Yesterday I made a bit of a start on the quilt that my husband requested. The blocks are 4.5 inches unfinished and there are 300 of them. I still have a long way to go. It is best for me to do the stars one at a time so that will take awhile. Then each star has to be trimmed.

Here are the stars before and after trimming. I drew all over my little ruler to make it easier for me. I just have to place the square that I drew on the ruler over the center square and make sure it is straight. I sued sharpie so that when I am done, the marks will come off with a bit of rubbing alcohol.

Scissors for scale.

I also took a few minutes to play with making some selvage baskets that I saw on Pinterest. I am not great at the bias strip handles but I will try to get better. I tried using premade bias and that didn’t work.

I tried to do iron on applique and was not happy with it either. So, making bias handles is it, I guess. That will limit how quickly these get made for sure.

I plan on using all reproduction looking fabrics and have some more on order for two other quilts I am making with them so hopefully I will have enough scraps and selvages. Civil War reproduction fabrics are not available in any of my local quilt shops.

During my play time yesterday, I knocked over the tray that had all my squares for those stars. Almost 2500 pieces. About half of them 2 inches and the other half 1.5 inches. They were sorted and nicely stacked. Now they are not, which will make the stars that much more challenging to complete.

I have had quite a month, so even that little progress of quilting was a major accomplishment. My husband and I have done two weekend road trips this month to help our adult kids get moved. (picture is a result of my husband playing with AI during one of our many roadside coffee stops- I wish I was this cute!) One child moved back to Hawaii after being landside for only 6 months and the other moved to the Denver area where she went to grad school and will have many more career opportunities available to her.

I am really excited for both of them but at the same time, this momma’s heart is breaking. It has left me in a bit of a slump, and I am having a hard time getting back into my groove.