Scrap Happy Stars

I made this small nine patch yesterday for my husband to use as a mug rug in his reading corner. It was a quick little project and he's pleased. It turned out just right and I like the way the colors came together. I need to do a few more smallish projects to balance out my quilting, I tend to make big quilts, but when it comes time to quilt them I sometimes regret the size of the project. 

I've been working on star blocks recently. I picked up a tutorial for Magic Stars from Joy at the Joyful Quilter a few months ago and have a large quilt top finished. You can read about it by clicking on the Magic Stars label on the right side of my blog. I'm using the leftover fabric from that project as a leader/ender project for a smaller version of the same quilt. Here is my box of pieces all cut and ready to sew together. This is my first leader/ender project and I'm delighted with how quickly it's coming along. I've made some errors and had to do some fixes, but it's a great way to get something done while I'm working on my main projects. If a leader/ender project is a new concept to you, like it was to me at the beginning of this year, you can find a nice tutorial on Quiltville's Quips and Snips here. 

Along with the large Magic Stars Quilt I wanted a runner that would be wide enough to cover the bed pillows. I chose a different star pattern for that and made a nice runner entirely out of scraps, my first completely scrappy project. I loved how it turned out. Then I went and measured it across the pillows and realized that the borders it would need to make it wide enough to cover the pillows would make it look ridiculous. A second row of stars was needed so I got to work cutting up more scraps and to my dismay found that I didn't have enough scraps in a couple of key colors to do the job. I had to go buy fabric, oh no! :) so I could get the project done. 

Now all the pieces are cut and just waiting for me to get them pieced. That will be my main project for today and tomorrow. We got a notice last night that our power company will likely be shutting off our power due to weather concerns/fire danger sometime tomorrow night and that it will be out for a couple of days. I will have to shift over to hand stitching during that time. I have no lack of hand projects so that won't be a problem. I'll miss being able to use my machines though. Actually, it just occurred to me that if I get the back pieced today or tomorrow for the large Magic Stars quilt, I can spend some of the power outage time getting the quilt sandwiched and ready for the machine once the power is restored. That may be a better plan for today. 

Well, I'd better get busy, lots to do. 

I'm linking up with Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap