Lone Star blog hop
Lone Star blog hop
The last blog hop of the year hosted by Island Batik began on Dec 5th. There are so many beautiful collections being release it would be hard to choose one as a favorite. Today I am sharing one of twenty-five collections that will shipping to your local quilt shops in January. To find a shop near you use the Store Locator from the Island Batik website.
You can find the entire hop schedule and some mug rugs I made here.
Piecing the Lone Star
For months I contemplated how I was going to make a Lone Star quilt and I contemplated way too long. Do I paper piece, use the strip method or …? It didn’t help that my beloved Juki went flying off the table and bounced on the floor, landing 5′ away. Lucky for me that I have another machine but found progress was slow since I have used the Juki every day since 2017.
Using the 14″ Prairie Star die from Accuquilt I cut my blocks as I thought this would be the easiest for me. The plan was to make 9 blocks, add sashing and corner stones, finish with flying geese. As usual, plans change.
All the small diamonds fit perfectly together but four of my blocks didn’t turn out so well. I’m still unsure if I stretched the patches or what exactly I did wrong. One thing for sure, I wasted too much fabric and was running out of time. So I chose the three blocks that were laying flat and started building from there.
Here is one I modified trying to coax it into laying flat.
Putting it together and embroidery
Using the GO! Circle-2″, 3″, 5″ Die and GO! Holiday Accessories Die I made ornaments. For the border around the stars I used the 2″ finished strip die from AccuQuilt and the 9″ Qube.
AccuQuilt also has great snowflake dies. Lucky for me the Bernette B79 loves Aurifil thread. That same spool doubled for piecing and embroidery.
For the snowflake blocks I used all the golds from the Farm Country collection and used the lightest fabrics for the snowflakes. There are 4 maroon fabrics in the collection but I needed 5 for the ornaments. Luckily I had a red and off white check that matched the gold and maroon in this collection to make my five ornaments on the top and bottom of the quilt.
Quilting
For quilting this festive quilt I used Hobbs Heirloom Premium Natural Cotton w/Scrim Batting, it is my favorite batting.
Aurifil now makes a thread for longarms, Forty3, which is what I use on all of my quilts for quilting. Wonder where you can get it? I purchase mine from fellow Ambassador, MaryMackMadeMine.
The finish
Loki followed us outside to take the photo below. When we came inside he was running behind me jumping up excitedly at the quilt, what’s a girl to do? Lay it out on the floor of course and he happily plopped down.
Of all the quilts I have made this one drew the most attention from two of my sisters, both wanting the quilt.
Giveaway
Don’t forget to visit other Ambassadors
It has been another great year being an Island Batik Ambassador.
A huge thank you
Beautiful interpretation, I love the row layout; it gives the eye a chance to take everything in little by little. Maybe the quilt could be rotated between sisters?
Though you never have to admit quilting mistakes (they are always design variations!) you found a beautiful solution for a potential problem. I love your quilt!
Lol, I love that!
Your quilt turned out terrific, no one would ever know you initially had a different plan if you hadn’t spilled the beans! But thanks for keeping it real and sharing what went wrong, because we have ALL been there. Sometimes it seems like social media is full of perfect quilters whose work turns out perfect every time, but that’s only because the “bloopers” aren’t included in the reels! :-). Merry Christmas to you!
For sure, I never would have shared my mistakes when I first started this blog. That made me feel less than honest. Then, I felt someone who is just starting to sew/make quilts would feel they aren’t alone. It doesn’t matter if it’s your firs project or 100th, mistakes happen.
This is a great interpretation, beautiful job and I love your explanations.
I love your version of the quilt! What a fabulous and cozy winter quilt.
I prefer to visit a store. I am a touchy, feel-ly kind of person.
This is a lovely quilt. I don’t blame your sisters for wanting it. I love going to a quilt shop, but they are far away from where I live. I am glad that kits are available on the internet. I switch out fabrics for ones in my stash to make the kit more “me”. I am thankful that I do have both options available.
Love how you did a row quilt
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Hi Denise, what an amazing quilt. I can see why your sisters want it!
I would rather shop in person but I do shop the online specials. Take care. Andrée
Thank you Andrée, I commented on a couple of your posts this morning but was not given the option to enter my name.
It came out so beautifully, Denise, despite the struggle along the way. I love how you made it into a festive holiday quilt. Have a great day!
Thank you Jennifer, Merry Christmas!
I prefer to go to the store because I like to touch the fabric and see the colors in person. Plus, I know what I am getting. So many times I have ordered online and gotten something totally different than what is shown or waited to finally receive an email that is was cancelled. I recently ordered some black with white dots from Joann that was listed as their Keepsake Calico and it is stiff and hard like denim fabric even after washing. Can’t be used for a quilt.
Isn’t that frustrating? A few years ago I had a bad experience ordering fabric online for a quilt. Some of the fabrics blended, others not so well. Now, if I am ordering online I purchase pre cuts from fabric companies I have used previously. That way even if the colors aren’t exactly what I was hoping, the precuts are usually all from the same collection so it’s not a total loss. Thank you for stopping by.
oh but I love these fabrics. wow your quilt is gorgeous. I love how you made it into a winter feel quilt. thanks for sharing and inspiring
Thank you so much. My favorite in this collection are the golds, they are so rich and beautiful. Thank you for stopping by.
Wow! Beautiful job with your lone stars! I love shopping in person and online, depending on what my needs are. If I am looking for a specific color match, nothing beats in person shopping. If it’s for a backing or enhancing my stash, online is easy!
Thank you so much.
LOVE the Lone Star blog quilt- Great job and awesome colors
Thank you so much.
I love what you did with this! Lone star is hard and who knows….sometimes those stretchy edges just win. You would never know if you didn’t tell us. I really love the quilt design, a fun way to show off the lone star!
Lol, the not so flat blocks were not used, these three were so nice. Thank you for dropping by.
I love this, Denise!! I love that you made it a Christmas quilt. It’s the perfect collection for it!! And I love you used your embroidery machine as well! I thought about using that Prairie Star BOB and now I know I’m going to have to use it for another quilt! Great job!
Thank you Brenda. If I were to use it again I would use a light weight iron on stabilizer or something to stabilize those triangles.
Beautiful quilt! I love the design you came up with. It is entirely different from anything I was expecting. Great Job!
Thank you, some times I think the design as you go creates the best quilts.
I prefer buying fabric in actual stores. I can feel and see the fabric. Too many times online fabric isn’t the color it shows online.
I agree with that. The best way to order something online is pre cuts, otherwise you are at the mercy of the camera.
Your stars are very pretty and your row by row quilt is wonderful! I’m not surprised both your sisters want the quilt. Happy stitching and Happy Christmas!
Thank you Gretchen. They are my biggest fans and always appreciate what I do. This is the first time 2 of them have wanted the same quilt. Funny thing, the sister who did not get the quilt, these aren’t even her colors. She likes bling. Thank you for stopping by, good luck in the giveaway.
It is terrific how you salvaged the situation and came up with a lovely quilt that is coveted by your sisters. That is one happy ending to a dramatic saga! Kudos to you and of course Loki! He is the cutest!
Lol, you gotta love Loki. Thank you for stopping by and yes, I am happy with the finish but I was really beginning to sweat.
i would much rather touch the fabric before i buy it, but it’s not always possible to find what i want in the store near me.
That struggle is real. The closest fabric store to me is over 20 miles away and her schedule does not match mine.