Stars in the Center

Way back in 2018, I pieced a quilt flimsy called Starlight Express which I had planned to donate to the quilt auction fundraiser that our Pennsylvania grandchildren attended at that time. The sale committee would have hand quilted the flimsy.

I designed this quilt myself and didn't really plan it out ahead of time. Some of the checkerboard border spacing around the center stars was 'fudged'. The quilt committee didn't like my 'fudged' spacing and refused the quilt top. I was rather peeved, I didn't think it looked that bad, but in retrospect I decided that if I were going to buy a quilt in an auction, I would want it pieced nicely without fudged spacing.

The farmer flew to Phoenix to visit our daughter in March 2024 which meant that I was in control of the TV in the evenings. NO SPORTS were watched while I watched documentaries and other programs that were of interest to me and took apart the offending 'fudged' borders. This time, when I sewed the checkerboard border back together, I made sure the blocks were evenly spaced.

I dropped the flimsy off at Lori's in April 2024, it went into the quilting frame in August. Then poor Lori slipped on outside steps, fell and broke both bones in her upper right arm by her shoulder! 😢 It took several months for those bones to heal and then several months of rehab before she regained the necessary mobility. Finally she was able to long arm quilt again.

I've renamed this quilt Stars in the Center. The quilting is finally finished and the binding is completed.

Since our grandchildren no longer attend that school and I had intended to donate this quilt anyway, she will be donated to the 2025 Michiana Mennonite Relief sale held on September 27th at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds . . . just in case any of you are interested in purchasing a quilt. Stars in the Center is a large quilt, she measures 97.5" by 108". I don't know why I put a checkerboard border on the short sides of the flimsy but not the long sides. Like I said, I pieced this quilt back in 2018, who knows what my thinking was then.

There will be an online link, for viewing the sale quilts, that will be available in mid September. I'll publish the link when it's available.

Lori Null quilted Stars in the Center with the Baptist Fan design. When in doubt, go with  Baptist Fan quilting, it always looks nice.

In all of these pictures you can easily see the revised patchwork borders around the stars. I didn't take a before picture of the offending blocks.

I used a lot of leftover cream fabrics in this quilt.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Scrappy Stars, A Charity Quilt

Several Sundays ago, on January 29th, I was planning to piece another Nearly Insane block. Before I got to my sewing machine, I checked Sarah's blog, Confessions of a Fabric Addict to see the first of several free quilt patterns to use for charity quilts.

The first pattern was Scrappy Stars. I scrapped the Insane plan and jumped into the new project.

I try to remember to cut up leftover pieces of fabrics into strips and 5" blocks. I also cut older fabrics that way. So I already had a basket full of 5" blocks. What could go wrong? Did I mention Sarah said she pieced a quilt from this pattern in 4 hours? 

Sewing the 9-patch blocks was easy. Then I started on the star blocks. I had 4 star blocks completed when my son dropped in for a visit. I quickly laid out blocks to show him what I was doing. He said, "Mom, you don't see the stars." And he was right, you didn't. So I piled everything onto a tray; set it aside until another day and pieced an Insane block.

After I completed sewing a row of Nearly Insane, sewed the blocks for the center of my Pastor's Attic Quilt together and then marked the blue churn dash quilt, I got the tray out again. I decided I wasn't going to let this quilt defeat me!

I pulled darker fabrics to use in the star blocks and put it all together. I added a border because I thought it needed one to give my eyes a place to rest. 

It took me two weeks but this was what I came up with.

My Scrappy Stars is larger than the ones Sarah made. The charity this flimsy will be donated to wants the quilts to be at least 60" x 80". I don't need to quilt it, he will become a knotted comforter. This quilt top will be an easy one to knot, the squares are evenly spaced.

To see the other patterns Sarah has to offer, check out these links - Exploding Stars, Speak to Me of Love and Super Nova.

In January I linked to DrEAMi after I started a new block for the RSC. DrEAMLi! is about starting new projects on the spur of the moment. She wasn't impressed that the new project I started in January on the spur of the moment was going to take me more than a year to finish. Maybe taking 2 weeks to make this spur of the  moment project will be more satisfying to her.

Linking to - Fiber Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Sew Some Love, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, DrEAMi!, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Monday Making