Wonky Stars sparkle

     The last quilt I needed to finish quilting for the October guild show has been completed. The leader-ender-scrap Wonky Stars is quilted and bound. I again printed out the photo, put it in clear sleeve and worked out the quilting pattern. Kind of a different quilting idea and some may just hate it, but I think it works with the pieced design. I am ambivalent about the quilt yet- sometimes it takes a while whether I really like something I made when complete. It is 68 x 90. I used mocha Glide on the top and gray Glide 60 in the bobbin. It was a lot of quilting. I hope to wash it before the show to puff it up.

Fresh off longarm and trimmed

Back

Full front bound

Detail of star circle. Yes, I know my circles wobble. Chalk lines still visible.

Detail border, inside

Wonky Stars top

     I have had the completed Wonky Stars top on my wall for a couple of weeks. Been a rough couple of weeks. Today I took it down as I do need the wall to arrange blocks. It has been on the wall long enough for me not to like it, so I think it needs to go away for a while. I can't put it on the longarm because the basement area is going through a remodel (suspended ugly ceiling taken down, floor joists and such painted white and cleaned up, LED fixtures installed between joists, knotty pine panelling primed with Bin and then 2 coats of white paint, and finally vinyl planking). My longarm is swathed in sheets and coverings to keep clean. In the end, it will be like a loft space, all in white and high exposed ceilings, right now, not so much.
    I think quilting will improve it. I was excited at first because I thought it was a break through quilt with all the background values and bits of bright. Right now, brain fatigue is making it all unclear.

 

One very difficult quilt

     I love leader and enders. They changed my piecing life- thank you, Bonnie Hunter! 
     For the last 2 years, I have been doing wonky stars as leader/enders. I make the star legs, then my granddaughter lays the block out on freezer paper and I piece them.

     In my head, I saw this quilt as a tile wall or floor. It took over a year to find the design I was thinking about- a circle of stars with many neutrals like tiles. I finally completed the blocks- 12 of them- and put them on the wall. I thought about adding more neutrals between the blocks, but opted for sashing with a text fabric. 

     When I got it all sewn and up on the wall. I was crushed. It did nothing and the circle of stars had little impact. I consulted with Julie and she said rip out the sashing. I swallowed hard, ripped it all out very carefully, and inserted more 2" neutral squares.

      I did like it much better, but it did not look finished. I tried a bunch of ideas  and went with a skinny border of fabric that gradates to other colors. Ok, that is done and now I need to finish. 

     I thought again about the tile idea, and thought how some tile has a border of square in a square motif. I remembered an Anita Grossman Solomon book I have (ebook- big mistake, never bought another ebook again) where she makes square in a square blocks by cutting a stack of large squares. I made four of them and put them up against the skinny border. I am afraid I will have to make a lot more before I know if they will finish off this quilt like it is my head. 
     Sigh. I thought this was supposed to be fun. Could use some fun. Why do I have such a hard time getting what I see in my head out on the wall?

New leader ender idea

     It is no secret I love scraps. I had cut some varied whites and creams into 2" squares and could use my tiniest scraps I save to make wonky stars. Most of the wonky stars I see are whites on solids. So, these may be backwards. I plan to keep making a ton and find a way to make a quilt out of them. I love Bonnie Hunter's Wonky Wishes, but hers are white stars. All of the stars are ironed on freezer paper so they stay together until sewn, but Jolene, the junior designer, chose and laid out all the colors on the paper.

Unsewn stars on freezer paper 

Two sewn stars which the designer made off with

Catching Up

     When I looked at my camera, I realized I had not taken photos off in a while. I can't seem to do it quickly, as I label them as I take them off, put them in folders, and try to remember what is where. I don't just wholesale remove them in one folder as I know I will never get the time to sort them. A lot has happened since I took the first photos. My guild and some friends did a quilt retreat at Stella Niagara Center of Renewal in Lewiston, NY. Friday, Saturday and Sunday the last weekend of February was lots of fun. I kept quilting on one quilt, which is not done yet, so I am not showing it.
    Here are some of what other people worked on.

Ten minute table runner and purses

A quilt for WNY Heroes

Judy Niemeyer Paper Piecing

Twister pattern

     Before I left, I did two blocks for a collaborative quilt. It is a wonky star. I love the idea of wonky, don't know if I like the stars. I think I would have to crop the block smaller to be happy.

New Baby Quilt

  This baby quilt is for a former student who just had a baby boy. I used a panel piece from Eric Carle in the center and sewed dark/light strips at the sides. I used some wonky star blocks that I had made as a trial to see if I could sew these after reading Gwen Marston's book and looking at tutorials on a couple of blogs. I love the wonky stars, but they are time consuming. I would love a whole quilt of them, but I don't know if I have the patience for all those little blocks. I wanted the quilt to be rectangular so I used a piano key border, sewing longer strips in multiples, then cutting to the 61/2" length and sewing the multiples together. I love the colors and sparkle. I certainly hope the mom and baby feel the same way. This was quilted with Superior So Fine 40 variegated thread. I had mucho tension problems with it. After this quilt, I switched back to Isacord and no issues on the next quilt. No matter how I adjusted top and bottom, changed needles, no consistent good stitiches. This was pieced on one Singer 301 and quilted on another.

The Full Quilt

The Center Eric Carle Panel

The Center with the Wonky Stars

Detail of quilting