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Joyce Bachelder
Lauri Our Shining Star
I
In 1998 I attended my third Road to California Quilt Conference.
(I have now been to 20 Roads in a row and taken many wonderful classes.)
I signed up for Alex Anderson's two day class learning how to make the many different kinds of stars.
I knew nothing of her reputation but the class description sounded great. I was really fortunate, she was charming, full of enthusiasm and an encyclopedia of information and so many helpful hints.
I gathered every red, white and/or blue no matter if they were solids, prints, or plaids....I was off on an adventure. We learned how to make one type of star at a time, after an hour or so we moved on to the next type. Alex made sure we did not make all our stars the same size. Her suggestion was to make the blocks easier to assemble, use sizes in multiples of two so blocks would mesh easier.
I used flying geese to fill in the blank spots. Since this is one of the first quilts I had made, you will notice the sizes aren't too accurate.
Alex said to always repeat a fabric at least one additional time and I made sure to follow these guidelines.
She was the first to tell me about leaving tails.
After you finish your seam sew off onto a small scrap of fabric
(one inch or so, folded in half).
When you cut off your section leave the small tail to hold onto as you begin the next seam.
This way you never get "gopher guts", threads lost in the bobbin making a bird's nest.
This hint has saved me tons of time and aggravation.
Alex really stressed the importance of labeling the quilt. Always use your full name including maiden name, date, city of residence and any other little tidbit of information.
On one of my quilts I noted that I finished as I was watching Hideo Nomo of the Dodgers throw a no hitter in Colorado.
On another I commented that it was my grandson's fifth birthday.
( Kyle turned twenty-one on June 10th).
These little notes are so much fun to see years later.
Joyce Bachelder