Thank you all so much for your support last week when I was
unquilting this quilt and trying something new. I am so excited to share the finished quilt with you! This is definitely one of my favorite finishes in a while, thanks to the fun I had quilting this one and the great texture the quilting created. I love densely quilted quilts like this one, so I'm quite sure it's going to be one of my favorites for a while to come.
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| before washing |
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| after washing |
A while back, I fell in love with a block I saw in a copy of Jinny Beyer's
The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns, on loan from the library, and sketched it out in my sketchbook. Many months later, back in January, when the fabulously talented
Betz White
sent me some of her fantastic organic line of fabric for Robert Kaufman, I revisited the sketch and decided to finally make the block. I called it a
Star Crossed block, as it felt like a fab combination of a star and cross block, and I slowly started working on this quilt bit by bit, in between what feels like a zillion other obligations that I can't share yet.
I was super excited to finish this quilt...until I realized that I didn't have a clue how I wanted to quilt it. Usually, I don't make that decision until after I see the finished quilt top. When I looked at this quilt top, I just couldn't seem to decide. I wanted to do something other than my usual smooth stipple, and I thought a pointy stipple would be fun, but rather than mocking it up to see how it would look, I just went for it. Whoops. I hated it. Intensely. So much so that I ripped it all out. Note to self:
always mock up the quilting.
Always. (ETA: All I do to mock up my quilts is print out a photo and draw out my FMQ design on it with a highlighter. It's uber-low-tech and fast.)
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| before washing |
Somehow or another, I got baptist fans on the brain, and just couldn't let go. So I did them. And they were really fun to do! The way I stitched these fans is indeed in a continuous line, with one start at the beginning of each row of fans and one stop at the end. I'm putting the finishing touches on a tutorial of how I did this quilting to share with you all tomorrow, so stay tuned for that.
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| before washing |
I'm so happy I went with my gut and
ripped out the pointy stipple quilting stitches I started with. I'm also really glad I tried a new style of quilting, even though I really thought it was going to be either too difficult or too tedious. Trying something new can be so much fun!
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| after washing |
Thanks again,
Betz, for sharing some of your lovely
fabrics for this project!
Quilt Stats
Name: Star Crossed Stitch quilt
Block Pattern:
Star Crossed block
Size: 34" x 44"
Fabrics: Betz White's Stitch Organic collection for Robert Kaufman along with some coordinating fabrics from Just Dandy, Katie Jump Rope, and So Sophie
Backing: Remants from Betz White's Stitch Organic collection
Quilting: All-over baptist fan free motion quilting (tutorial coming tomrrow!) by yours truly
Binding: Scrappy binding, using remants from Betz White's Stitch Organic collection, hand finished
Looks fabulous. Like the quilting. I've got a quilt to do, and may attempt this. Looking forward to tomorrow's post.
ReplyDeleteOooh the quilting looks fabulous. That was a brilliant idea to use that pattern.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely stunning and I love that quilting! Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful quilt and I love how you ended up quilting it!
ReplyDeleteThe quilting is PERFECT on this E! Its beautiful!
ReplyDeleteit's beautiful, and that quilting is great!
ReplyDeleteLovely! Thanks for tip on mocking up the quilting design!!
ReplyDeleteIt looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful! The colors go so nice with the block pattern, and awesome that you tried new fmq & love it!
ReplyDeleteIt's gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful!
ReplyDeleteJust fantastic!
ReplyDeleteSimply gorgeous! Congrats, Elizabeth!
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful! the quilting is amazing too, I'm glad you followed your instinct.
ReplyDeleteThis is Beautiful! I love the quilting and so glad to see that it turned out so wonderful!
ReplyDeleteLove it!
ReplyDeleteReally really awesome. Love it! The Baptist Fan design ended up totally working with this quilt.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to that quilting tute--it looks amazing, Elizabeth! I hate to rip out quilting stitches, but had to do that myself, recently. Just didn't feel "right."
ReplyDeleteLooks fantastic!! Great job!
ReplyDeleteThat is stunning! I am so looking forward to the tutorial tomorrow - I want to try that but have been afraid to!
ReplyDeleteI love everything about this quilt. Awesome pattern, great colors, and I absolutely love the quilting. Can't wait for your tutorial!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great quilt... love all that fresh-washed crinkly goodness! Congratulations on such a fantastic finish!
ReplyDeleteIt was worth the effort - the baptist fan quilting is 'fan'tastic! (groan)
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful- the quilting is fun and different. I guess picking it out was worth it after all. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a beauty!!!! It looks amazing, and that quilting is awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteRipping out quilting is the pits! I feel your pain!
ReplyDeleteBut your new quilting is gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous! And really makes the quilt shine!
The quilting is splendid. I know it was a lot of work to unpick, but it looks like you made an amazing choice!
ReplyDeleteGORGEOUS!! I'm looking forward to the FMQ tutorial too. :)
ReplyDeleteThis turned out fabulous. I love the shell quilting. I tend to listen to worship music done by our church or instumental saxaphone
ReplyDeleteOooh it looks fab, so glad you requilted it :o)
ReplyDeleteFab & gorgeous quilt! The curved quilting has softened the sharp pointiness of the 'stars'.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really beautiful quilt, Elizabeth! And the quilting design is just wonderful too!
ReplyDeleteIf you were closer...you'd hear me clapping! You've done an awesome job! The fans are perfect and I can't wait to see the tutorial :-)
ReplyDeleteLooks amazing!! Love the quilting =D
ReplyDeleteIt's me again... :) Hopefully I took care of the no-reply thing.
ReplyDeleteOh wow. I loooove this, Elizabeth! Everything about it. Looking forward to your tutorial - I think it will be a good choice for a top I just finished....
ReplyDeleteYeah...this quilting looks fantastic!! Incredible job!
ReplyDeleteI love this quilt so much! Thanks for sharing the block tutorial and I am looking forward to seeing how you do the quilting. Absolutely amazing fabric as well!
ReplyDeleteOMG the quilting has just turned this fabulous quilt into a work of art!
ReplyDeleteLove everything!Fabrics, blocks, quilting....looks great!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised how different some fabrics look like after washing because of the quilting. What a difference. So you were probably absolutely right to rip the first quilting out. I can't wait to see the tutorial.
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ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this tutorial, this is awesome! I'm going to do this right away. I was looking for a way to quilt my retro flowers and I think this is it.
ReplyDeleteWonderful quilt, great use of color, and positive/negative balance. And the baptist fan quilting is so surprisingly successful. I have to try it.
ReplyDeleteThe quilting looks fabulous. Thanks for the easy-peasy mock up hint!
ReplyDelete