Finish it up Friday - My 1st quilt finish of 2014...

...and could we all pretend that it wasn't supposed to be finished last year. thanks.

So without further ado, lets get to it!


I have to say people, it's a good thing i love my big sister as much as i do. Otherwise this one would be living happily on my couch... with me under it!

This quilt started with a free paper piecing pattern from Sew What, Sherlock called the Fusion Star. I first used this star for my Christmas stars quilt and fell in love with it. It's a 24 inch block, so one of those ones that gives maxium impact with not a whole lot of effort. Now i'm not saying this was a speedy project, but once i calculated all my fabrics needed and precut everything it did go together quite quickly! Now peeling the paper off the backs, that's another story altogether! In total this quilt took, ahem...153 sheets of paper... eep! (and i had been wondering where all my printer ink went to!) But so worth it!


For those of you that have never worked with shot cottons, please, do yourself a favour and use them! So glorious to work with! The colours are just beautiful, and the softness and drape is amazing!


This quilt checks a lot of firsts for me. Not only is it my first quilt finish of the year and my first finish on my FAL list. It's also my first time using all solids, a first for using shot cottons, my first entirely paper pieced quilt as well as my first time trying quilt as you go.


My choice to try QAYG came along after my friend Adrienne posted this tutorial for it. I loved her finished quilt and thought it was a fantastic way to get the quilting i wanted without having to wrangle the whole quilt through my little machine. I knew from the jump that i wanted to echo inside each star and the thought of turning all those corners made me a bit twitchy. Another bonus to using the QAYG method was that i could use up some of my larger batting scraps. That being said, i'm still on the fence on whether or not i like this method. Despite quilting all of the blocks individually, you still need to go back and quilt the backing on. Which kind of messed up the look i was going for the back.


Not that it matters, because you can't even see the quilting on the back! I did a second echo inside the smallest star layer on all then after some much needed help from my IG peeps, the decision was made that i needed to stitch the ditch of all the blocks.

 I think the minimal quilting helps with the softness of this quilt, but i would like to give it a go with a much more dense quilting and see how that changes things. There will definitely be more shot cotton quilts in my future!


All of the shot cottons are Kaffe Fassett and bought from both my LQS as well as Hawthorne Threads.
From the center of the star out the colours are as follows:
Aqua, Jade, Aegean, and Blue Jeans.


And the whole backing is Eucalyptus, with a strip of Caterpillar Stripe in Aqua.


My original binding choice was the stripes that i've used on the back, but after seeing the stars altogether i made the decision to use the same blue as the background. I think it lets the stars shine more! Though i did get two little stripes of colour in. I did this in the binding of this quilt and thought i would make it my new trademark, them promptly forgot :) I also reverted back to hand stitching the binding down after not being happy with the last couple of machine stitched bindings i've done. I had forgotten how long it takes me to hand sew a binding!


Another shot, because really people these colours are just so awesome! And so me! Hmmm, could i claim a horrible accident happened to it and i wasn't able to send it out west to my sister? Though she's probably going to read this post, so i guess to Calgary it goes! Where i know it will be loved :)


Shout out to my Sammy and my Mom for being such awesome quilt holders, and to my dad too, who came out to help, on crutches no less!

Stats:
Finished size prewashing -  72x72
Finished size postwashing - 69x69
Pattern - Fusion Star from Sew What, Sherlock
Fabrics - Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons
Quilted by me on my little old Ken!

That's it, that's all!
Getting my link on with Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday!
With Kristy over at Quiet Play for the PPP!
And with Kelly for NTT!
You know, cause everyone needs to see this quilt! To far? Getting down off my high horse now... But i just love this one so much!!

