Allison Glass Star Quilt Finish

Today I am celebrating a quilting finish!  I LOVE the bright Allison Glass prints that make up these stars!  Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for picking them out or piecing this quilt.  I can take credit for demanding to quilt it.  

When I picked out threads for this quilt, I chose spools of Aurifil 50wt thread that matched the outer points of each star.  There is so much going on color wise, I feel like any color would have melted perfectly.  The motif's for each star was inspired by Natalia Bonner at Piece N Quilt (I can watch her quilt for hours and do on her PNQ Academy videos) and I used her 4 in 1 quilting rulers and book Let's Stitch a Block a Day to create the designs.

I started quilting on this quilt in March of last year.  Over the course of 2-3 weeks I got all of the stars quilted.

Black fabric really shows lint like nobody's business.  

Somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of the lime green star in the early quilting stages.  Sadly, I did the thing I always do.  I got inside my head about quilting the background.  I froze.  So, this little gem was folded and set aside for...a year.  

After a year of pondering and worrying about what to quilt in the background I realized, it really doesn't matter what I quilt.  I'm going to use black thread on black fabric...you're not really going to see it.  The main purpose will be to quilt something very densely so that the background allows the quilting on the starts to pop.  I decided enough was enough...let's quilt this background!!

I chose to use swirls and pebbles...heavy on the swirls, lighter on the pebbles.  I have to say, the more I practice the better I get, but I think that is what is suppose to happen when you practice.  All in all, the filler did exactly what it was suppose to do.  It's a fun little feature that helps those bright stars shine.

I'm trying to keep the quilting momentum going.  Overthinking is the biggest killer to finishing a project.  I've already got another one under the needle and can't wait to share it with you when I'm finished.  So for now, the Star Quilt and I wave goodbye but not for long.

Diatom QAL--Block 7

 

I have to say I've impressed myself by actually keeping up with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirls's Diatom Quilt Along.  Last week Block 7 was released and it pieced like a dream.  Below are the blocks for the full and throw size versions.

My favorite moment of sewing was attaching the first six blocks into two rows.  That means the first half of the quilts are pieced!

Above is the throw size version.

And we have the full-size version.  I somehow managed to get the top row of blocks out of order, but I am completely okay with that.  This is supposed to be a for fun no stress quilting project for me, so I refuse to whip out the seam ripper for that.  I absolutely can't wait to finish these tops and quilt them.  Stars are one of my favorite things to quilt!

Not Turning Twenty Quilt Finish

 Can you say UFO finish!  I'm jumping up and down because I can.  I affectionately call this quilt The Not Turning Twenty Quilt.  I know that seems strange.  At the time my husband wanted to make a quilt for one of his good friends using blue and cream fat quarters.  

My suggestion was the super easy Turning Twenty (not an affiliated link) quilt pattern.  It's fat quarter friendly and a great beginner quilt.  Above is the one I made...my very first quilt ever (you can read more about it here).  He loved the sound of it until he started laying his cut pieces out, and then he hated it.  He ended up landing on this quilt layout.

And that was 2017 and then the quilt sat.  And sat some more. Then in January of 2018 I decided I was brave enough to start quilting this project and I had a plan.

In all of the rectangle sections I quilted a woodgrain pattern.  Since it was for a guy it seemed manly.  And I was really loving the texture it was creating.  The problem?  I got all of those parts quilted and realized I had no idea what to quilt in the squares.  And the quilt creator and I had a falling out and my motivation really just went away.  And that's all I have to say about that.

Over the past few years I have watched many videos by so many talented quilters.  I'm forever grateful for quilters like Angela Walters, Judi Madsen and Natalia Bonner (and so many more) who share their quilting knowledge.  And all those that share on places like Instagram and provide inspiration for others.  Because of hours watching and learning and a rekindling with the quilt maker, I decided it was time to finish this quilt and get it to the gentleman it would belong to.

To offset all the curves of the woodgrain, I decided to go with straight line quilting in the four square sections.  Two would get random triangles with straight lines and the other two would get an X's with echos.

I'll be honest, I was so happy with the quilting, I kinda didn't want to give it up.  It was texture galore!  But at the end of the day, it's not my quilt.  I didn't piece it and it wasn't created for me.

I am happy to say the quilt was delivered to the lucky fellow in fall of 2022.  The quilt maker was supper happy to find that I had kept the quilt and wanted to finish it.  Of course, I kept it.  We do not throw quilts out EVER!  

Diatom QAL-Block 3 and first Row

 

I'm giving myself a huge pat on the back for keeping up with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl and her Diatom QAL, going on as we speak.  Like the crazy person that I am, I decided to make both the throw and twin-size version of the quilts.  

Luckily there has been no more fabric changes, which made the blocks come together much quicker.  Ms. Carmella is loving being in the middle of things.  She's such a huge help...well in her mind she is.  

Since I have a little bit of time before Block #4, I decided to go ahead and sew what would be the first row together.  I needed some instant gratification, and it will be less to stress about at the end.

And I just realized looking at the picture, I have a corner block in the first purple block turned wrong....but I think it is staying.  No more remakes :)

Pop Star--pieced

 

There is fashionably late for a party and then there is Tish fashionably late to a party.  I'm only a month shy of a year late to this one.  I would like to note I have been much later to a quilt along before.  

The quilt along was hosted by my dear friend Sandra over at mmm!quilts and ran from April 3rd to June 15th of 2022.  

I did manage to gather fabrics for the quilt along while it was going on and had hoped to finish it before the June 15th deadline.  However, I am the paver of roads with good intentions.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to start this one until a week ago.

I opted to make the throw size version of the quilt and decided I would add a larger border using the large star fabric.

The only thing I wish I had done differently, is using an orange color fabric for my shadow stars instead of the green fabric.  Once the top started coming together, it felt like the green fabrics blended together with the focal fabric and got lost in the shuffle.

With this top complete, I am ready for the 2023 quilt along that will be right around the corner.  I may have insider information but my lips are sealed!!  Just know I'm excited to join in.

If you would like to purchase your own copy of the Pop Star pattern, you can find it here at Sandra's Etsy store or follow along with the quilt along instructions here.  I may be a late piecer, but Sandra loves me anyway.

Melodic Mystery Quilt

 

No surprise I am way behind writing about this quilt top finish.  This time last year had the opportunity to pattern test for Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs on her latest mystery quilt.  I love pattern testing for Cheryl.  Her patterns are always super easy to follow and I love her designs.  The Melodic Mystery may be my favorite one yet, although I think I say that about all of them.

For my fabrics I went with a charm pack of Morning Light by Linzee McCray for Moda.  

I completely forgot to get snaps of my progress as I followed through the monthly instructions.  I was too excited to see where it was going.  The last page would reveal the above quilt top.  And I love it!  I decided to order some border and binding fabric from the Morning Light line to make the top a bit bigger.

For reasons I can't remember at the moment, I did not put the border on when it arrived.  I placed the fabric in a safe place for later.  Now we fast forward to later.  I can't find it!!!  I looked for two weekends in a row and found nothing.  I would have sworn that I didn't order it...but I have a picture of it.  So now, a year later, I ordered more.

Had to get a different print for the binding.  Who knows maybe I'll find the other fabric before I quilt it.  As soon as the package arrived, I got my border on.

I love this top so much!  I can feel my quilting rulers dying to dance across it.  But for now it will join all the other quilty UFO's hanging out in my quilt room...and that original border fabric that is somewhere.

If you would like to make your own version of Melodic Mystery you can find the instructions here on Cheryl's blog.