Seams Perfect stars for Theresa

I'm less than thrilled about these paper pieced stars that I made for Theresa this month in our Seams Perfect bee.

I just figured that since she had asked for scrappy stars that she would be getting a ton of wonky stars... So here would be something different... I shrank down a pattern from quilters' cache (starry web) and made my squares from that.

After 2 hours of practice and a lot of mistakes, I had a red and white block i liked for my sampler- but the next night, when usingTheresa's fabric, I got all the pieces in the right place, but in the end, they didn't match up.
:(
Wah. I am not proud of these.
Still, like every month in my bees.. I learned, which is the reason I joined the bees in the first place.

(I am proud of the little pouch I made to go with it as a gift though... how lame is it that I was so much freer with this?)

Charity quilt progress - longarm day

There are 6 quilts in this little sharefest quilt project... And I am not doing them all alone. There are a lot of women who are helping me!
Today's fun journey was to take a little "me" time - all the kids were farmed out - so that I could visit my friend, Tanya, and we could quilt one of the quilts on her longarm machine. For those who have no idea what a longarm machine is: this is a 10-12 foot wide sewing machine that you use to complete those beautiful intricate quilting patterns you see on high end quilts. The machine is enormous. Before a few months ago, I think I imagined it was a machine that kind of ran itself on an autopilot kind of deal. It's not. While using Tanya's machine with her today, I literally felt like I did the first time I used a sewing machine. My stitches were so messy! So primitive! I couldn't even do the below raindrop design without really having to work at it! I think about two inches of 150 that I did were "good".
But I've said it before and I am not afraid of being a beginner at stuff. There's a Bible verse I love that says, "do not despise the day of small beginnings". I firmly believe in embracing my journey.
I'd taken a class a few weeks ago about "quilting" with Angela Walters... (been meaning to write about that) And I've taken the "free motion sewing" class with Lisa at Sew Modern- but can I just take my hat off to people who can do this well???? Geez, it's hard! Free motion AND longarm quilting...
It's fun, though.
Imagine learning that not only is driving a possibility, but flying is, too. (I still need to master driving... And sewing, for that matter.)
Tanya is REALLY GOOD at this. She showed me some recently finished quilts for customers and i was blown away. Even moreso after playing with her machine.
I'm trying to think of something I can have her quilt for me.... May have to make something....
These Sharefest quilts are going to be so great. Each one, so different. Each one having at least 32 pairs of hands having worked on it. That is awesome.
(oh, and thanks to Lauren at Sew Modern for donating this blue!)
I'll post pics when they are all finished. Can't wait to share.