Saturday 20 January 2018

Giant Four-patch Star



Hello again, and my first finish for the New Year.  I can't quite believe I am actually posting without making excuses or apologies for lack of progress.  I have worked hard on my quilting this past couple of weeks, and have some other finishes in the pipeline which should be ready for next week - so look out for further posts!



Really glad to be able to share this finish with you today.  Thank goodness I stitched down the binding yesterday and took the photos when it was frosty and sunny: today has been dreary, rained all day and generally miserable weather.  Still it's a reminder to make the most of the good days of winter, and gives me an excuse to stay in today and sew/blog.



So here is my Giant Four-patch Star, based on Carrie Nelson's design in her book, Schnibbles Times Two  as I mentioned in this post (she calls her quilt Plan C).  Carrie's patterns are intended to be made with Charm packs or Layer Cakes but I used fat quarters, made the quilt a bit bigger and left off the border.





I made most of the blocks for this quilt some years ago and then it languished (as so many of my quilts do when the first fit of enthusiasm has worn off and another project jumps into my mind).  I started to finish it back in September last year (see this post) when I was having one of my periodic purges of WIPs.  It didn't take long to put the blocks together, but then the question which so often derails my progress: how to quilt it.  (The other awkward question is usually, do I have a backing? but thankfully this time the answer to that was 'yes').

In the end I went with my walking foot and straight line quilting to emphasis the diagonals in the shape and flow of the stars across the quilt and to provide a counterpoint to the squares.  I am pleased with the resulting crosshatch in the centre of the stars and the overall density and texture (haven't washed the quilt yet but I think it will look even better when it crinkles).



This is quite a large quilt: the squares are 4" finished so the star blocks finish at 16".  Quilt measures 64" x 86".



The red spotty backing is a lively contrast.  I am slightly nervous but a Sevenberry fabric shouldn't run (should it?) and I did try a spot test on a scrap which seemed OK.  I shall put lots of colour catchers in the machine when I do wash it though.  I guess I shouldn't have been in such a hurry to layer and quilt: red is always a slightly unreliable dye.


 So here's the last shot and a link to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


Finally, some tulips to turn our thoughts towards Spring on a dreary January day.  Hope you have a lovely weekend.


2 comments:

  1. Love stars and four patches, what a great combination and the size allows you to showcase beautiful prints, win win!

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    1. Thanks so much, Sue, for your kind comments. Appreciate it.

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