Monday, August 27, 2012

Nautical Lone Star Quilt

Guess What??? I finished my lone star quilt!!  That is right!  The quilt I've been wanting to make ever since I started quilting, 11 years later, here it is :)
I used the pattern by Minick & Simpson, for their American Banner Rose fabric collection.  I just did the stars, no extra borders or anything.  It'll fit above my bed perfectly.  Yes, I am hanging it on the wall for awhile.
(American Banner Rose Quilt Pattern by Minick and Simpson)
I avoided making this quilt because of Y-Seams. They really are hard, I don't care what all of the ladies on the Youtube videos said, I ended up figuring out how to do them on my practice block.  You can see the earlier POST HERE on that.  So, I had figured it out, but was not looking forward to making 4 blocks with 8 Y-Seams each on them.  A lovely blog reader, Dolly, left a comment saying:

"I can't remember where, but the other day I ran across a blog post where the person had split the corner square into 2 triangles, so that they could sew a triangle onto each side of a diamond point, and thereby avoid doing a y-seam, she split the triangle between two diamonds that way"

Dolly, thank you!  I love having a blog, it is fantastic!!  I managed to find some information on it, and made my quilt blocks in record time!  
I had the cutest ship fabric for the backing!
I used a light gray solid for the background, I thought it really made the colors *POP*
I fussy cut a starfish for the center sashing *so cute*
And yes, I decided to hand quilt it using a light gray thread.  I really love hand quilting!  I think I'll be doing it more often now. (this quilt was a lot of firsts for me!)
Thanks for modeling my quilt for me Jessie!
And a fun shot for you.  We have a real full size teepee set up in our backyard for the summer, the kids love to play in it.  Mark's mom made this (yes I said she MADE IT.  Who makes a teepee?) back in the 70's and he inherited it!  Isn't it so much fun??  It's huge!  It also cracks me up that I have a teepee in my backyard.  LOL!  Have a great week everybody!!

8 comments:

Dolly said...

How great that you made a quilt that's been in your head for so long.

I finally figured out where I saw the quilt without y-seams. It was on this blog........
http://betteroffthread.com/2012/08/17/lone-star-quilt/
She even does a tutorial on her quilt. I think that the split-square/triangle is a wonderful solution to a step that is totally, unnecessarily awkward !

Those stars look absolutely at home oon that teepee !

Erica said...

Congrats on such a beautiful finish!
I just love the backing fabric too!

linda f said...

Heather,

Your quilt is beautiful! It is so much fun seeing a tepee in your back yard. Also it is wonderful following you in instragram.

Have a great day!

Linda
Aka: Sunflowergirlsquilt

Meredith said...

Beautiful quilt and fun teepee!!!

Ellomee said...

Beautiful! It is stunning! Great job!! Love everything about it!

Marie said...

I want the Teepee. That is the best, I can't believe she made it...a kids dream for sure.

Heather, your quilt is gorgeous...Wow, really something to be proud of. I am impressed that you hand quilted it as well, good for you.

Hope you enjoyed your summer.

ferne said...

I have also had a fascination with the lone star. My Grandmother made one that we used for years. So I finally pieced one a few years ago using a Fig Tree pattern where she has you sew strips then you cut them into strips on a angle and it makes it so simple. I think she called it "Jelly Roll Stars" because you could use jelly rolls to do it. I still have to quilt it though...might have to check out Angela's book!

Northern Deb said...

I'm working on a similar block right now... Minick and Simpsons new pattern with 16 of these star blocks... WOW, it's hard! Not only the y seams but getting all those little diamonds to work together and make the correct sized large diamond.
You did a fantastic job with yours. It's beautiful!