Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Starshine - An August Finish!

It's another collaboration, fifteen Ohio Star blocks were donated to our Quilt Ministry, another member made a 16th block, sashed and bordered this lap or throw size quilt.  I pieced the back from some sweet vintage garden themed yardage in my stash, quilted and bound this one, again destined for the Labor Day weekend benefit auction.

The yard is again soaking wet from an early morning downpour, though I seem to have caught the few rays of sunshine we've had in some of the following indoor shots.  Here it is fresh from its spa treatment in the washer and dryer.


This quilt was 60x60 inches when I began quilting it, but after quilting, binding and a cold water rinse and drying on very low heat it's now barely 55-1/2 inches square.  That is probably the highest rate of shrinkage I've ever seen in one of my quilts, I'm guessing because of the matchstick quilting surrounding the stars.



The sashing and cornerstones Lois added between the Ohio Star blocks created a nice Shoofly block secondary pattern.


A close-up of the back shows the quilting a little better, and also shows the simple border quilting.


I drew most of the quilting designs freehand with a blue washout marker, and used one of my kleenex box circle templates to draw the curves in the border.  Nothing fancy but it gets the job done.

Needing to give my wrist a rest for a day or two before I get back to (hopefully) the last throw quilt for the auction.  Meanwhile there's a bit of play happening on the design wall as I discovered another grocery bag of Lois's scraps in one of our ministry totes yesterday.  Seven completed blocks and lots more strips cut.  Wondering why I never seem to get around to starting a new project from my own yardage totes, only scraps.  How does that happen anyway???

More soon!

P.S.  Yes, I'm aware of the 'humility block' in this finish!  Because I know most of you will see it right off!  It was discovered when we were sandwiching the quilt and we decided to just leave that little quirk right where it was!   Call it character.

13 comments:

Debbie said...

Love that humility block! This makes it a real quilt from the heart, don't you think. The secondary pattern block is wonderful. Love all your dense quilting, and yes, I think it is the culprit that makes our quilts shrink more than we like.
I realize that the more I work with scraps, the more scraps I make. Never ending, plenty to work with...and on and on.

Cathy said...

You know...at first glance that "humility block" wasn't even noticeable. Then I got to the very end of your blog post, read about it and had to give it another close look. Of course it adds character!

And nothing fancy, huh? All the quilting looks pretty darned fancy to me.

Congrats on another finish that is sure to do well at auction!

Nancy said...

What a wonderful finish. It just sparkles and I think your name for this quilt is perfect. I like the secondary pattern, too. I wonder how the quilt would look with the same fabric in those corner triangles. I guess it would make the secondary pattern stronger (if that's what one would want). So about that humility block: I can't find it. I don't see a single piece of fabric out of place in this quilt! (And, of course, it's driving me nut. I keep looking and looking....)

Needled Mom said...

I did not see the block until you mentioned it. I agree.....leave it. It is a beautiful quilt.

Chantal said...

Congratulations on this beautiful finish. I find this quilt peaceful, serene, like summer lazy days. The quilting is gorgeous! Great job! ;^)

julieQ said...

Gosh what a lovely quilt...and I love your humility block! I don't have to make those on purpose...they just come naturally in my work, LOL!

Janet O. said...

I didn't notice the personality block until you mentioned it. It is a lovely, fresh looking quilt. You did a great job on the quilting, too.
Like you, I have made so many quilts from other people's cast-offs, while my UFOs languish in their totes. The other man's grass is always greener--and the other quilter's scraps are always more interesting. :)

Pat said...

So soft and dreamy - reminds me of a morning in June...and just the right amount of quilting on this classic pattern.

Ruth said...

15 blocks is a nice head start on a quilt! It is lovely!

Kyle said...

What a sweet collaborate quilt. It will draw a lot attention during the auction. Your quilting is fantastic. It's adding awesome texture. It's amazing how much the quilt shrunk. Sounds like another project is waiting for everyone's attention. Enjoy the rain.

Barb said...

what a lovely finish. it looks so cool and pretty and the quilting texture is wonderful!

Cynthia@wabi-sabi-quilts said...

Another sweet collaborative quilt - and your quilting is out of this world!

Jayne Honnold said...

This is a beautiful quilt! I, too, had to scroll back up to find that humility block. The matchstick quilting adds so much to the beauty, even though it may increase the shrinkage -a worthy trade off? I think so. I love Ohio Star quilts.