finished: spinning stars quilt

Tags

quilting, spinning stars

I love it, I love it: two “finished” posts in a row!

(Now it’ll probably be three weeks until my next one. :[ )

 

It took me about two and a half-three weeks to handquilt this mess. But I think handquilting saved it, don’t you? Here’s where I was. I shuffled around the blocks, deciding that having differently-printed pink stars was better than the single-print pink stars (especially since I ran out of both the pink Petite Point dot and the Lecien Folk Heart flower and had to cut further into my Peacock Lane scrap, totally wrecking any design I’d intended).

And then, because the points were mushy and the blocks were poofy, I handquilted the heck out of it. I outlined each pink star three times, went around the grey rings three times, and outlined the “pie pieces” in the middles.

 

See how my shoes match? The laces are Kona Coal grey. Yep. I bought them while I was in the midst of quilting this.

 

In the end, I’m so glad I did this project. I hated it three weeks ago. I didn’t want to look at it, it was embarrassing, and I was just so ready to have it finished and put it away so I wouldn’t have to see it anymore. The funny thing is, though, that I finished it, pulled it from the dryer, and couldn’t wait to curl up under it.

And so, the Spinning Stars.

progress (questionable)

Tags

quilts, spinnin, spinning stars

This week I sweated and worked and bent over my kitchen island cutting out the little rascaly pieces for the Spinning Stars quilt-a-long. I was pleased that I had so much Peacock Lane left–maybe enough for a baby quilt? (Someone will have to have a girl first.) I was less pleased about how far my pinks went for my C pieces–the long awkward pieces that form the secondary stars in the “background.” My secondary stars will end up a little…scrappier than I had planned.

The whole quilt may end up crappier than I had planned. Maybe I was super-careful with my test block, or maybe my for-real fabrics are a slightly lighter and stretchier bunch, but making my first real block just made me want to cry.

I was so frustrated when I finished that first block (left) that I didn’t even move it next to the window to make a real show-off picture. Shame, first block! The fabrics are so busy that it looks kind of OK here (giving me hope for the final product). But…

…when I switch to my “show-off-the-texture” angle, you can see how not-flat the center is. The ring and the pink background lays flat fine, but those triangles in the center are all a mess. I’ve read from someone in the QAL that my steam iron is to blame? Probably so. I just haven’t the heart or the patience right now to unpick, after another 5:30 am toddler wakeup call, complete with theatrical fake-y crying (they learn the fake cry so early!).

So now I’m on the sofa with a cookie. That’s a lie. I already ate the cookie. But I am going to give this project a rest until tomorrow, when I’ll either have the heart to get out the seam ripper or the gumption to move forward and live with a little imperfection.

Looks less horrible here, right? RIGHT?!