Pattern Release/Give Away-Star Blossom

Today is the day.  It's finally here!  I couldn't think of a better way to kick off the month of June than by finally releasing my and Dave the Quilt Engineer's first pattern, Star Blossom.  The Star Blossom block is one of David's many block designs and together we were able to bring the pattern to life.  This is the first full length quilt pattern I have written and I have to admit, I feel like I've accomplished something.  Hopefully, this will not be our last collaboration.

Pictured left to right: baby with extra border, lap size, and baby/hall hanging

The Star Blossoms pattern is beginner friendly and includes fabric requirements and cutting instructions for baby, lap, full and queen sized quilts.  It also includes two blank color pages (one block baby and four blocks lap), so that you can print them and test out fabric colors or even audition free motion quilting motifs.  The PDF pattern is listed for sale in my Craftsy Shop for $10.  However, to kick off the pattern release it will be available for download for $8 until Sunday June, 11th. 

I want to take a second to discuss the sizes of the quilts.  The baby quilt measures 38" square, the lap measures 64" square, the full measures 94" square and the queen measures 96" x 122".  After the 38" quilt (the scrappy black, red and grey quilt in the above picture) was pattern tested, I realized it was really too small for a baby quilt (although it would make a great car seat or stroller quilt).  So I've included in the pattern, fabric needed to add a 2" smaller inner border to increase the size of the baby quilt to 42" square.

It's been hard not to share progress of these quilts with you, so today I want to talk about the cover quilt (I will discuss the blue baby quilt on Wednesday and let David tell you about his red and black quilt.).  I chose to work with Cluck Cluck Sew's Dixie for Windham Fabrics.  I just love the pinkish reds with the turquoise fabrics. 

I knew when I first started piecing this quilt how I wanted to quilt it...simple straight lines.  I thought lines would give the quilt wonderful texture and allow those beautiful fabrics to be the star of the show and I have to say they did not disappoint.  The lines are stitch 1/2" apart using Aurifil #2021 50wt and it melted beautifully into all the fabrics.  I quilted them on my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen and used a ruler to keep my lines straight-ish.  Proving that your lines do not have to be perfectly straight to give the overall effect you desire. 

It's true, everyone in this house loves Aurifil thread.  Caroline always tries to steal it.

I also want to give a HUGE thanks to a few special people who volunteered to pattern test for me; Sandra at mmm!quilts, Beth at Cooking Up Quilts, Jen at A Dream and A Stitch, and Anja at Anja Quilts.  Each of them will be sharing their version of Star Bloom over the next few days and I will link to their posts as they become live.  All of my pattern testers (except Dave) will be hosting a give away for the pattern so make sure you hop over to their blogs and check out what they have to say. (Another huge thank you to Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs for reading the pattern and for all her helpful suggestions)

Sandra at mmm!quilts--baby quilt
Beth at Cooking Up Quilts--queen size (I will love her forever for that)
Jen at A Dream and A Stitch--lap quilt
Anja at Anja Quilts--baby quilt
Dave the Quilt Engineer--baby and lap

Now on to my give away.  To celebrate the launch of this pattern I would like to give away a PDF copy of Star Blossom to three lucky readers.  If you would like to win a copy of the pattern just leave a comment below.  Maybe tell me what colors you would make the quilt in.  I still have so many ideas for making this quilt, it makes my head spin.  If you are a follower of TishNWonderland, feel free to leave a second comment below to tell me how you stalk follow me (Bloglovin, Instagram, Twitter) for a second chance to win.  The give away will be open until midnight Sunday June 11th and I will announce the winner on that Monday.  If you are a no reply blogger make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you.

I'm so glad I can finally share with you what I have been working on.  If you win/purchase the pattern and make Star Blossom I would LOVE to see what you create.  I hope you will tag me if you post to Instagram or please feel free to email me pictures.  Thank you all for stopping by.  Next week I will share more details on the baby quilt and the free motion quilting that went into it.

Even Mr. Gracie, the neighbor's duck, couldn't get enough of the quilt.  He couldn't quack enough about it.

Today I'm linking up with Main Crush Monday, Finish It Up Friday, TGIFF and Can I Get A Whoop! Whoop!