From A - Star Light, Star Bright

After many many months of avoidance, my White Star Quilt is finally wrapped up and in the hands of its intended recipient.

 

Although the top was pretty speedy to put together, it took me three tries to get this quilt basted. Since basting is one on my least favourite things, it was more than a few months between attempts which delayed the process of finishing this up.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's a great size for a couch quilt and it definitely captures the essence of the nights I spent last year sitting on a beach in Panama looking at the stars with one of my very best childhood friends. This is a quilt where every fabric was chosen for a reason and has a meaning. I really love when that happens.

I started off by quilting in the ditch. After realizing that that didn't give the quilt enough pizzazz, I decided to do three "rounds" of echo quilting inside each star. It really made the quilt come to life.

Final Quilt Details:

• Quilt Name: Star Light, Star Bright

• Finished Size: Lap Sized (approximately 48" x 64")

• Fabric: Lizzy House Constellations, Pearl Bracelet, Outfoxed, Grunge by Basic Grey. Backing fabric is Architextures by Caroline Freidlander, Martha Negley tree Rings and Sail Away by Sarah Jane and others.

• Pattern: White Star Quilt by Julie Herman in her book, Skip the Borders

• Quilting: Stitch in the Ditch and Echo Quilting for Stars done be me.

You may have wondered how this California girl managed to get quilt photos in an snowbank. If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen that Kelsey and I were back in Manitoba last weekend for a family event. It was wonderful and way too fast but we sure froze out butts off in the -32 degree weather (that's -25 Fahrenheit). I'm really glad to be home!!

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday!

From A - Basting Party

No not the turkey kind. The quilting kind. Managed to get two quilts basted today and I can't think of a better way to celebrate U.S. Thanksgiving when there is no family nearby.

First up, the Posy baby quilt re-do.

And next, the White Star quilt top I finished back in March.

It took me three tries to get the star quilt basted without giant lumps in the backing fabric. We were dangerously close to the point where professional intervention would be required. Fortunately I managed to overcome the issue by resorting to some James Bond style basting techniques that would make any of my quilt teachers blush with shame.

I was going to attempt a third but I think I need a mental health break from basting. Do any of you have any tips for basting on carpet? I am really missing our old hardwood floors, the bathroom floor was not nearly as cozy.

Wishing all of our American friends a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

From A - Home at Last!

The last few months have been crazy. Work has been really busy with 10-14 hour days being the norm and I have spent at least some time at the airport almost every week since December. Suffice to say that this hasn't left much time for "home" things and I have missed my sewing machine dearly.

I decided that the only solution was to overcompensate by blocking off an entire weekend where my only plan would be to spend quality time relaxing at home (where relaxing at home is code for crafting). With all the extra time on my hands, I actually managed to finish up my White Star quilt top.

I love the way it turned out. It is exactly the sparkly, twinkly project that I hoped it would be. That Constellation fabric does amazing things to quilts.

I think my favourite print is the indigo coloured constellation print. I love that Lizzy incorporated illustrations from her earlier fabric collections into this one. All of her critters are so charming but I might have been guilty of a bit of favouritism towards the starry squirrel.

This top brings my number of unbasted quilt tops to three. I also have two basted quilts that are waiting to be quilted. I am really hoping to get a few of these finished in the coming months.

From A - Starry Preview

My white star quilt is progressing well. I'm really liking how this is coming together. I should finish off the rest of the blocks later today.

Up next, a finished quilt top!

From A - Seeing Stars

Just home from an amazing week in Panama with one of my childhood friends, I wasn't quite ready to forget the relaxing days on the beach and head back into the fray of regular life at home. The trip was a celebration of my friend's upcoming 30th birthday and I decided on the flight home that I wanted to make a quilt for my friend that would remind her of this birthday vacation for years to come.

One of the most memorable parts of our trip was the time we spent on the beach each night talking and looking at the stars. A starry quilt made from starry fabric seemed like the perfect thing.

Enter Julie Herman's White Star quilt and Lizzy House's Constellations collection. I also added in a few other prints from my stash to add a bit of contrast.

I've only just started cutting out my fabrics but I am really excited to see this one come together. Since there are only 12 blocks in this quilt top, I think it might actually be a quick finish. Here's hoping I can finish up the cutting this weekend and find at least a bit of time to reacquaint myself with my sewing machine sometime later this week.