Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Pleiades - A Finish

This post has been a long time in coming. You see, I started making these paper pieced stars way back in June.

Then in July I had a finished top, and the top quickly turned into a finished quilt.

I couldn't share it before today because it was for a guild challenge.  The only rule is that the quilt had to have one 5 pointed star on the front.  We were given a paper pieced star pattern as a start if we needed it.  That's what I ended up using for all my stars.

Last night was the voting on the anonymous quilts.  I missed out on the voting because of family obligations.  The winners will be announced at our Holiday Party in November.  Fingers crossed....
Pleiades - named for the constellation of the seven sisters.  This quilt has seven bright white stars, representing those 7 sisters of Greek mythology.  There are seven blue stars to make a total of 14 visible stars, which is what can be seen with the naked eye.  The quilted in stars represent the many, many more stars that make up the constellation that can only be seen with telescopes.
I quilted around each star for definition and then went back to quilt in the rays.  I did the rays with my free motion foot, so they are not perfect, but I'm perfectly ok with that, especially with all the texture the quilt got after I washed it.  Each star is made from a different fabric.  7 blues and 7 white on white fabrics.
The back is made form a bunch of uglies that I mashed together.
Some quilting detail from the back.
My quilting threads.
I love this shot with WP laying next to the quilt.  This is actually before the binding and washing.
My moment of brilliance when I used the practice block for my label!



5 comments:

Vicki said...

Oh, this is beautiful! I love the story behind the different colored stars and such. I sure hope that you win!

Anne / Springleaf Studios said...

What a good idea and very nice quilting.

OPQuilt said...

LOVELOVELOVE!
Oh, Rachel, this is terrific! From the design to the piecing to the quilting, every part of this quilt is strong and contributes to the whole. Way to hit a homerun!

I also loved reading the story and how it came together. Thank heavens for guild challenges that keep us trying new things. Bravo!

Elizabeth

Mindy said...

Amazing! Love all the rays stitched in there.

Sarah said...

Really really like this quilt! You are so creative in your patchwork, coming up with ideas and pattern layouts yourself. I'm a pattern follower!