Star of David finished!

I still have to stitch on the little label, but the Star of David quilt is finished! I really love how the flower of life quilting came out.

For Sherri's dad, 64 x 84"

For those of you that are interested in the process, I did all of this quilting with my walking foot. I made a plastic template of just the edge of one-sixth of a 6-inch-radius circle, which I used with a regular chalk marker to mark the gentle S-shapes on every seam line, two times per seam line (S, then backwards S). I did this in all three directions, from the center out. It wasn't the speediest technique -- lots of back and forth from the machine to the marking table -- but I ended up with pretty circular-looking circles so it was worth the effort! A great way to get an allover effect on a pretty big quilt using just a domestic machine and a walking foot!

 

The back coordinates nicely without being too floral or feminine...

Star of David backing fabric!

...and to finish it off, I found the perfect stripe with just a hint of sparkle to use as the binding.

Olive and teal striped binding!

I don't have a photo of the label, but it's a lovely poem, written in both Hebrew and English:

May it be Your will O LORD my God, and the God of my fathers,
To let me lie down in peace, and to let me rise up again in peace.

A coordinating pillowcase too...thank you, Sherri!

Still quiltin'

I had originally planned to do just straight-line quilting on the Star of David quilt, but it really called out for something more special, so I've been working on a Flower of Life quilting motif. It's a little effort to mark and sew only one line at a time, but it's turning out really pretty. The afternoon sunlight coming in my sewing window is perfect for showing off quilting lines -- I'm so lucky to have this wonderful little corner of real estate for my very own purposes!

Halfway done!

This close-up (with some loose threads and pins still in place) shows the motif so beautifully.

Storm! Star!

While the storm is gathering its breath and taking aim (if I were this storm, and if my Faithful Readers will permit me a moment of anthropomorphizing, I would take special note of the addresses of the people who are laughing at its current state...), I got the Star of David top ready to quilt!!! I sewed the last three rows together last night, and added some narrow borders around the whole thing this morning. I impressed myself with frugality this time; the borders for this were the trimmings from the oversized back of the Autumn Rapid City quilt (Hey! No "finished" photo of that one!?!). I knew it was a good idea to save those two-inch strips!

Approximately 64 x 86"

I really like the effect of the colors shading from dark to light on every point of the central star; I'm glad I took the time to arrange them to give the illusion of dimensionality.

Now I can turn my attention to a new pattern that I picked up at my meeting on Monday night, using some nifty rulers with 36 and 72-degree angles. Pentagons! Decagons! PENROSE!!

Star progress

I finished sewing the rows for the Star of David quilt! I really like how these colors work together; it's very soft and elegant. Big storm on the horizon for the weekend, so (if the power stays on) I might be able to get this top mostly sewn together this weekend.

A New Project

I recently agreed to make a quilt on commission (!!) for a woman who wants to give it to her father, who is a messianic rabbi. It just so happens that I am super into patterns with 60-degree angles (anyone else have a favorite angle?), so I sketched out a pattern for a large Star of David quilt, with some smaller stars in the center and on the corners:

I'm using 6" triangles to construct the whole thing, because we're aiming to have it finished by mid-March, and big pieces = quick turnaround. She asked for colors that would coordinate in a room that's largely seafoam green, so I pulled out some teals and olives, and all the rest of my light neutral stash, which was already depleted from the Easy Street quilt, and is now completely gone.

Triangles under the setting sun.

After our trip to Old Sturbridge Village (where they were cutting ice off the mill pond and serving warm mulled cider) this morning, we stopped in at That 1.99 Fabric Store (aptly named) and I found some spot-on perfect fabric to use as a binding -- I love striped bindings -- for this quilt:

Couldn't be more perfect for the colors I'm using...also a good checkpoint to keep the olive green accents in line.

I also picked up five yards of this gorgeous print to use as the back. I love that it's the perfect teal/neutral colors, but it's not too feminine.

"Tokyo Rococo" by Andover (which has consistently been my favorite fabric company!)

I spent a few hours cutting triangles, which went a lot more quickly than I had anticipated, then a quick wall arrangement, and this is where I am:

My design wall is seasonally abbreviated by the couch, which we have temporarily moved away from our sliding doors because it's just Too Darn Cold to sit so close to a wall of glass right now. Talk about your first-world problems, huh?