Something rainbow and another thing red

I took two days off last week on Thursday and Friday, and I had imagined I could go on a crafting frenzy, knitting this and sewing that. However, that was not to be had with the kids around, granted that JY's home only in the afternoon as she still had school and I tried to administer a rather heavy dose of Busytown vcd on the little one to buy myself some free time. Thing is, I'm such a structured person, I need my time-table and routine to function, and with my two days off, I was like a kid presented with a box of very delicious candy and don't know which to choose. There are one thousand and one things I wish I have the time to do when I'm at work but when I'm actually on leave, I just don't know where to start.

Well, I did something entirely unplanned, folding lucky stars with my girls. When I was a kid, we had to cut the stripes ourselves but now readily available in most stationery shops are pre-cut stripes in all sorts of paper. Here's how you do it. If you like words, here's another link for the instruction.

Anyway, I did succeed to strike out one more item on my red list.

I bound the red quilt with some orange fabric in stash and I'm happy with this very first quilt. Nothing grand, no special themes, just reds stripes, very simple piecing and machine-quilted in straight lines. And it's only crib size. I followed Denyse Schmidt's instruction in her book for the binding which happens to not require bias cutting. I didn't hand stitch the binding in place but instead machined it. I'm so excited with finishing it and nearly wanted to dig into the orange or blue fabric stash and make a similar but bigger one for JY. My plan is dashed as she wants neither orange nor blue.

Comments

[Tracy]

Beautiful! Why not make the quilt anyway, she might change her mind once she sees it in all its glory.

[Veronique]

The quilt came out really georgeous! What a lovely baby gift. I think I want to try making these lucky stars and impress my son’s chinese girl friend! They are moving in together and some stars would be cute for wrapping the housewarming gift.

[Sylvia]

When my DD was younger, we'd take a bag of strips on airline flights and fold stars. We usually had all the kids on the flight folding by the time we landed. That floral is really pretty -- I'll have to check the paper store to see if it's made it to California.

Yes, the quilt is simple, but it's lovely! Also, and this is a big deal in quilting, YOU FINISHED. Do you have any idea how rare that is?!!!

[Agnes]

I used to make quite a lot of those lucky stars too. They are still popular among kids? We would put them in a glass jar and give away as presents ... quite lovely.

[Jennifer]

Lovely red quilt!

I used to fold those little red stars too. I didn't know you can get the strips ready made thise days. Hmmm, I'll have to check some stores near me.

[Sandrine (alias Didine!)]

Hello my dear !! I love so so so so much your new red quilt !! It's so lovely ! And those little stars made of paper are so great too ! I hope you and your daughters are ok and also your husband ! big big hugs to you !

[katie]

The quilt is just beautiful, Siow Chin! I love the simple stripes. And it's a very big deal that you completed it. Be proud of your accomplishment.

The stars are so neat. My mom did some origami with us when we were kids, also. I remember that fondly.

[erin]

My daughter used to buy the paper strips from her school bookshop. Congrats on finsihing your quilt! It looks very neat.

[grumperina]

I love the quilt you've made! Beautiful.

[brooke]

Gorgeous quilt!

[diana]

Love the quilt! The colors are gorgeous!!!

[lyn]

Oh man, I used to fold lucky stars as a kid too and was crazy over them :) Your quilt is lovely!

[joyce]

i love the quilt! i'm so motivated to learn how to make one now =)

[mimi]

It sounds you had a great time making crafts with your girls!
Your redish quilt is lovely, make me feel like to sew one too. ;)

[joy]

The quilt turned out really nice..simple and sweet. What a lucky baby!

[jennifer]

the red quilt is delicious and those stars?!!!!!!! oh, how i want a bowlful of them! thanks for the instructions, siow chin!

[jess]

Those stars are so pretty!

The quilt looks lovely too.

[Dorothy]

I find myself doing the same thing when I have time off. I think I have all this time and end up wasting it. The red quilt is beautiful. That's the way I started out too - simple lines with simple machine quilting. And I still have the first quilt I made over 25 years ago. So keep up the good work!

[June]

You *totally* describe what happens to me when I have a sudden windfall of free time. There are 10,000 things I want to do, and either I can't remember what they are or can't decide what to do first. (Now, I make long, prioritized lists on the PDA to remind myself.)

The stars are adorable!

[Tabitha]

Thanks for the instructions--the stars are especially cute. Good job on the quilt. I particularly like the reds.

[eyeleen]

lovely red quilt! Cute little stars!

[Angela]

I love making those stars! So fun! Awesome quilt as well!

[Melanie]

The two new finished quilts are very pretty! Great job!

[Jessica]

i really like your red quilt~ congrats on finishing it. And thanks for posting instructions for the paper stars, i was wondering how those were made.

[Carmen]

Love the red quilt!