique for making a “Stack and Whack” style quilt. In looking at this fabric, I could see that it would make great kaleidoscope type stars. The problem being that I’d need 8 print repeats in the 1 yard. I did a quick count and, much to my surprise, there were actually 9 repeats! So I cut out 8 identical 9″ squares. This left an odd “swiss cheese” sort of scrap,

but the star blocks were delightful! Here are just 3 of the 8!

It’s hard to believe one fabric could provide this much variety in the stars. And the remaining 5 were just as interesting.

I decided to set them on-point, with a “zig-zag” type of sashing. I have an antique quilt from the 1800’s set this way and I’ve always been intrigued by it.

I discovered that it is not a very quick or easy pattern to piece, so it will never be a class, but I thought it was very pretty. At this point it seemed obvious to me that this would make a lovely Spring table cloth. So I added a striped border – and I’m very happy with the results.

Have you participated in an “Ugly Fabric” challenge? Any pictures you’d like to share :-)?

Blog Update

Next Saturday Wendy and I will be leaving on our Sew We Go adventure to the Baltic Sea. It’s promising to be a wonderful trip and I’ll have lots of pictures and stories to share when I return. So, I’ll be taking a two week vacation from blogging.

Here are a few extra pictures about my latest quilting/sewing adventures to hold you over until we return :-)!

Since returning from Paducah, I’ve been in a “get er done” mood. I found a pattern for a sun dress at one of the downtown vendors during the AQS show and Wendy discovered an adorable owl fabric at another, so I made Sommer a sun dress – just in time for our warmer weather.

It was a super- simple pattern and the straps criss-cross in the back.

The black and yellow polka dot bloomers are adorable, but they didn’t show in the picture :-(. I also made Mike a pair of jama pants (which he chose not to model for the blog). Then I was ready to start something “new” and I dug up a pattern I purchased years ago “whose time had come”. It was a small, “Springy”, three panel hanging with a sweet, free standing frame. I decided it would make a perfect Mother’s Day gift for my Mom and finished it last night.

Mom loved it (or at least she said she did :-)!

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there – and Happy Spring to everyone!