(swoony) Stars for a Star, finished and gifted!

I've been so excited to share this finish!!

I'll add links to most of the posts where I talked about it,

but, just in case,

if, for some silly reason,

you don't care to know all of the important in-progress details,

I'll give you the nutshell story of this quilt:

 A year ago, 

I told my niece, Jordan,

that I would make her a quilt as a gift

when she earned her Master's Degree.

I wanted her involved in the process, 

so that she'd end up with a quilt that she really loved

(and not just because her (favorite) aunt made it for her ;-)

so I sent her to my pinterest quilt board,

and told her to send me some pics of the ones that she liked,

and we'd go from there.

The quilts on my board that she liked best were

Sonia's stunning Epic Swoon,

and Jeni Baker's vintage sheet Sparkling Cider quilt.

So, drawing inspiration from both quilts, 

I sketched out a design

that sort of the combined the two,

and started collecting fabrics

(There are over 150 different fabrics in this quilt 💗

Go Team Use-All-the-Fabrics 😊)

I had a few quilting obligations already in the works,

mainly, Faith and Freedom,

a commissioned quilt 

that allowed me to give 5 sewing machines to Rahab's Rope!!

(If you're new here - a little back story:

When I sew for pay,

I use every cent that I earn to buy sewing machines
to donate to Rahab's Rope - a wonderful organization

that rescues girls and women in India from the sex trade.

They love on them, and teach them about Jesus,

and also teach them skills

so that they can honorably and safely support themselves
and their families.

They need machines for their classrooms,

as sewing is one of the valuable skills they teach.

and I feel so blessed to be able to help meet this need.
My dream is to supply them with enough machines
that they one day tell me
they no longer need any more. )

While I was making Faith and Freedom,

I felt like I was supposed to quickly whip up a quilt

as a surprise for a friend.

I called it Out of the Blue.

It turns out that she had been feeling especially down,

and the quilt was a timely reminder for her

that God loved her 

(and I did too)

and it helped to pull her out of her 'blues',

so even the name has special meaning.

When I finished those,

I made my gorgeous sister the perfect quilt for her

as a gift for her 50th birthday

(one of my specialties is creating a quilt that the receiver will love.

Tyler says I make people their 'inner quilt' :-)

So - I didn't actually start on Jordan's quilt

until mid October.

(I know.

right about now,

you're saying,

"this is the nutshell version?!?")

It is.

I could talk quilts and fabric and lovin' on people

all day long 😊
Plus - I spent over 5 months on it; there's a lot to say ;-)

So anyways.

I started on her top in October

and finished it January 13th.

I've been documenting house progress as it relates to quilt projects.
Here, you see that we just got drywall :-)

I basted the top to bamboo batting,

and stitched in the ditch with invisible thread

horizontally and vertically 

around all thirty 16" blocks,

to stabilize them and keep everything

from going all wonky with the quilting.

Then I added the backing

(a very lovely cotton lawn by Robert Kaufman)

and began quilting on January 22nd.

Honestly, 

I think this quilt would have looked absolutely fabulous 

quilted with an all-over design to add texture.

But I have determined to really work to improve my quilting 

plus I knew Jordan loved big-stitch quilting,

so even though I knew it would take a lot longer,

I custom quilted Stars for a Star,

using a mix of hand and free-motion machine quilting,

being careful to keep the quilting density consistent throughout the quilt.

For the hand quilting, 

I used my favorite needles,

size 8 Foxglove Cottage milliners,

and an assortment of perle cottons and thick silk threads.

The machine quilting was done with pink 40 wt.

Isacord polyester (#2155)

in both the needle and the bobbin,

because it was pretty much the only thread

 with which my naughty machine would play nice.

The quilting took up all of my sewing time 

(and some of my not-really-my-sewing-time too ;-) 

for the next 2 months.

Then I made the (two-fabric) binding,

sewed it to the front by machine,

then down on the back by hand,

added a label,

and finished the quilt on my Dad's birthday, March 27th

a full 5 weeks before Jordan 

would be graduating with that Masters.

I'm not pleased with my photos;

I don't think they do the quilt justice,

and I'm a little bit bummed about that,

but I am quite pleased with the quilt overall,

and I was so very honored to make it

for such an amazing young lady.

Jordan.

We love ya!!

Happy Master's Degree

(and congratulations on your new job)

~
Here are all those links I promised,
in chronological order
😊

This is the first post that mentions Jordan's quilt,
and includes all of my test blocks where I verified my maths

This one is almost a month later,
when I realized my plan wasn't up to snuff,
and I needed to add 32 more stars
It also shares some of the 'specially for Jordan fabrics'

This post has no pictures,
but gives an idea of how I fit sewing into my full life.
(admittedly, that particular week was a bit crazier than most)
The block I mentioned working on
is this one

Here is where I share a lot about fabric selection
and the 8 inch star blocks

This one tells how to make the firework-type star blocks,
which were the most difficult blocks in the quilt,
and by far, the most time consuming per square inch.
The swoon blocks took longer,
but they also filled up 4 times as much space...

