Eight is Great - Project Quilting Challenge

It's always fun to participate in the Project Quilting challenges - the hardest part of the challenge for me is not to bite off more than I can chew!  This time I told myself to think small, so decided to make a one block quilt.  Off I went to EQ7 for inspiration and found a block called Eight Hands Around that I liked.  It is basically a star in a star.  I didn't get my block started by yesterday, when I spent the day at the Karla Alexander class.  After the class I thought it would be fun to use the special Curves for Squares ruler to make my block, so hunted down a small pack of charm squares to try out the 5 inch size squares on the ruler.

My block ended up using 8 different fabrics!  Four darks and four lights.  The smaller blocks are a bit trickier to piece, but go along pretty quickly.  I didn't have to trim them up at all - I thought my block might be a bit wonky, but it came out pretty darn square in the end!  I decided to skip making it bigger by adding the larger star around it and just did some borders.

Since the charm pack was from last year's Row by Row Experience collection by Northcott, I decided to use some of the border fabric that I had as well.  I love the fabric, but it's time to use it instead of hoarding it, if you know what I mean!

I mitered the corners for a nice finish and quilted it in a medium blue thread with a meander stitch.  The binding is a pretty green.

The finished quilt is 25 x 25 and will make a fun table topper!  I love the way the curved triangles make a simple block look extra fancy.  And the way the houses surround the center.  I live here in Coos Bay, Oregon - no more snow today on the coast, it's back to rain for us!  Making this cheery quilt was sure a fun way to spend a rainy day :)  

Linking up on Kim's bog for Project Quilting Challenge 8.1