Feathered Star - Marking and Basting the quilt

 Today was my day to get my Feathered Star quilt basted together and onto my hoop for hand quilting.  I purchased the backing and batting yesterday, washed the backing over night and ironed it today.  I wanted to draw some of the quilting lines before basting the sandwich together.  This is a pattern I recently used in a Sashiko class, and really like it.  Not sure about the star center, but I think I will carry the lines into the center.


These are a couple of tools I use in marking that I  thought I would share.  The Leonis blue water soluble marker I order off Amazon.  They are the best I have found so far and come in a pack of 10 for $15. The little sponge applicator is used to erase mistakes - simply dunk in water and the wipe across the line done in error.  My friend Martha told me about this trick and even gave me some of the sponges and the cute little Ball jar.

Here is the quilt being basted.  I use boards to roll the backing and top on, and then thread baste for hand quilting.  My good friend, Brenda, dropped by to learn this basting technique and then stayed for several hours to help me baste it together.   So fun to have a friend to help!   Tomorrow I hope to finish up the basting and get the quilt in my hoop :)

Pemberley applique do-over

 

This is a wavy border on the Pemberley quilt I am working on.  I began appliqueing this wavy border and dots while I was still recovering from a brain concussion and fractured skull.  It already had one do-over when I had to remove all the dots and re-applique them as I had placed them too far from the border and they were going to be cut off when I trimmed the border to the correct size.  Hmmmm, I blame that on I was not thinking straight .

 

Here is a closeup of some of the applique - stitches are too big, thread color makes no sense and obviously show a lot more than they should.  I do think that was because I was not seeing as clearly as I am now, or maybe not thinking right.  A couple of  weeks ago, I began to see the poor applique, and thought I would just leave it as is - not all that bad, besides who will notice when the quilt is finished???  But then every time I look at the quilt, I think..I really need to fix that applique.

 

So now I have finished all the "chubby dresdens" that make up the next border and am ready to sew that border on.  But I just can't do it until I fix the applique.  So I started tonight, ripping out the previous applique stitches and doing-over in less conspicuous stitches and color.  Why I used a light ecru thread is beyond me now, I know better than to do that.  So I am re-doing the applique with a light grey thread and making my stitches just in the fold .  I am not an expert in needle turn applique, but those doggone stitches were really bothering me.

 

Whew....that feels so much better.

Feathered Star quilt top finished

This is the design I settled on for the pillow cover on my Feathered Star quilt.  The quilt has 12 embroidered blocks surrounding the feathered star and I carried the embroidery to the pillow cover.

The dark blue blocks were made using a Seminole piecing technique. The "nine patch" is supposed to finish at 3" square and to my surprise, it finishes at 3 1/4 inches.  I was so careful to consistently sew using my quarter inch presser foot, so they consistently measure 3 1/4" all the way across the border (both top and bottom).

 This really messed up my calculations on how many I needed to make the borders.  But all's well that ended well - I think they came out ok.  I think I need to reposition my needle a little to the left to get the seam to come out exactly 1/4"

Now to get it basted and ready for hand quilting.  I plan to use #8 perle cotton thread which is what I used for the embroidery - but it will be white.  Quilting will be big stitch.

Rapid Fire Hunter Star quilt

Last weekend I took a workshop sponsored by our guild, York County Quilters Guild, Inc. and taught by Jane Godshall.  We used the petite star Deb Tucker Rapid Fire Hunter Star ruler and each block measures 6" finished.  This workshop was so much fun and I thoroughly enjoy making the quilt.

This is the one I started in class and finished at home.  Its a simple two fabric design and I wanted to make it a baby quilt for starters, as I make those for the pregnant moms in our church.  The fabric is Lewis and Irene fabrics.   I show a closeup of the border so you can see the cute mice (not that I think mice are cute in real life).  Now to get it quilted and put with my other baby quilts to give out. I find that baby quilts are a great way to try a new pattern out before committing to a much bigger quilt.

 

Here is my next Hunter's Star pattern.  I am going scrappy and making it queen size.  This one will be a Christmas gift for my wonderful son-in-law Bobby.  I was able to cut out enough pieces to make a 72 x 90 quilt from my stash.  I am making 9" finished blocks, using the larger ruler. The only fabric I had to purchase for this project was six different yellows, 1/4yard each.  I wanted the yellows to just be yellow and white, and many in my stash had other colors on the fabric.  I think I have at least 20 different blues, yellows and white/off whites in these quilt so hopefully it will not be a problem when I start putting the quilt together to keep it scrappy.    I do love making these blocks.