Cutting like crazy

I've been in a mood to do some serious cutting lately. Although I do have a few UFO's I don't really have any kits cut and ready to go as I'd like so I've spent  some time planning a few quilts and have a good start made on cutting them.
Guess which statement here is true.  1. I started this star and chain quilt because Stashbusters is doing a Chain Quilt Challenge. It's really an Irish Chain quilt challenge but the members are all over the place with which chain design they are doing. This works. Or 2. I realized I haven't done a design alternating a simple chain block and star before or maybe just in a while.?. Or 3. I had scraps from my Thousand Pyramids Civil War charm quilt that work perfectly for these star points. Or 4. I saw the pattern someplace, liked it and planned to make it some day Or 5. All the above.  Oh yes. that's it. #5. I have so many skinny pointy triangles that I'll never use them all. Not going to stress about those. I am being selective which ones I use so that each star has the same color for all 8 points. Also I have made a few minor adjustments to construction. One is that the star points are 30-60-90 degree triangles and not a half rectangle. This will float the points a bit, but that is usually a bonus. The other is that each 4 patch in the corner of the chain blocks use a different pair of dark matching squares.

A few of the other quilts I plan to work on this year and have cut are:

1800's Thousand Pyramids charm quilt
Wild goose chase
Kaffe  Fasset Hanging Diamonds on black
Midnight Express with birds -  a pattern of mine but with a classy novelty print
Checkerboard sash around Spinning Spikes
Dbl diamond Lemoyne - maybe just a summer quilt.

And as usual I have no idea how big I will make any of these or why I am making them for that matter. Oh, yes. It's fun. Good reason, right there.

Ending 2017

Quite a year for me. I'm pretty pleased with all I got done in the studios considering I had minimum use of my left arm for 5 months. I finished the top shown below New Years Eve day at Studio 3 while Sue basted a quilt. I have another pile of blocks I could have joined but it doesn't interest me much. I made those about 15 years ago. This one is too big for my flannel wall, so I spread it on the bedroom floor at Studio 3. I won't be able to get a full-on shot of it.

I've not tallied all I've done often and I think I track things a little differently than others. For instance I don't track how much fabric I buy in a given year though In the past I'd track how much I spent.  And if I say the fabric is out of my stash I mean not only that the quilt is finished but it is out of the house as well.  I haven't got a clue how much went in or out. But what I do know is I quilted 13 quilts and pieced 8 tops. 4 quilts were donated to a future home for unwed mothers. And a little more work was done on a number of pieces that I didn't start or finish this year.   I didn't do much to help the ladies at church with their comfort quilts this year though I was at most of the meetings. I still helped with coordinating their efforts.                       And my quilters at Studio 3 surprised me with their enthusiasm for my little pine tree quilt. Several of them made 2 or more and several of them were bed sized. Most of us stopped making sampler blocks and worked on other random projects besides the trees. The Friday group also made a Sunshine and Shadow quilt. I like how relaxed the groups are, coming and going as it suits them. Just as retirement should be. I taught them well as I hear them chorus to "Do what you want" when another asks what she ought to do with her collection of whatever block she's made a pile of. 

During the last few weeks of the year I spent some time cutting out a few more quilts. I do like to have a few cut out kits on hand. I am excited about them so they may not remain a kit for long. That means I better plan another one or two soon and get them cut.

Not only is it New Years Day but it's Monday. I 'm going to check out some Linky Parties including

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts   and

Quilting is more Fun than Housework.