Welcome to the last day of the Island Batik Ambassador Lone Star Quilt challenge. If you've been following along, there have been some absolutely stunning quilts created. If you haven't as yet, I'll be posting a round-up of all the quilts next week.
So, the Lone Star Quilt... as with many of the challenges Island Batik has set us this year, I'd not made a Lone Star quilt before. I always knew that I wanted to make one of these quilts - some day - but in all likelihood, it would probably never have eventuated.
I received the Zen Chic bundle of fabric designed by Kathy Engle. The colours in this jewel toned range are rich and very vibrant. Along with the half yard bundle, I received (2) 2 yard cuts of matching prints.
I just knew that I wanted to use the dark purple umbrella print for my lone star background. I downloaded the fabric images to EQ8 and played around with colours and placement until I was happy with my lone star colour layout.
The next step was to learn how to make a lone star quilt. YouTube to the rescue!
I watched some fabulous videos on YouTube which gave excellent instructions. Feeling slightly more confident that when I started the process, I began cutting out my fabric strips and sewing them together into sets.
This wasn't so hard - I could sooooo do this.
Next step was to crosscut the sets and keep everything under control so I created small labels to keep everything organised. I'm pleased to announce that I didn't mix any of the strip sets up - so that's a big bonus!
One thing which all of the video tutorials suggested was to mark my seams and pin, pin, pin. I followed this religiously and marked every seam and used more pins than I ever have in a project. Ever!
My points all lined up nicely so I was very pleased that I didn't skip over the marking and pinning steps.
I pieced the backing with remaining yardage and then basted my quilt sandwich using Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 black batting by Hobbs. I've never used black batting in a project before, but with such a dark quilt top, I think that this worked perfectly.
I quilted in the main star ditches and then decided that a little bit of big stitch hand quilting would finish my quilt off perfectly. Wanna know a secret? The hand quilting has taken wayyyyy longer than putting the quilt together ever did.
I hand quilted with my favourite Aurifil 12wt threads. I marked out 1" lines with my sewline white pencil marker and used Aurifil #2545 (a gorgeous dark grapey purple) in 12 wt to quilt the quilt background. Within the star, I used a variety of Aurifil colours which coordinated with the Zen Chic palette.
A big thank you to Island Batik for all of the fabric and the fun challenge. Although I was overwhelmed to begin with, I'm so pleased that this was our challenge and that I actually made a Lone Star Quilt.
Also, a big thank you to industry partners who provided product to the ambassadors for use in this project, as well as projects through the year.
Aurifil Thread for all of the thread supplied for both the piecing and quilting of this quilt.
Hobbs Batting for the gorgeous black batting which worked beautifully in this quilt.
Schmetz Needles - the microtex needles are my new favourite needle when sewing batik fabric. So sharp. So precise. Best of all, my Bernina loves them.
Also, a big thank you to my quilt holders this afternoon. They didn't even complain about having to hold up the quilt for a photo shoot.
Your quilt is so beautiful! I love the deep rich purple! Happy stitching & Happy Christmas!
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is absolutely beautiful! I love the fabrics in this collection. Great job!
ReplyDeletevery nice! I haven't made a lone star in over 20 years!
ReplyDeleteYour Quilt is beautiful, I love purple. Merry Christmas
ReplyDeleteA Lone Star quilt is on my bucket list. Love the colors in the Zen Chic bundle you used. Purple is my favorite color.
ReplyDeleteThat is really pretty - what a beautiful color palette you chose!
ReplyDeleteYou had a beautiful color palette to work with and the Lone Star just popped. Beautiful work. kathrie@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteGorgeous quilt. Love the colours of the zen chic bundle but best of all you used purple, my favourite. :) Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteLooks fantastic,
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and yours...
Hugz
A lovely finish.
ReplyDeleteIt is a beautiful quilt executed excelently like all your work
ReplyDeletethese fabrics are lovely and you make a gorgeous quilt letting these fabrics pop. thanks for sharing and inspiring. Merry Christmas
ReplyDeleteSuch a gorgeous quilt, Anorina! You know those purples speak to me!! LOL This is such a beautiful line of fabric.
ReplyDeletePurple is a favorite color for me. Love the deep color of the line. Merry Christmas and happy new year
ReplyDeleteWow! Der Quilt ist so wunderwunderschön!!!!
ReplyDeleteFrohe Weihnachten!
Viele liebe Grüße
Sybille
Your quilt is stunning! I love the beautiful outdoor photos you took, too. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteWoohooo! Another beautiful achievement. Well done!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful quilt. You have faced some great challenges during your ambassadorship and every one has turned out beautifully.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is beautiful! Well done on rising to the challenge :-)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful lone star quilt. Is it possible to find out the measurement of your strips, were they 2.3"or 3.5"? What was the size of the quilt altogether when you finished? Thank you for your time.
ReplyDelete