January 26, 2009

Finely Finished

Finally, a finished quilt! Last September I went to New Hampshire with three friends for a few days of quilting, fabric shopping, and relaxing by the lake. It was a time for reflection, laughter, sharing ideas, eating chocolate, and just plain fun!

The quilt I decided to make is called Summertime Stars, by Fig Tree Quilts. It is made by cutting 30 16" squares, then stacking and slashing them into a star, and shifting the pile so that the fabric around one star becomes the background for another. The challenge for me was sewing the pieces back together because there are no seam allowances, thus nothing lines up. Being a perfectionist, I had a hard time accepting the idea that everything would work out, and a star block would be created from each pile. To my surprise, it worked!


During our few days in New Hampshire I managed to finish most of the star blocks. The fabrics I chose from my stash were various bright rainbow colored prints that I had been collecting. We all had fun speculating on what the quilt would look like! Over the next several weeks I finished the blocks, finalized the quilt layout, sewed on the borders, and then waited, and waited for the neon yellow quilting thread that had to be special ordered.

It was worth the wait, I love the vibrant color of the neon threads! Finely quilted and bound, until now my friends have not seen the finished quilt. Here it is!

The layout alternates lights and darks, but since I could not decide which category yellow fit into I used it as the narrow border.

I chose a design called Flirtatious for the quilting. I thought the flowing curves and simplicity of the design was a nice contrast to the busy fabrics and straight lines of the blocks and stars.

The backing is from the same line of fabric as the borders, Geo by Timeless Treasures. The two sides are black, the center is white.

Now that my "Star Bright" quilt is finished, it is time to decide which UFO is next in line!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This quilt is fabulous. What a great idea. I've done Magic Tiles in a similar technique, but never thoughg to make a star out of it.

If you ever decide to do a tutorial about it, I'd love to feature it on the Quilting Gallery.

Cheers,
Michele

Vicki said...

What a lovely quilt and I love your colour selection. It really has some nice sparkle.

Jackie's Stitches said...

I love the star quilt and would have never have thought of neon green quilting thread. It works pefectly! The bags up above are cute too!

Anonymous said...

I have made two of these star quilts and Sue has done the quilting for me. I just love them. I am working on my 3rd star quilt, for my daughter. I have used totally different color themes for each one.

Sue said...

Thanks, everyone!