My first Feathered Star ever - not perfect but good enough for me. Here's my progress on Common Bride - The center feathered star complete - I don't think you can even tell that center block is an inch shorter than it should be. I just made the border around it a tad bigger and all was good. 7 of 24 8 Pointed star blocks completed, each one of them is an inch smaller than it's suppose to be. It must be the center stars and the way I sewed them together. I much have used a very generous 1/4 inch. I did use a new 1/4 marking tool which I think I should have lined up the edge just outside the ruler, and perhaps used a thinner marking tool, all that can lead up to be an inch off on a block. They were suppose to finish at 7.75 inches unfinished. I was just under 7. So I think I'm going to add 4 blocks, one to each side, and then adjust the border that comes before those blocks and all will be good. Then after all that, the feathered star block is 1/4 in too big - ughhh. I'm thinking I can ease in a 1/4 over 22.25 inches with no problem, I hope :)

I have 2 weeks of vacation and hoping to make some good progress on Common Bride. Oh and we are starting our search for places to retire. I want IN, cuz that's where I'm from. My husbands want CO but I told him we were staying closer to the kids, so then he want IL, cuz that's where he's from. My only require is that property taxes must be less than 500/ month. We are paying outrageous property taxes here in McHenry, IL. So we have a few explorations planned in both IL and IN, if you have suggestions I'd love to hear. The requirement is 4-5 hours driving from Chicago. We have a few years before we can both retire, but it'll be fun looking around and seeing what's out there. Looking at things with a little bit of a different perspective.