What's on my design wall 8/17/09

Some days you just want a bit of a challenge. Last evening DH was out playing with trains, and I decided to cut out the "Secret project" pieces. A small amount of it can be seen in the right photo, however it covers the entire wall. One piece of fabric is a red batik, and I decided I couldn't cut it until I washed it with Retayne, so put it in the washer. I stopped working on that, and decided to make a 12" Ice Crystals Block. It's like making a rolling star, and then adding 4 half LeMoyne stars around the edges. The small diamonds 1 3/4" certainly furnished the challenge. The block pictured on the left with the other Blazing stars is actually from left-overs of my DD's wedding quilt. I followed a picture in one of Joen Wolfrom's books which used red, black, grey, and white (after receiving permission from the maker who was flattered that my DD picked her quilt). It had a log cabin center, a pieced red inner border of the medallion, then gradated rail fence blocks that used the greys and black and whites. Everything was made from 1 3/4" strips, so I cut a lot of fat quarters into them. Many of the greys were not used at all. Black and whites in different values were just coming into large production, and they really did a better job on the gradations. Of course, I have to use up all the left-overs. After making the snow crystal block, and seeing how poorly it plays with the blazing stars, I think I need to make at least two quilts, one with the greys, and one with the red/B&W.
If the rain ever lets up, I'll be going down the street to the longarm and loading the Big Star. I need to have it quilted and off the machine in the next few days to meet my timeline. I plan to hand stitch the binding - it is a gift - and at 120" each side, I think it will take a while. I may be binding on the plane Labor Day weekend. We have some long lay-overs, and I'm not trusting the quilt to baggage handlers.
Happy Quilting,
Becky
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