High fives for everyone!!
xo snips







Comments

  1. Oh. my goodness. It turned out marvelously!! I adore it, and thanks so much for all the mentions! I'm so happy people are enjoying my pattern and I'm so glad it turned out so well!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those colors are so awesome! great pics!!! Your sister is one lucky gal :) yay you on your first finish of the new year!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh wow. I really really love it!!! It's just beautiful. I love all the secondary designs. And the shot cottons are so dimensional. I want to touch it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's a beautiful quilt! You can also do QAYG where you quilt the back with the front and then join it, there are various methods.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love it! I haven't done anything with shot cottons, but it is definitely on my list! Your stars are beautiful and the colors you chose work perfectly with them. I bet it's the perfect snuggle quilt ever.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awesome on many levels, yay for all those firsts, great to have a finish already this year!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Major high fives! I love it, I love it , I love it. You are a very good sister. I really don't know how you are going to part with that beauty. The shot cottons look incredible. I am using them for the first time as well and they are the softest. I can't even imagine how wonderful an entire quilt made with them feels. Love all of the pics!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a lucky sister you have, Snips! That quilt is gorgeous! You've got me thinking about ordering some shot cottons (just what I need... more fabric) and I already headed over to Sew What, Sherlock and pinned that the pp template for the blocks. Thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Eeeee it came out so well! :D I love the feel of the shot cottons, I'm with you on that one, and the colors you chose are divine. :) Your sister is going to love it!!
    Congratulations on finishing!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. That quilt is amazing! Seriously, I love the colours! And I am totally jealous that you have already completed one of your FAL goals!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great colors. Well done and congrats on your finish!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Just gorgeous! Beautiful colours and well done on all that paper piecing!

    ReplyDelete
  13. luxuriously blue! Love this. What a fantastic finish. Good call on the binding, it really does let those stars shine. You have a great helpers, indeed. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. How glorious to work with shot cottons! I have yet to do so. It looks like it is sooo soft and has a fantastic drape to it! All those blues are magnificent!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Holy. Wow. I am so in love with this!! Once I told my sister (after making her something that I loved too much to part with) that she had to come visit me if she wanted it...she lived in Alaska and I lived in OK at the time. Ok, she still lives in AK and I still live in OK, but she's coming to visit me :) Win, win, right? I get to keep it for a while longer and bask in it's glorious goodness AND get a visit from my sister! Seriously though, I don't know how you're going to part with this, it's fabulous! And I agree, shot cottons are amazing and delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This quilt is so gorgeous! I love the colors, the pattern- everything! The pics against the snow are just awesome!

    Thanks so much for sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

    ReplyDelete
  17. this quilt actually glows. Love the pattern (thanks for the link to that!) and your fabric choices are great. Loving that you tried out QAYG :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I so love the snow. It's just a lovely touch for a lovely quilt!

    Congrats on your finish! I'm getting ready to try a quilt as you go - You know I'll let you know how that goes. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Totally gorgeous, I LOVE this so much!! Your sister will love it :) I have a couple of kaffe shot cottons and they are gorgeous. I really want some more and now you might have just persuaded me. Agean and Jade are my favourites I think. Glad to see you've tried QAYG that's my plan for the City Sampler, finger's crossed!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Love the colours. I can see why you are having trouble parting with it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Holy Crap I love this quilt. I want to make one tomorrow. I'm saving this!!!! Thanks for sharing and inspiring.

    ReplyDelete
  22. So nice! What a great gift.

    And can I say, I'm a little envious of your snow. I don't want a lot, just a little...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hmm... thats where I live.. maybe I will track her down and swipe it from her mailbox! This quilt is seriously gorgeous! I love me some shot cottons, so soft, so shimmer, such beautiful drape. I'm sure she will serously adore this when it arrives.

    ReplyDelete
  24. what a stunning quilt! those shot cottons just glow.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh my goodness, what an absolutely stunning quilt! I have got to get my hands on those shot cottons.

    ReplyDelete
  26. This quilt is so beautiful I am stealing the idea, including the colors! Thank you for such wonderful inspiration. I've been looking for a great PP king size pattern. I built a practice block and it turned out so easy I just have to make a bed size.

    ReplyDelete
  27. OK - I've had this beauty for 2 years now and it's still as bright and glowing as the day my little sister took these photos! It's been machine washed too many times to count and lives with a cat who loves to knead with his claws. The fabric has stood up to all of it - best quilt ever! (I'd say best sister ever but that might upset the sister who delivers me all the fantastic things this one makes me! - BEST SISTERS EVER!!)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love comments!
And will usually respond by email, unless you're a no reply blogger. Then pop back here for a response!

Popular Posts