Finish It Up Friday: Lone Star Baby Quilt

Lone Star Baby Quilt

I'm pleased to say that I get to check off a finish on my Q4 FAL goal list and link up to Amanda Jean's Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday party.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I did a bit of crowd sourcing of opinions as I was auditioning fabric choices to prepare for the September workshop at Back Porch Fabric in Pacific Grove.  I also had my favorite personal assistant chiming in and mocking up her ideas on what to do.  Continually impressed by the genuine interest and scissor skills of my adorable granddaughter. 

I used an app on my phone to get a better visual on the pattern repeat which helped make the final decision of color placement.  Amazing how different they are with a slight change here or there.  Without one right answer, it was hard to choose. 

Final Fabric Choices

 Mixing modern and traditional fabrics - all from stash was a bonus.

My workshop workspace 

Sharon Winters was a wonderful instructor and I would definitely take another class from her.  We brought the pre-cut strips and powered through the process smoothly.  I finished up at home and within the next three days had myself a top.

Modified assembly 

Because this was to be a baby quilt for my expectant niece due in December, I knew I'd get done.  The ideal size, I opted to float the star rather than include a border.  Because the background fabric was non-directional and super forgiving when it came to the joints showing, rather than Y-seam I tried out setting triangles instead.  Pleased with the results I may use this method again.

 Lucky for me, my friend Pat offered up use of her long arm and I had a bit of whimsical play with the quilting.

Quilting Close Up

 The butterflies and flowers on the backing gave it just the right amount of "baby" and I got to use one of my favorite prints for the binding, hand stitching it down with love.

Without a proper photo shoot, the portable design wall was a good alternative.  I was able to gift it in person which always makes me happy.

Gathering of Generations 

Precision piecing and traditional patterns have become sort of rare in my recent makes but I'm glad that I continue to go where I want to go with my style and embrace a broad definition of my quilty voice.  

With that said - It was challenging to stay the course and not bounce around too much with my tendency to tweak a pattern.  Above is one of the ideas that I decided not to do for this particular project but would like to explore further.  I love the secondary pattern and think it has great potential. (ignore the blue/green colors - they are what I had on hand to test out the concept).

Wishing you all well - thanks for checking in.
Happy Stitching, Karen