Oh MY! Big news x2!

Have I told you how much I love quilting? No! I can't believe that at all! I thought I was very clear about my adoration of all things quilting. So, some big news in the Land of Quilting. To be honest, this should be two separate posts. But. You know how life is. It doesn't wait for you to sit down and share your big news. It just keeps going. Wait, I digress.

So big news numero uno. I made a star. Yup. I quilted 9 pieces of fabric together to make a star. You might ask yourself: "how did she figure that one out?" And that would be a fair question. You remember the fat quarters sale? Well, if you bought more than 51 fat quarters, you earned a free pattern. Now, we know I don't teach math, and that I am not about ripping people off, but I bought more than 102 quarters... and I was only allowed to get one pattern. Booger. I thought for sure I would get two. Apparently I am not so good at the fine print. Especially when they didn't type it up. But, I digress.

Check that out! So the first pic is the sample picture (not quilt) that came with the pattern. Just to show me what it could look like if I followed directions... I went to Capital Quilts & asked Joyce all sorts of questions about how to actually go about doing this. She told me to cut the pattern pieces out of pattern plastic (or whatever she called it) and then follow the directions. So I did. I was so paranoid about getting the pieces mixed up that I labeled everything. The pieces say if they are star or background, which end is up, which piece they get attached to. You would think I never made a star before - which I didn't! HELLO! So I did this section by section. 3 pieces together to form a part of the block. Then 3 sections together to form the block. Easy as pie. Except for one thing. My edges didn't fit together perfectly. Not that I expected them to. But it would have been AWESOME!!!
What, it would have! It would have been glorious! So I am going to see Joyce about it this week and see what advice she has to offer me about what I done gone and did. 

In case you were curious. This is cheapy fabric that they gave me because it was awful and they were going to throw it out anyway. But I do kind of love the orange and purple together.

And big news #2? You thought I forgot getting all excited about that star over there didn't you? Well, I did. Until I looked at the pictures and realized - WAIT! HOLD YOUR ROLL! There is another thing that needs to be shared ASAP!

On Wednesday, I received an amazing gift. From a very unexpected place. Here is what happened:
I was at work, sitting at my desk, being very grumpy (because I didn't feel that great - it was the beginning of the cold) and I was pretending to write my lesson plan for the day. I mean... put my lesson plan... oh well. Secret is out I guess. I was getting myself together to teach in 20 minutes. And my door opened. I was prepared to be grumpy and grumble at a student for interrupting me before the bell rang when I realized it was a teacher. And a friend of mine. In walks Nicole. And she has a gift for me?
She has a bag filled with fabric pieces! From her MOTHER! Her mother made an amazing I-Spy quilt for a friend of ours.  So I learned that Nicole (hey!) reads this here blog that I have going on. And that she talked to her mom and, well, one thing led to another, and I have a bag filled with wonderful fabric pieces!!!!

I have gone through this pile a number of times and these are my favorites so far. I should have counted how many there are, just for fun, but I don't care. I just love the fabrics! They are so cute! And there are sooooo many! I am really very grateful!

Thank you so much Mama Powell! This is too sweet! You have sent me the best gift by helping me get started! 

Thank you Nicole! for reading!