Endless Stars finished!

 

It finally came together: The weather was nice today and I had time to get out and take some photos of my new(-lish)ly finished quilt! I've been waiting for a long time, but the weather just wasn't co-operating. It was strange the last couple of weeks, mostly rainy and cold, but sometimes with spurts of sun and quite humid.

Now, to the quilt:

Endless Stars - ready to shine!

I've already shown the top in my last update (which - admittedly - is already far too long ago!).

The Piecing

I came up with this design a while ago when I was experimenting with string piecing in an attempt to create easy diamonds. As you can see, that diamond design pretty much failed, but I discovered this star design (as the first one? Maybe...or have you seen this one before?).

Endless Stars: the piecing

The two solids are from the Moda Bella Solids line. Can't remember their exact name at the moment, but if you are interested I could look it up (the light blue is bluer and a bit darker in reality, though).

Once I'd decided on the overall design, the top came together rather quickly.

 

The Back

I love creative quilt backs! Nope, that's not strong enough! I really, really, really absolutely, totally and unequivocally adore creative quilt backs!

I always say: We spend so much time and effort on the front, why not spend a few hours more and create a similarly stunning back?

That being said, I kept the back of this quilt rather simple, I didn't want it to clash too much with the front. And that's the result:


Endless Stars Pieced Back

The print fabric is called "Star Burst"; it's black, green and purple. Unfortunately, the green is not the same as on the front (it's more forest green than teal), but, alas, that's the downside of online fabric shopping! I had to wait about 2 weeks for it to arrive; I think our postman thinks I'm a bit, uhm...how to say it nicely...wacky? I hate to admit that he's probably got me pegged quite accurately...

It wasn't actually the best print to work with, as it was not printed on the straight of grain (yeah, bummer), but I think I more or less managed to not make it noticeable.

Next to the length of "Star Burst", I added some leftover pieces from the front and finished off with some more black fabric.

Detailed view of the back

During the two weeks that I had to wait, the top was hanging on my living room wall and after looking at it again and again, I decided to cut it back. I felt that the dimensions were a bit off. It ended up being about 70"x52", a nice sized lap quilt (and I can absolutely attest to that, as I'm currently lying on my couch with my laptop, cuddled under - you already guessed - my Endless Stars quilt!).

The Quilting

I have to admit that the quilting was a pain in the tushy! I don't know (yet! :P) how to free motion quilt, so straight lines it was. I actually think I would have chosen that anyway, as I like the look of it, especially in modern quilts.

I wanted to draw all of the lines on the quilt, as I've realised that it is actually easier for me to achieve straight lines that way. Otherwise, my "straight line quilting" turns out to be, uhm..., really organic?

You can imagine that I spent quite a few hours crawling on the floor. Little tip: if you draw straight lines, make sure they are actually straight and get up and check from different angles from time to time. How do you think I know that?! After I drew on the lines on about half of the quilt, I got up and realised that they were getting more and more lopsided, I had to wipe it all off. Needless to say, I didn't quilt any more that evening!

All straight lines...

My main problem with it all, however, was not the drawing itself, but the white chalk pencil I used for it. I thought it would show beautifully on the black fabric (which it did), but basically every second line, the tip broke. And it broke again and again while I sharpened it. In a matter of minutes I ended up with a tiny stub I could hardly hold in my big man hand! I thought it might have been dropped and handled too many times during the shipping process, so I went out and got another one locally.

Same result. More than double the frustration.

I ended up sharpening normal chalks (you know, the ones you normally write on black boards with) and using them.

Upside a) they're really cheap,
and upside b) they show up on the fabric,
but downside a) they disappear rather quickly,
but upside c) they disappear easily!
And downside b) their points dull very quickly
plus downside c) they can make quite a mess when you sharpen them.
Apart from that, well, they're cheap! ;) And if you sharpen a bunch of them at a time, it really isn't too bad!

Does anybody have a great, affordable marking pen(cil) for dark fabrics that washes out easily? I'd be happy to get a few pointers...

 

The Binding

I decided to add a two-coloured binding. I think it was the right decision, it adds a little more colour and frames the quilt nicely.

I used Susie's Magic Binding Tutorial, and I have to say, it worked great! It's my first fully machine sewn binding, and of course, it could be more neat!

Fully machine sewn binding

The sewing line is a bit...drunk, the binding is not even everywhere and honestly? The corners are a bit of a mess. But I still consider it a success, as I've tried to sew on bindings by machine before and after about one side (if I was lucky I realised it sooner rather than later!) I always decided to rip the stitches out and do it by hand. I definitely need some more practise, I guess...

And here is the finished quilt one more time:

Endless Stars Quilt

I'd love to hear from you and I'm always open to questions! Don't be shy, leave a comment! :)

All the best,
Cat