Spiky Red Stars

Welcome to the blog!  Is there a snowstorm where you live?  Here's the view out my sewing room window this morning.  It has stopped snowing now, and it looks like we got only 3-4 inches.  Oddly, Milwaukee and Kenosha, which are south of us, got lots more.
It's a good day to stay inside and sew.  (Isn't it always?)

Last week I shared my bright Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for 2019.

 This week, it's RSC project #2, spiky stars made from my reproduction/traditional scraps.

 

This project also uses 4.5 in. strips.  I've cleaned out the drawer (finally) and rolled up the strips in colors, just waiting for the word from our fearless leader.

I'm making the blocks with a ruler set I've had for years, but seldom used--the Tri-Recs tools by Darlene Zimmerman.

The tools are great for cutting these particular triangles from strips.  The skinnier triangles are cut from the red strips, and the larger triangle is cut from the light strips.

If there is enough of the light left, I cut the 4 corner squares from the same light.  If not, I just use another light.  It's a scrap quilt.  Made out of real scraps.

Many years ago, an intrepid quilter from Wisconsin made these triangles famous.  She called them Peaky and Spike, and taught lots of us to make them with templates.
Of course I'm talking about the late Doreen Speckmann.

This is a photo of Ms. Speckmann, taken from her book Travels with Peaky and Spike.
I never got to see her in person before her untimely death in 1999, but I saw her on TV a couple of times, and she was a riot.  She put the fun back in fundamentals of quilting.

Here are her creations, Peaky (the smaller triangle, quite feminine and petite) and good old clodhopping Spike.  I can't ever see these quilt patterns without thinking of Doreen, and I'm sure that's true for lots of quilters my age.
Want to know something weird?  I had already made these blocks when I went to our local quilt group on Wednesday night.  Guess what was on the free table!

Travels with Peaky and Spike!  I think it must be meant to be.  It was worth taking it home just to read Doreen's directions on trying on bathing suits.

So this year, as I make Spiky Star blocks in all our rainbow colors, I'll be grateful to two quilters:  Darlene Zimmerman, for her awesome rulers, and Doreen Speckmann, for her inspiration.  I'll work hard to be more accurate sewing and cutting, but I'll remember to have fun along the way.

Here's what I'm having fun with today--heart blocks with solid frames.
Have fun this week!
Cheers,
Treadlestitches

Linking up with
Angela at Soscrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
(BTW, check out Myra's link up!  No photos, just text links.  An interesting experiment!)
Cynthia at Oh Scrap