Star of Bethlehem

 

A few years ago, one of my nieces asked for a Christmas quilt. I had found a jelly roll lone star quilt pattern online and saved it for future use. (I can no longer find it online, so I can't link to it). Back when Craftsy/Bluprint was still selling fabric, I purchased this jelly roll and coordinating fabric. The pattern didn't make a quilt as big as I wanted, so I included enough fabric to add the border.
The pattern was kind of complicated, especially since the designer was using a totally different jelly roll from mine. So I had to choose which colour in my jelly roll would best coordinate in which places. If the pattern had actually given a "map" of where each colour would end up in the design, I might have made a different choice or two. As it was, all I knew was that I was sewing offset jelly roll strips together in sets and then cutting diamonds from them, then assembling them into bigger diamonds, and so on. Once I'd sewn the strips together and cut the diamonds out, it was really too late to make changes. But it wasn't until then that I realized I would have liked to. But I wasn't about to start ripping out bias seams... And I'm still very happy with the results.
Anyway, I pulled this out to work on as my "Christmas in July" project. I got the whole quilt top done, but figured I should do some custom quilting on this quilt, with all of that negative space. So, I had to sit on that idea for a while. 
I tried asking in an online longarm group for ideas, and got some good ones. But I had to get my courage up to actually do it. I'm not a custom quilter. I'm a panto quilter and pantographs are my comfort zone. And since I could mail this quilt for free on a Tuesday in October (see my previous post, Butterflies and Blooms), it needed to be finished before the last Tuesday in the month. And I didn't want to rush if I was going to attempt custom quilting. So, yes, I used a pantograph. Initially, I was going to use a star pantograph, but when I flipped to the "Sky" section in my topical index of pantographs, Aurora was the first one in the list. And when I looked at that pantograph, I knew it was perfect. 

And I don't regret not doing custom quilting. Someday, maybe when I'm caught up on all the family quilts, and can just play around, I will do some custom quilting. But for now, I'll mostly stick with pantographs. 

Colour My Classroom

 

When I first made The Art and Science of Mathematics, my youngest sister, who is an elementary school teacher, commented that it would be a good quilt for the reading corner in her classroom. That quilt already had a recipient, but I have kept in the back of my mind the fact that Cindy would like a reading corner quilt. 
Initially, my plan was to make a bookshelf quilt, maybe adding a terrarium with a tarantula on one shelf, using black yarn to couch the tarantula. And maybe a cat somewhere on another shelf, also using couching to define the cat. Maybe I would add the titles of favourite books from Cindy's classroom to the spines of the books using the alphabet embroidery function on my sewing machine. That would be fun, but getting around to it was another matter. 
Then one day, as I was exploring my fabric, I took a good look at the fabric in this jelly roll. 

I had originally purchased it to use in a children's/baby's quilt, but since I currently have a stash of 5 or 6 of those, I really don't need another one. My grandson has been given the John Deere Triple Irish Chain quilt, Dinosaur Days, the quilt made from the Northcott Connector Playmats, the small quilt for the floor in his card table tent, Sew Fast and a couple of quilted wallhangings, plus 3 afghans. So, I really don't think that he needs another quilt either.
And then I remembered the reading corner quilt and realized that this fabric is perfect for an elementary school classroom. I also had the one-metre cut of the black print that was part of this line (used in border 2 and the binding), that I decided not to use in Sew Fast. And then, incidentally, I had bought 3 metres of this fabric to back a children's quilt,

not realizing that it coordinated well with the jelly roll. It's just a different line of Crayola fabrics from Riley Blake. (Sorry, the picture is a little fuzzy. It's rulers with the Crayola logo on them). 
I chose the Zig-Zag Shangri-La pattern from the book, Strip Delight, by Suzanne McNeill. I used some of the leftover strips, plus some of the backing fabric to make the third border, making them 2½" wide, rather than the 1½" called for, and eliminated the fourth border, resulting in a quilt about 43" x 59". I didn't need a 54" x 70" quilt for 9-year-olds. By the way, the dimensions given in the pattern are incorrect. The length to cut the width-wise border strips is over by 4" for all 4 borders, and the final width should be 54", not 58" as stated in the book. Unless I miscalculated somewhere. 
For the quilting, I chose Alphabet Soup #2 by Patricia Ritter for Urban Elementz, and used a rainbow variegated thread that I had in my stash. 

I happened to have a mostly full bobbin of the same thread and just wound one more. I wasn't sure how much bobbin thread I would need and variegated thread is expensive, so I have pretty much made up my mind to not use it in bobbins any more and I didn't want to wind any more than I needed. Well, I lost at bobbin chicken about a row and a half before finishing, but I had another part bobbin of a different variegated thread. It was close enough that I doubt anyone will notice the difference, so I used that to finish the quilt. 
I did however, win at batting chicken. 

I had a piece of batting that was just slightly longer than the quilt top. I didn't want to cut another piece from the roll, or go to the trouble of adding extra batting to the end of this piece. 
I also knew I was cutting it close with binding, but I made it. 

However, I did have more of this fabric if I needed it. 
One of the things that bothers me about patterns for pre-cut fabrics is the leftovers. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these. 

Another thing that bothers me is the fact that patterns designed for pre-cuts generally use a specific fabric bundle. And the pattern may call for a certain number of strips/pieces of a given colour or of a dark/light/medium fabric which works well with that particular bundle, but you may not have that number in your particular pre-cut bundle. So you have to wing it. Or use a different pattern that works better with the bundle that you have. 
That's one of the reasons I love my Waves of Blue quilt. Not only is it a beautiful quilt, in my opinion, but it used all of every strip in the jelly roll. 

