Hunter Star

Ethel made this Hunter Star quilt for her daughter.

My job description was to make the stars stand out, and put something nice in the borders. 

I tried a few different designs in the background fabric--and it was just too busy--it either fought with what I tried, or swallowed it whole such that I couldn't even see it.  I decided that straight lines were the only quilting for that background.  We didn't want to get into full custom territory though, so they are freehand u-turns.


The Studio 180 Rapid Fire Hunter Star ruler helps make these blocks very accurate.

 Tamping down that background helped make the stars stand out more, and I added a nice puff feather/continuous curve design in the stars.

 The puff feather was to go with the Nemeshing feathers I quilted on the border--where the quilting was visible!  I used a purple thread to help the quilting show.

 I am totally in love with the texture of these Nemeshing feathers.  I'm trying to figure out how to put them on the quilt I'm working on now. 

 I love my Innova--I'm able to stitch in the ditch horizontally and vertically enough to SID borders without using a ruler. 

 The colors of the quilt are quite true in the photo below--you can see the purple thread in the borders and the color of the minkee backing on the seam allowance--a lovely silvery purple.

Thanks Ethel, for letting me play with your Hunter Star.  I've been wanting to quilt another one for a while now. 

My 4Patch Charm Quilt

I made this quilt because I loved Kathy of  Tamarack Shack's quilt so much.    She had been kind enough to put a tutorial up on her blog, and now I see she's added a pdf pattern, so you too can make your own.

One of the things I loved about Kathy's version is how she quilted it--I loved it so much I wanted to quilt one just like it.....

But, then, when the time came to quilt it....

I changed my mind.

First I quilted the colored patches with a double continuous curve--loved it.  As I was going to change threads for the background-- I just basted those areas as I advanced the quilt with a wavy line basting stitch.

And, I liked the look of the serpentine basting stitch so much, I wanted to quilt something with that serpentine look in those areas.

About the same time (last March I think), Mary of Addicted to Fabric  was saying that she was trying to do something new with each of her quilts--using something she had learned in a book or class.  She inspired me to pull out some of my recent book purchases, and I decided this would be the perfect place to use the border version of Nemeshing - from Bethanne Nemeshes book.  Which is basically Nemeshing without the the background fill.

Needless to say, I love how this turned out!  I've gone on to us this technique again, and it has also improved my 'longarm' feathers which is a style of feather I wasn't able to stitch to my satisfaction prior to practising and quilting Nemeshing. 

 I bought the charm packs while at Quilt Canada in Lethbridge with friends, I pieced the quilt at Retreat in 2015, and quilted it in March 2016.  It took until July to finish the binding. (hand-stitching--bah).

 Like many of my quilts, I love the back as much as or more than the front.    This is a lovely sage green cuddle on the back--the lower picture shows the color better.

 And the lump under the quilt is youngest, seeing if the quilt passes inspection.  - note the binding is done :)

Thanks ladies, for the inspiration, the tutorials and books, and my shopping/sewing companions as well.