The first part of  this post
gives you an idea of how we go from individual units
to a quilt top,
my realization that I needed even more stars,
and
what my dining room (slash schoolroom...) looks like when
the crazy quilt lady totally takes over.
(oh, and if you clink on this link,
which is at the bottom of the post,
it'll take you to instagram,
where you'll find photos and thoughts that aren't on the blog,
and a video that shows how I MacGuyvered curved ruler quilting,
to get the look I wanted on one of the swoon blocks.

And finally,
this one has the finished quilt top,
and shares a bit more about fabric selection.
(If you don't read any other posts, you should at least check out that one)

~
Boy!
Collecting all of those posts
was a walk down memory lane.
One of the things I like about sewing for people
is how connected to them I feel during the process,
and how much love I feel
as a result of having spent so much time with them,
(even though much of that time, wasn't actually 'with them',
but 'for' them, if that makes any sense)

Jordan is a beautiful woman,
inside and out,
and it was such a joy and a pleasure to make this gift.

Linking up with Beth at Cooking Up Quilts (who just got a long arm - yay!!!)
Julie's new Sew, Stitch, Snap, Share party :-)
and Finish it Fridays at Amanda Jean's

swoony stars for a Star

Can I just say - I love this quilt (top)!!

Love it!!

It turned out even better than I imagined,

due, of course,

entirely 

to the addition of the 60-some 3 and 4 inch stars.

Even though there were no new skills in this quilt,

I feel like I really mastered a consistent 1/4 in seam

on this baby

(though there are still a few not *quite* pointy points...)

and
 I cut fabric in eighths of an inch, 

which is something I never thought I'd do.

Of course,

I never really thought I'd sew 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch flying geese either...

Most fabrics were chosen primarily for color,

(as a reminder, 

my 'color story' fabric for this quilt was 

Budquette in Nightfall from Art Gallery's Emmy Grace collection)

though some were chosen especially for Jordan.

I shared a few of those choices before,

and here are a few more:

Jordan loves to read,

so I used lots of text prints.

Normally I love Lecien fabrics,

but I'm not as crazy about their text prints.

The looser weave makes the letters not line up real nicely

even with tons of starch.

She also likes to camp

and travel

and she loves animals

big cities

this is the fabric that Sally gave me

and music.

I actually bought that fabric for the treble clef,

but ended up sprinkling other bits here and there,

because they were so perfect

These
 I added because Jordan is a really great friend,

so the girls playing together

made me think of her.

Jordan got engaged

during the making of the quilt,

so it seemed fitting to give that momentous occasion

 a little nod,

so I made a little teardrop diamond.

I'm not totally crazy about it,

so instead of using it as the center of a star,

I stuck it in a filler spot.

A friend had suggested I replace the surrounding fabric

with something with more contrast.

I'm sure that would have looked nicer,

but I stuck with my original plan,

because I thought the fabric I chose was opal-ish,

and she got engaged in October....

(opal is October's stone) 

Silly; I know. 

These fabrics don't look like much,

but they're actually pretty special.

I needed something to fill a 2x10 space,

and I didn't want to use just a strip of fabric.

I also didn't want to make 5 2" stars ;-)

but I really couldn't think of another option,

so as I worked on filling all the other holes,

I prayed that I'd come up with the perfect solution for that one.

I remembered that I had a pile of pre-sewn 

red and white HSTs

that I didn't end up using in Any Which Way.

My 'reds' ranged from pink to orange,

so I thought I just *might* find something that'd work.

And wouldn't you know it - I did!

But then I heard my husband's voice,

reminding me to give the quilt what it deserved;

not to skimp or compromise.

I wondered briefly if I was.

But I knew that I wasn't.

You see,

Jordan was here with her dad that day.

The day I was showing him Tyler's quilt,

and my current project,

which led to me sharing my dream.

First with him and Tyler,

and then you all.

Jordan was excited about

and interested in my current project that day, too.

That project - was Any Which Way.

So it was absolutely perfect

that I use a piece that was originally intended for that quilt,

in Jordan's.

Ah.

This one makes me smile.

I'd ordered the ballerina girls when I found it on sale last Spring,

not knowing if Jordan had ever done ballet or not.

I figured I could use it for another quilt if she hadn't...

When I started pulling fabric for the quilt,

I texted her mom and asked.

She told me that when Jordan was little

she'd signed her up,

but when she took her to class

Jordan would just stand there (or cry).

Then she told her momma that she didn't 

need to learn how to dance;

she already knew how!

So I had to add some,

for the little girl who has always known how to dance,

and the beautiful young woman she became

who has more charm and grace

than just about anybody I know.

I wish I could send this one off to Carole to quilt.

I'm a little afraid I'm going to ruin it...
I'll just have to take it super slow.
Good thing I'm ahead of schedule :-)

linking up with crazy AmandaJean
and Main Crush Monday over at Beth's