Seeing Stars
One of the things that I love about making quilts is the tradition for minimising fabric waste and to use every scrap of fabric possible. It is a real challenge but I have found over the years that the quilts that I make to ‘use-up’ pieces left over from a bundle or pre-cut result in some of the quilts that I keep for myself, and that I use all the time when snuggled up on the couch watching my favourite shows on TV.
The process that I use to create these leftover quilts is to usually start with any orphan or test blocks that I have made and then combine them with other blocks to ‘make it work!’
I this case, I combined some low-volume 10” squares with some left over fabric from half yard pieces. I added a variety of scrap/end of roll fabrics that I purchased from a digital printing company (as a scrap box) to make this Spring inspired negative stars quilt. I do like how it turned out. The stars really pop from a lighter background and make a ‘milky way’ effect that I think will work great in a patriotic quilt.
For this process it is very useful to work with a design wall to lay out and arrange your blocks to the dimensions needed to fit them all together. In this quilt, there were 2 large blocks (the orphans) that were not the same size as each other. If you look closely you can clearly see that I used sashing pieces to match the dimensions to the sawtooth star blocks so that it would all work, and the blocks could play nicely together.
The Sawtooth Star blocks were formed into a 4 patch with 2 star blocks offset by 2 plain patches. This gives the overall quilt a diagonal perspective and created a lot of movement. It also utilised all of the leftover fabric and required less contrasting fabric to finish the quilt top.
That a wrap from me, I can now trim and bind this quilt ready to gift, or to use, or maybe to ask my lovely mother to hand stitch the binding for me! I think it will end up another one of my very favourites. I chose an allover scrolling edge-to-edge design that leaves some space for a softer handle. If you are interested in Long Arm Quilting you can contact me to confirm quotes and to book your quilting.
Have a great day, take a look at the potential of any of your larger leftovers and how you might create something that aligns with the traditional mishmash and happenstance of old school quilter, and create a modern utilitarian aesthetic, but most of all — happy quilting!
