Star Block Tutorials

I've been wanting to make stars for a while now and even though I haven't begun to quilt here in Toronto yet I thought I should be prepared for that wonderful day! :) So here are some links I found for start blocks.

1. Cluck Cluck Sew has an easy tutorial for  a basic star block. 
2. Lee has a Ribbon Star Block Tutorial at Freshly Pieced. This one looks complicated but I think it should be manageable if you follow the steps. 
3. Fresh Lemon Quilts actually has a series of star tutorials on right now! The Solstice Stars Series has some very cool stars that I hope to make at some point. Can't join in right now unfortunately. If you can you should. Looks like a great series. 
4. The Silly Boo Dilly has a Wonky Star Tutorial which looks quite simple to make. I must admit I really do like wonky blocks. 
5. Jennifer's Star Flower Block Tutorial on Sew We Quilt. I really like that this star is so colorful.
6. Thought and Found had a quilt-along called Oh My Stars! that has some nice saw toothed start tutorials.

Can't wait to get back to work! :)

So I've been putting up a lot of fabric on the site. See it here.
I have my eye on a few that I'd like to buy...

• Heather Bailey's Bijoux collection is quite lovely. We have the Mod Beads in green, rose, and yellow. 
• Absolutely love Dragonfly Daze. Reminds me of a Gerrald Durrel book I read when I was a kid. Feel like going into the woods with a net and a jar!

There's so many more bolts in those boxes that I can't wait to get to! Have stacked up two boxes worth to upload on Tuesday. Check the store site to see what's New in January!

This is what I do...

Want to see what I was up to on my first day on the job? Check out Judy's post on the Sew Sisters Quilt Shop blog.

There's some lovely new fabric that's come in and you should check it out. :)

First Day of Work at Sew Sisters!

I've been dying to write about this but I held on till I actually started working at Sew Sisters Quilt Shop which was today! Yaay! :) This couldn't have worked out better!

I so enjoyed today. So grateful for being able to do this.

I looked up quilt stores in Toronto before we moved and signed up for their newsletter and liked their facebook page. I wrote to Judy in the beginning of January and asked if they had any openings and as it so happened... there was!

This is so big for me. Living in India and dreaming of being in a real quilt store... I can't believe I actually work there! It's two days a week for now I still have to find other work but this is such a gift! Thank you God! :)

Quilts at Dundurn Castle

We went down to Hamilton the other day and visited Dundurn Castle. Well, we went to watch a play later in the evening at Redeemer College but we drove in early with my husband's wonderful professor and his wife who wanted to show us a little of Hamilton. It was a treat! The castle has been restored to what it most likely looked like in 1885 and it is such a beautiful place. 38 rooms on three floors and you can get guided tour. It's like walking onto the sets of a period film! Everything set out like it would have been while the family lived there... it was wonderful!                                                             

There were three quilts that I saw in the rooms but I only got pictures that I can show of two. The light was not very good in the castle so a lot of the pictures are not terribly clear. The nine-patch quilt above was place in the butlers room. I am not sure if these are recreations or quilts from that very time. The articles in the house were auctioned off at one time and when the government wanted to restore the house and make it a museum they had to trace these items and bring them back. So I don't know what the story of this quilt is.

Needlework by Jane Elliot, one of the daughters of MacNab.

This quilt the guide says is the real deal! From the 19th Century. I hope he's right 'coz I got mighty excited about it! :) Well, he seems like a good historian so I don't think he would make it up. The quilt was in the cook's room. Again, not sure if it was specifically used by the cook or a hand me down. I did notice however that the bedrooms on the top floors did not have quilts but blankets.

It was really wonderful to have been able to do this tour. And I always get very excited when I see an old quilt. I wonder who slept under it. What tears were cried into it. What dreams are woven into its patchwork.