Last weekend, my dear high school friend JoAnn and I drove to Sew Blessed in Hahira, GA for a quilting class. The two-hour drive was worth it; we each came away with a 25" star block. An added bonus was getting to spend an entire day with JoAnn, talking sewing and quilting ALL DAY!
My block was done in shades of aqua, coral and red. I LOVE it! So much so, that I had a hard time donating it to be placed in a silent auction to benefit for Books for Sumter. But a promise is a promise... and this baby quilt was the only one I could finish in time for last night's benefit!
Since the block was only 25" square, I added three borders to get it up to a baby quilt size, in this case 42" square. I simply MUST start writing down names and makers of fabrics I purchase! I have no idea where I got any of them, and no idea of the fabric lines from which they came. None of them were purchased at the same time; they just happened to get stacked together in my stash cubes because of similar colors. But man, am I pleased with how they look together!
The star itself was quilted in the ditch. Then, I had the BEST TIME quilting the white Kona background with my walking foot! I absolutely LOVE quilting with contrasting thread on solids!
It's really hard to see, but the three borders were quilted with the same aqua thread, with a meander/stipple, about an inch apart. I used my midarm for that part. Don't you just love the little bird print on the outer border??? I think it's just the right contrast to the floral print used in the middle border and binding.
The back is that same darling aqua and coral polka dot from the inner border. I love that fabric so much that it was hard for me to cut into it! But it's been in my stash for at least three years... and I still have some left!
I sure hope this quilt brought in big bucks at the benefit, because I already miss it!
Lessons learned while making this quilt??? First, to trust my instincts when putting fabrics together for a quilt. Even though I'm pretty sure each came from a different line, they really look great together (I think)! Next, I tried out a machine binding tutorial from Pinterest... and it came out great! I've been a bit of a purist when it comes to binding (must be hand stitched), but for a quilt that's going to get lots of use and washing, the machine binding makes sense. Last lesson??? Don't make promises you may not want to keep! I want this quilt baaack!
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