Stars!

It suddenly dawned on me that even without a free-motion foot, one can easily quilt stars. Why it took so long for me to have this epiphany, I don't know. But semi-connected stars seemed like a neat way to jazz up this strip-y quilt. Occasionally I found myself getting a little lost as I made the stars (it was all unplanned, no pre-sewing marked lines or any other guide). A couple of the first batch were a little rough, but once I got the hang of it, the rest proceeded smoothly.

I started noticing stripe/strippy quilts this spring. They're really easy to make, and I expect to make more. They're a great way to showcase fabric and are easily manipulatable.

Following the lead of Ashley at Film in the Fridge, I mixed and matched the fabrics, sometimes within the row, sometimes not. I really like the larger monkeys peeking out of a few rows.

I pieced the back of this one as well. I'm loving pieced backs with chunks of fabric plus scrappy rows (or columns, in this case). I used a novelty fabric (frogs) as a binding fabric for the first time and like the effect. I was unsure about how it would turn out, but the royal blue background color helped bring all the other fabrics together, and I decided to go for it. Luckily, I'm pleased with the result.

After I sewed all the rows together, I trimmed the quilt to a pleasing size (I don't remember the measurements off hand, but something Fibonacci-ratio-ish, like 28-30" x 40-42"). This one is off to a recent summer baby, but it's a pattern I'll definitely make again. I'm thinking it would make a great picnic quilt (bigger, of course), and I might have to make one for myself.

I've been lucky enough to enjoy multiple picnics in various parks around NYC this summer, and it would be nice to have a dedicated quilt -- or, really, a dedicated anything -- to bring with me. Perhaps next summer...

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Another thank you to those who have or are sending me scraps for the Craft Hope/Miracle Foundation wall quilts. Between your scraps and mine, it looks like I'll have enough for at least 2 quilts. I'm thinking one log cabin and one other one, pattern to be revealed (currently percolating in my mind).