Saturday 12 October 2013

Star Bouquet is finished


Just to recap from earlier posts... I started this quilt in January this year after seeing these two photos ...

in this quilt history book....

I "needed" another English paper piecing project and loved the way Mary Leggett (the quiltmaker in 1862) had used colours and fussy cutting in these stars. The original was made in silks and must have really glowed.

It has been great fun to make this - especially the challenge of copying the colours and patterns of the fabrics. Mary's quilt was beautifully hand quilted but I have domestic machine quilted mine. I do love how Mary quilted but I wanted my stars to have a 3D quality so avoided quilting on top of them. I deliberated about adding more quilting in the hexagons but decided that soft and puffy was good.
Quilting in the ditch

Now for a rave about the quilting process. Skip this if you are not a mad domestic machine quilter! 
I free motion quilted, in the ditch, around each star. No marking needed - yay. After all the stop/start quilting (necessary but very time consuming) on my Carolina Lily quilt, it was bliss to find I could quilt this one as a series of continuous lines from top to bottom of the quilt - no stop/starts at all. The continuous line followed in and out down one side of a row of stars. Then the next line was in and out down the other side of the row of stars, and so on across the whole quilt. Brilliant - it was finished in a matter of a few hours. I kept the speed reduced so as to avoid wandering out of the ditch - easily done believe me.

Enough yabber ...more pictures. 

Love this backing fabric - have had it "in storage" for a few years waiting for the right project.

On the table outside

Close-up 


Hanging on the washing line
And this is where it is sitting folded for the moment: 


Now for a sad little tale about a Tulip Lasagne. Here it was at the end of winter - springing up nicely. 
It flowered really well, first orange blooms then through reds, pinks and white. But I waited too long to take a 'full-bloom' photo and, after a few days away ( when we had experienced very strong winds), found it  rather bedraggled with lots of blooms gone. So here it is...


20 comments:

  1. Absolutely gorgeous! Wonderful quilt with a perfect backing. Love the fussy cut stars esp.! (I enjoyed hearing about your machine quilting process too.:)

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  2. You are amazing! I look forward to your posts and they never fail to motivate and inspire me. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work.

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  3. congratulations on a stunning finish! I love your backing fabric :)

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  4. A beautiful, beautiful quilt Hilda! Love your fussy cutting and piecing o create patterns.
    The backing fabric is gorgeous. Congratulations on your finsih!

    Hopefully you will be home to enjoy your tulip lasagne next year.

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  5. Félicitations votre quilt est très beau ! Amitié Mamifleur

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  6. Stunning! You did a great job staying in the ditch. I haven't found that easy to do with FMQ. So fun to look at your fussy cuts. The tulips are still pretty!

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  7. Another lovely finish. Such a variety of fabrics and colours, great scrappy look. That hot wind has spoiled a lot of lovely flowers, but I'm sure your tulips were gorgeous.

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  8. This turned out wonderful! I am not a machine quilter but maybe this is something I could try. No marking and continuous lines sounds doable. Those fussy cut stars are wonderful and the backing fabric is perfect!

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  9. Hi Hilda, Star Bouquet is beautiful and the backing is just perfect! Congratulations on yet another beautiful (and finished) quilt.

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  10. Congratulation.
    This quilt is amazing.

    Greetings, Manuela

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  11. Your quilt is a knock out! The fussy cutting is fabulous. I love the backing too - what a gorgeous fabric.
    Pretty Pretty tulips!

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  12. Congratulation!!! Your quilt is so gorgeous. Wonderful work.
    Greetings from Germany, Grit

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  13. I thinks your quilt glows too! So many interesting fussy cut stars and so much glorious color! I can't believe you've finished it already! Your stitch in the ditch works perfectly for this quilt and I don't see any wanders :0) I can't wait to see what's next...

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  14. An amazing finish! I have been following your progress and am also making my version of her quilt. I am not very far along yet but I am most interested in the quilting process with no starts and stops. I am not quite sure I follow how you did it.

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  15. Fantastic! Love all your fabrics, and fussy cutting. Another great finish for you, congratulations.

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  16. The job is a good one Hilda and i love to see the fussy cutting stars. The backing is perfect

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  17. You must be so happy with your beautiful quilt!! I've certainly enjoyed watching the the progess. The backing fabric is gorgeous!! We've had the windiest days in the mountains as well. At least a few tulips were left for you to enjoy.

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  18. I think yours glows just as nicely as the original silk one did! This is stunning! Well done!

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  19. This is really beautiful - I do love how you fussy cut the fabrics for the stars. Great backing! Congratulations on a fabulous finish! I loved seeing your photos from Quilts in the Barn, too.

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  20. Hilda! I am so impressed with that quilt and the terrific machine quilting you did. I get bored so easily so it takes me days to do easy stitching. The backing is absolute perfect for it and I'm so glad you showed us that. Congrats on such a beautiful finish.

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