From A & K - Finished Wonky Star Quilt (BQF Fall 2013 Entry)

Over the past few months we have been collaborating on a quilt via text message, photo emails, screen grab fabric swatch ideas and one big Sewing Summit sewing session. After the top was pieced at Sewing Summit, Kelsey brought this beauty home to back, quilt and bind it in time for a joint gifting to a very special great aunt who just turned 90 over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. We both made the trip back home to visit her for her birthday and I'm sure you can imagine we all had a great deal to be thankful for that weekend.

Because our great aunt loves simplicity and isn't fussy about florals or very feminine design, we thought wonky stars with gorgeous semi-solids might be the best way to balance glamorous fabric and a sleek, simple, modern design.

This quilt top was made with lap warming in mind, so when we planned it out, the focus was all about the texture. Equal parts Oakshott and Shot Cotton, the wonky stars were made to be focal points all in their own right.

While the Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton created soft and delicate stars, the Oakshott Cotton added depth and gloss. To let these solids maintain their shine, Kelsey chose to stitch in the ditch around each star, then fill in the entire background with FMQ swirls. A mini ode to Starry Starry Night by van Gogh, pure genius that he was. If only he had quilted something, I'm sure it would have been divine.

Amanda picked out the perfect backing and binding fabric down in California by sending multiple photo texts. It was the perfect 10 minute break for Kelsey from work, and felt a bit like having a personal fabric shopper! Amanda found this background print in the Aboriginal section of her LQS and we both agreed it was perfect.

When we were little our great aunt adored sweaters that reflected a very similar esthetic and style. While it's not the typical modern print that either of us would normally gravitate towards, it felt a bit like hitting the jackpot. When the quilt was gifted it it was easy to see our great aunt agreed.

Final Quilt Details:

• Quilt Name: Wonky Stars Quilt
• Finished Size: lap sized (47.5" x 60.5")
• Fabric: Oakshott Cotton and Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton (wonky stars), Essex yarn dyed linen in flax (background)
• Pattern: Wonky Stars made using this tutorial
• Quilting: stitch in the ditch around each star, then FMQ swirls in the background.

This finish coincides with the Fall 2013 Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side. We are linking up this finish in the Quilt Photography Category along side a number of very talented bloggers. Be sure to swing by Amy's blog to check out all of the amazing link ups, and you still have time to link up a project yourself, so put on your party pants and get your linky on!

This is Kelsey's second completed project for the Q4 2013 Finish A-Long - read more about her other goals here.

Linking up to TGIFF and Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

From A - Wonky Star Quilt

Kelsey sent me a text message a few months back asking if I would like to make a quilt for our Great Aunt together. I immediately agreed and Kelsey started sending me digital palettes of the most gorgeous shot cottons. After a few back and forth emails, we placed an order (and even sprang for some amazing Oakshott cottons).

We settled on a wonky star design using this tutorial as inspiration. We divided up the fabric when I was in Calgary back in July and gave each other the homework of making our respective blocks before Sewing Summit so that we could piece them together and have a finished quilt top before the weekend was out.

Kelsey, of course, finished her blocks...I started cutting mine the morning before I arrived. I finished my cutting on the first night of open sew and managed to get them all sewn together on the second night. With a little bit of teamwork, the amazing vibe at open sew and the benefit of the communal design wall in the sewing room, we settled on a layout and sewed everything together.

We are both really excited about how this turned out. These fabrics definitely glow. We used some Essex yarn dyed linen blend in Flax for our background fabric which added a really interesting texture to this quilt in contrast to the luminescent shot cottons.

I couldn't resist this photo of the wrong side. I am really excited to see how Kelsey quilts this. I think it'll make a perfect 90th birthday gift!