July RSC is BLUE and other stuff

Its the first of the month and time for a new color in the RSC!  I just love the first of the month, but it does seem the year is flying by faster since I started this RSC.

July is blue, probably the most frequent color in my stash.  Coming up with 33 different blues was no problem whatsoever.

I completed blocks 11 and 12 of my Star of Bethlehem quilt in June. 

I have the hour glass blocks already completed that will join the blocks as well as the border blocks -----soooooooooo, one good day of sewing and I should have this top completed.

In August, I will be taking a machine quilting class from Linda Hungerford (Flourishing Palms blog) and she has offered to give us ideas for quilting patterns for our projects.  I can hardly wait to see what she suggests for this quilt!

The blocks are all hand pieced using English Paper Piecing and I am tempted to hand quilt the top, but I am still handquilting my Dresden plate Irish Chain, so I need to either get busy and finish hand quilting that one, or just machine quilt the Star of Bethlehem.

I also finished my first complete star in the Bali Wedding Star quilt I am making for my daughter and her husband.  I am right pleased with myself for getting this far, as these instructions are so involved.  I have learned to take it one step at a time. I do believe the instructions are excellent, just lengthy.

The only thing I am not doing that the instructions say to do, is using glue on my fabric.  I just have never gotten comfortable with putting glue on fabric, so going with pins and in some cases I quickly thread baste pieces together before I sew them. 

And finally, I sadly report the demise of my all time favorite rotary cutter.  I have been using this cutter for at least 25 years now and while working on a Blockhead Challenge block, it just fell apart.  The brown part setting to the side cracked in several places, so I don't think it can be repaired.  It has been dropped many times and I am sure that must have created some cracks in it over time.

So sad....I get attached to my sewing tools.

Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa