Sapphire Stars

Hey everybody!
It's time to start thinking about our upcoming mystery, "Sapphire Stars!"
How do you like that, there, logo?????  Pretty nifty, eh?  I love it!  It is courtesy of my good friend,

Alycia of 

Alycia Quilts

Thank GOD for techie friends!!!!!!

So, you have scraps?

You want to make scrap quilts?

You want to make scrap quilts easier?

The key to this in my opinion is......

ORGANIZATION!

I believe most quilters view their craft as an art.

Therefore, we are artists.

Most artists that paint work from a pallet similar to this.

Their medium, the paint, is divided by color.

Now, I realize a painter usually mixes colors to make new colors.....

but, they have to start from somewhere?

That "somewhere" is usually a tube or container of paint.

The artist's pallet serves as their resource for their medium.

Stay with me here.......

We quilters are artists that work with colors also....

our fabrics, stashes, and scraps are our medium.

How many of you separate your scraps and stash by colors?

This is an actual photo of some of my scraps.

They are entirely separated by color.

These are my color bins.  Separated like paint containers.

Red is red to me whether is it is bright arrest me red, or brick red.

Purple is purple whether it is lavender or plum.

Make sense?

I separate all colors like this.

Each color has it's own container.

I know there are several quilters that also separate their scraps by size.

I am one of them.

I separate by crumbs, strings, and chunks.

Each color has it's own bin of each and they are full of 

all different types of fabrics, but, they are all the same color in each

individual bin.

I will go farther in depth on these in a future post for 

"Sapphire Stars."

I do have 2 other separate categories of fabric,

those being Civil War Reproductions and Batiks.

These are divided by color family as well.

I personally like working with these fabrics separately,

however, when the piece or scrap of one of these types of 

fabrics has been used repeatedly, or goes down in size,

they do become a part of the color bins.

Sorting scraps is 

I do not view it as a task that I hate doing.

I view it as a trip to the quilt shop.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE receiving a bag or box of scraps

that I can sort out by color family.

It truly aids me in my quilting by having order to my scraps.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO............

try to start sorting your scraps by color family.

You will more than likely be surprised by what you find

you have!

Many quilters I have helped will say they don't have any

of a certain color.  But, upon going through their scraps by

color family, they find they do have some of that color.

And.......if you don't like sorting your scraps.........

ask your friends and family to help?

Kids LOVE doing this sort of thing!

Here is my nephew Curtis helping me sort some scraps.

I would love to see some of your before and after shots if you

choose to start separating your scraps?

Please send them to me and let me know if I can share them

here on the blog?

e-mail photos to:

photokevin@centurytel.net

I PROMISE you, it will make you feel so accomplished

and ready for your next scrap project.....

which may be.........

There's another image from Alycia!

"Sapphire Stars" will measure approximately

70" x 90"

upon completion.

Alright........how about some colors of fabric and yardage amounts?

DISCLAIMER!!!!!!

These are APPROXIMATE yardage amounts!

I will give you an amount that will exceed what is 

actually used, just to be on the safe side.

Again, this is my first go around with hosting a scrap mystery

so let's just have some fun with our scraps here.

I will be offering various piecing options.....

however, if you choose to use the same fabric

for the various colors, I have a feeling

your quilt will turn out somewhat flat in color.

Just my opinion.

Here is the color pallet I will be using:

Bright, brilliant, royal blues!

Approximately 1- 1 1/4 yards

Light to medium blues!

Think baby blues in all different shades of it.

Approximately 1/2 - 7/8 yards

Navy Blue!

Approximately 2.5 - 2 7/8 yards

Yellows......ALL SHADES

Approximately 1.5 - 1 7/8 yards

Reds...........ALL SHADES

Approximately 1 3/8 - 1 1/2 yards

Light Neutrals

Approximately 2 - 2 1/4 yards

1 constant medium gray

Approximately 3/4 yards

Ok, allow me to clear something up you may be wondering about......

We will be using 3 different shades of blue for this mystery.

Navy, royal, an baby blues.

I chose 3 random fabrics in these shades to show you the thing you need to be 

concerned with is contrast between these 3 colors of blue I am using.

With this being said, you may want to change this color scheme up a bit?

I ENCOURAGE you to do this!

You may want your quilt to be

Garnet Stars.......Amber Stars...........Emerald Stars.........and so on.......

I would LOVE to see your versions of this mystery.

Please keep in mind, 3 contrasting colors of 1 color, and don't repeat it

for the other colors in the quilt.

We will also be using the tri-recs tools.

I will be offering easy to follow steps on how to use

these tools.

In other news.........

Last week was a really exciting week for me..........

I was able to meet up with THE Bonnie Hunter!!!!!!

She had lectures and workshops all week in Southern California,

and I happened to have a layover in Long Beach, California.

A few texts after I landed, and there she was with her

friend Debi!  It was a pleasure meeting Debi, and I thank her

so much for coordinating our evening visit!

WE! HAD! A! BLAST!

Visiting, talking quilts, and eating ice cream.....how could it not be perfect!

Thanks for the visit Bonnie and Debi!

And............

I was able to be with my Dad and family for Father's Day.

I can't thank my Dad enough for all he does for me

not to mention our family.  I hope to be as good a man

as he is one day!

AND.................

Look what God blessed me with on Father's Day?!?!?!

Meet LILLY MAE!

It truly was God's doing that Lilly came into my life.

She certainly is NO replacement for Gracie Lu......

Gracie Lu could never be replaced.

Lilly Mae has already started making herself right at home.

I can't wait to share her with you all!

She is a Brown Boston Terrier.

She was born on Easter, thus, her name.

She is my little Easter Lilly.

On a side note......My Great Aunt Mae,

who taught me so much about quilting,

was named Lilly Mae.......coincidence?

Hmmmmmmm........LOLOLOL

Thanks for all of the encouragement!
Keep on Quilting!
Kevin the Quilter