Hunter's Star Revealed!

Welcome! My day has finally arrived in the Wish Upon a Star Blog Hop hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt. Everyone has been incredibly patient waiting for the big reveal of my Hunter's Star - and here it is:

Pretty gorgeous, if I do say so myself! I just love the blue and white contrast, and the layout of a center star with others forming an on-point square - all quite striking!

Ready for closeups? 

A very easy feather/teardrop design fits in each triangular shape, with SID around the stars. Here's the design drawn out on vinyl.

It's a very simple freehand motif to stitch out, and perfect for this funny shaped space in the Hunter's Star. And it can be done with either a domestic or longarm machine. Watch how to stitch it out in the Hunter's Star Feather/Teardrop Motif video:

 
Make sure to add the little scoops to the feathers to bring them to life!

The border quilting is simple piano keys, with a repeated and mirrored feather motif in the corner.

Hard to see, isn't it? No fear - it shows up better on the backside.

The piano keys are also easier to see on the back.

                                       

Maybe you'll want to make your own Hunter's Star - here's more posts about this creation.
Hunter's Star 
Starting a Hunter's Star Quilt 
Hunter's Star Progress Report 
Wish Upon a Star Hop Starts Today 

And hubby quickly claimed this quilt to hang in his home office - good choice hubby!

Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Hunter's Star Progress Report

The day before I flew off on my vacation, I squeezed in some calming quilting time and worked on the beginnings of a Hunter's Star quilt.

And that's as far as I got. Which really is pretty good, considering these are the tricky parts that really use the ruler.

The instructions for using the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star ruler are clear, with great diagrams for both left and right hand cutters. Plus there are instructions for 2, 3, and 4 colors in this quilt. How cool is that? All that's left is a bit of imagination!

Since this is my first time making a Hunter's Star, I choose to use the Basic Recipe in 2 colors, blue and white.

Can you tell this will probably end up being another baby quilt?? Still need to build up the stock of boy quilts!

So, when I'm recovered from jet lag, I'll proceed with the next steps in making the Hunter's Star by attaching the trapezoid units to some HST's. Then I'll be off and running with blocks, and before you know it, a quilt top! That really is Rapid Fire!

Have a great weekend quilting!

Starting a Hunter's Star Quilt

Since my quilts for the two upcoming blog hops are done, and I can't show more until my day of the hops, there's nothing left for me to do but start a new project! 

This time, I'm choosing to play with the Studio 180 Design's Rapid Fire Hunter's Star ruler,

which I had won during a previous blog hop. I've always been curious about this ruler, and happy to have in my ruler arsenal. And I'm going to use it!

I've read through the ruler's instructions, which always a good thing to do before starting any project, whether it's for a ruler or a pattern. It's just a good idea to get an idea of how things are put together. And the instructions for the ruler and the quilt seem easy enough. 

For my first attempt at a Hunter's Star, I'm going to stick to the traditional two color version. No need to get fancy just yet!

I'm seeing this in a pretty blue, and have pulled out this bit of yardage from the stash, pairing it with white.

Oh! And I just noticed that the blue has a white star print in it - even better! Catch you later - I'm off to go play!

Happy Quilting!

Hunter's Star

Last week, more happy mail arrived!

Specifically, this Petite Rapid Hunter's Star Template by Deb Tucker at Studio 180 Design. 

I was lucky to have won this by commenting on a blog that participated in the Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop hosted by Seams to be Sew. I've seen this ruler for a number of years, and I'm pretty excited to finally get my hands it!

The Hunter's Star quilt has been on my bucket list for quite some time. And this ruler could not have come at a better time, as I'm participating in the Wish Upon a Star Blog Hop, at Just Let Me Quilt, next month. That hop requires a quilt with a star in it somewhere - well, how about several??

So, I'm off to get sewing! Lots happening over the next couple months, and I've got a lot of quilts to make!

Happy Quilting!

Garden Stars

Another RSC 17 purple scrap finish, number 4 to be exact, and this one is a beauty!
Introducing Garden Stars.

I really love these blocks, which came about because of the shape of the scraps, creating a great secondary design. Wouldn't this look awesome as a larger quilt with more blocks? Too bad I ran out of the perfect yellow fabric, or I would have cut more triangles to keep going. But it is such a great feeling to go from scrap pieces,

to blocks,

to a stunning quilt!

Now, I'm not one to automatically put borders on my work. But the shortage of yellow background and the small size of the blocks made for a small quilt. Therefore, a hefty border was needed to make the quilt a decent size (37" x 37"). Fortunately, I had 6" strips of the same fabrics in the stash, making it a no-brainer on border width. The strip width within the border corresponds to the square size in the blocks, giving unity to all the elements. That's something that's really important to me when I'm designing a quilt, otherwise, it could end up being a jumbled mess.

Here's more eye candy, and yes, I was brave and used a med/dark purple thread throughout.

A perfect thread choice, as it gives the quilt a more purple feel, and really shows off the quilting (and any mistakes!).

The back, a green plaid flannel, 

shows off the quilting in a soft, lighter purple, almost a lilac color. You can just see the hint of purple below.

Ok, that's enough eye candy for today, and enough purple for awhile. I'm way behind on aqua, and haven't even started red. But the good news? I'm banishing the scraps!

Happy Quilting!

Spangled Stars

Happy Fourth of July! Today is my parade of red, white, and blue!

In the front of the parade is Spangled Stars, 

 a patriotic version from my Spangled Stars QAL. Previously, I had shown it's alternate colorway version, Lily Pond.

Sorry if I gush, but aren't they both beautiful???

Of course, Spangled Stars deserves it's a bit more showing off, so here are more detail pictures.

The straight line and seed quilting was done with rulers.

The stars and swirls were quilted freehand after marking the star design with a washout pen. I transferred the design using tulle.

And the back is a pretty cream and blue plaid, that happened to be 10" short! A little addition of red adds a fun spark though!

For the binding, I didn't want cream, red, or blue. But I had this great print

(from 199_ - the last digit was cut off!) that had all the right colors in it, and works fabulously!

Now for the rest of the parade!

My Patriotic Wave Table Runner ,

and matching placemats.

That's it for my parade! Have a safe and happy fourth!