Star Bright, a finished quilt

When I started this one

I thought I could maybe piece the top

in a day.

It's only about 50 x 60 or so,

so it seemed doable.

It wasn't.

(at least for me....)

ah well.

I basically copied a quilt that 

Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting posted about a year ago,

except I added in feathers and onion peels and ribbon candy,

because I could.

(It wasn't all that long ago 

that I couldn't quilt any of those!)

The colored fabrics are all Kaleidoscope

by Allison Glass -

woven fabric

with different colored threads for the weft and weave.

To be honest,

I wasn't all that impressed.

I was expecting a much more shimmery and iridescent look,

but the two colors are only evident 

in a couple of them.

They'd probably be nice for bags,

but not worth the price for quilting.

Even though I'm not thrilled with the Kaleidoscope fabrics,

I'm quite thrilled with the quilt.

I think the quilting turned out pretty amazing,

if I do say so myself,

and it washed up quite nicely.

(I was pretty amazed when I pulled it out of the dryer.

I was like - I did this?!)

The wool batting 

with minky backing

(a throw size blanket that I bought on clearance 

for $5 a couple of years ago

for just this purpose)

make it extra scrumptious.

plus - the minky shows the quilting really well 

😊

My friend Karen

always says that thread matters,

and I repeated that to myself many times as I was quilting;

I really prefer a thread with a bit of shine to it.

I used a spool of Coats and Cotton quilting cotton thread

that I bought back when I started quilting,

and it's just dull.

 When I got to the border,

I switched to Aurifil 

 - still 100% cotton, 

but it has a tiny bit of sheen -

and I liked it much better.

Really, 

I think I like a 40 wt poly best.

But if I had a 50 wt poly,

that might be the very best.

It'd be thick enough to see,

but thin enough for travelling.

(do they make a 50 wt poly?)

Even with

dull thread 

and my displeasure with  kaleidoscope fabrics,

this one's a favorite.