Bringing home other people's quilty goodness

I have to admit I like shopping at quilt shows

and not always just for fabric.

This mini string star quilt measuring 10.5 inches

came home with me and now hangs in my sewing space.

I bought a set of cards featuing the lovely applique work

and handquilting by Manitoba quiltmaker Katie Friesen

who is also a fabulous long arm quilter.

She's designed several quilts inspired by William Morris

and now I can admire them on the cards,

although I intend to use them to send greetings to other quilters.

This quilt, Expressions of Morris, won in the applique category

in the $100,000 quilting challenge in 2007.

Here's my whole haul, including a bit of text fabric on sale, some needles and thread,

and that windmill template, a secondhand but new in package item that's was mine for $1.

Stringing up stars on the design wall

A dig through the solids box and a bit of fun with my new 60 degree diamond ruler

resulted in four string stars

Here's a larger view, with black diamonds between the stars.

I've figured out how to do the Y seams

but I'm not sure how I get all these diamonds into a rectangle shape.

I'm linking up with design wall Mondays over at Patchwork Times.