Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Friendship Star Quilt Finish


  Yay!  A quilt finish for today!  I've known for some time that my two older kids' violin teacher was expecting.  As I finished up various baby quilts over the past few months, I just figured one would go to her.  Well, about 3 weeks ago I asked how they were decorating for the baby, knowing that they weren't finding out the gender.  She told me 'turquoise and yellow, adding bright pink if its a girl or orange for a boy'.  I decided that none of my finishes quite figured into those requirements, so I'd start from scratch.


I started by pulling all my turquoise and yellow prints.  Noting that she DID NOT want pastels.  Hm.  And then I thought for a while as I tried to work on yesterday's finish.  Then this block came up on my calendar, and I thought it was perfect!  What better ways to highlight the yellow than stars!  Easy Stars!
So I used my EQ7 program to mock up a potential quilt.  Eventually deciding that I wanted the yellow and the centers to be the same, but the turquoise could remain scrappy.  I ended up purchasing the yellow, the center grays with the sun bursts and 5 extra fat quarters of various turquoise.


 I just stitched in the ditch to outline the stars and free motion quilted around them.  Trying not to get too dense with the quilting, since this is a baby quilt!  Above and below are shots of the back.

 Above and below here are the front.
 I used a variety of thread on this project.  It was pieced using yellow and grey Aurifil.  Quilted on the front with Master Piece and Sulky Variegated 'Peacock'.  The bobbin thread was a blue/turquoise Aurifil.
 I went ahead and pieced in the leftovers into the back of the quilt.
 Unfortunately, lessons were cancelled yesterday, so I wasn't able to give it to her in person.  I will pop it into the mail this week.

Finished Size: 46" x 46"
Quilted on my home machine with Sulky, Aurifil and Masterpiece threads
Pellon natural cotton batting

Linking up With Show Off Friday
And Finish Friday at Crazymom Quilts

12 comments:

Deborah said...

The colors in your quilt are beautiful as is your quilting.
Fun to see your design process.

Mindy said...

Great bright, cheerful colors. Love the quilt square star design, too.

Unknown said...

I love the pattern you used for the quilting-- and the blocks on the back make it as nice as the front-What a lucky baby!

OPQuilt said...

I love your FMQ pattern--kind of a flowery-type pattern that is just terrific. The whole quilt is wonderful. I like the idea of making a quilt that could be for either--like we used to do in the OLD days!

Well done, Rachel. Really, very cool!

Elizabeth E.

Betty said...

Rachel, I just love this quilt - the stars pop and it's just comforting!

Sarah said...

You're getting very good at free motion quilting, clever girl! I thought it must have been long armed, but you did it yourself! Well done. I think she will love it for her baby.

Celtic Thistle said...

Love your quilt, so much longer lasting than baby pastels :)

Whitney said...

the quilting is amazing! the whole thing reminds me of van gogh's starry night!

Anonymous said...

wow i love this quilt!

Snowcatcher said...

You're right, the turquoise is perfect to tone down the yellow just right. Love how you've used the leftovers in the backing!

Karen said...

A beautiful quilt for a new baby. I love the color combinations.

Gemini Jen NZ said...

Exquisitely done! Great job!