Waves of Blue

 

As a general rule, I prefer to only purchase fabric with a purpose in mind. I then keep it, with all associated fabrics and the pattern in an extra large zip lock freezer bag, so that it's all together when I want to make the project. I'm not saying that I don't buy random fabrics - I probably do it more often than I should - but buying random fabrics puts me in the position where, when I finally come to use that fabric, I might not have enough for the pattern I chose. And since it may be several years - or more - since I purchased that fabric, there's little, if any, chance of getting more of the same fabric. I'm not saying that I haven't made some amazing quilts with random fabrics. It's just that I prefer to know what I'm going to use it for and how much I need before buying it. 
Nevertheless, having a stash of random fabrics does occasionally come in handy. I needed a blue quilt and I needed it quickly. I had no blue quilts finished or blue UFOs. But I did have this jelly roll in my stash. 

Determining what to do with it, I decided to do a bargello. Reviewing Jenny Doan's tutorial, I knew that wasn't going to work for what I wanted. I then went to my Eileen Wright book, Twist and Turn Bargello Quilts, and there was nothing in there that would work either. But I at least had a little bit of guidance to do it on my own. Doing some calculations, I determined that I needed a little more fabric to make the size I wanted, and found this blue flowered print in my stash. Cutting it into strips, I then started sewing strips together. 

I kept the order that the fabric strips came in, just adding the print in between. When it came time to decide how the design was going to go, I didn't want something perfectly symmetrical and basically just winged it as I went along. 

the first half of the quilt top

If I ever chose to do this again - without a pattern, that is - I'd like to do the PQRST wave of a normal sinus rhythm. I suppose that one should probably be in red...

While I did eventually have to go to the quilt shop to buy the fabric for the border and backing, I was able to get the majority of the quilt top done before that using the fabrics from my stash. 
I then had to choose a quilting design. I wanted one that showed flow and motion and portrayed water without being overly watery (if that makes sense). I had just recently purchased Waterworld by ClothWerx from Willow Leaf Studio and decided on that. 

I was very happy with the results. And I think the quilt is amazing. As something I designed myself and basically just threw it together on the fly, I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out. It helped to have a really amazing jelly roll that worked very well in the bargello technique. 

I've only ever done one other bargello, Chelsea Rose Bargello. It too used a jelly roll and I followed Jenny Doan's pattern. While I think that quilt is very pretty, it was made using distinct prints, rather than tonal fabrics. so I don't really find it as striking as this one. The prints interrupt the flow. 

As anyone who has been following my blog knows, I'm not that thrilled with fabric pre-cuts. I use them and still have quite a number in my stash, but, for the most part, I don't find them as functional as I would wish. Too often, there's a lot of fabric left over or wasted. This quilt, however, was the exception. I used the full width and length of each strip. There was not a single strip left over, and the only thing I cut off was the selvages. Win-win!

Double Star Quilt

 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Isaiah 30:21

This is the Double Star pattern from the book, Strip Tubing, which uses the Strip Tube ruler. It's not too hard to see the red pinwheel stars (there are 4), but the black ones are less noticeable (there are 2). And the quilt is actually more vibrant than the picture shows. 

As you likely know, I like to share my quilts with people that I feel need comfort, encouragement and support. And I was making this one with a particular recipient in mind. But I just wasn't getting it done in as timely a manner as I would like. There was a certain day when I knew I would likely see the individual for whom I was making this quilt and I tried to get it finished before then in order to gift it to her, but I just didn't manage somehow (now realizing that my mental health challenges have certainly contributed). 

I believe that God speaks to us, if we're willing to listen. Not generally audibly, but He speaks to us through His word, the Bible, through nature, through other people (and not just preachers) and sometimes He speaks to our hearts, our minds through what the Bible calls the "still, small voice" (I Kings 19:12). As I mentioned, not usually an audible voice, but more an impression, an idea that comes strongly to our minds, as mentioned in the opening Bible verse. Of course, we have to be careful that any "impression" is consistent with the word of God. Otherwise, it's not His voice we're hearing! So, as I was laying in bed on the morning of the day that I would likely see this person, the idea came to me that I could give her Sunrise in the Serengeti instead. 

I had originally made this one to sell, but my selling efforts had fallen flat (though I hadn't gone farther than displayng it at a place that sold the works of local artisans). And this quilt was just hanging around on a quilt rack, waiting for me to decide what to do with it. So I listened to that "Voice" and I packed it up and took it with me. 

When I saw my friend and asked her how she was doing, it was not a good day. And I believe that our omniscient God knew that this was a day she needed the encouragement of a quilt given in love from a friend. So that's why He told me to give her Sunrise in the Serengeti, instead of waiting until I completed Double Star. And I pray that it will continue to be a blessing to her, a tangible reminder of God's love. 

But I still wanted to finish Double Star, even though I now had no recipient in mind. I didn't want to add to the pile of UFOs I have. I finished the quilt top and then, because there is so much red in this quilt, I chose Spiced Apples as the quilting design.

Ugh! Mystery's hair is everywhere!

While I normally do a star pantograph - and I have a few of them - for a star-themed quilt, on this one, the stars are not so distinct and I wanted something different. And I'm pleased with my choice. 
This quilt only took 20 strips from a jellly roll, so I still have the remaing 20 to do something with. However, between this one and Finish the Race, I think I've had enough of red, white and black quilts for awhile, and I need to work with some different colours. 

Licorice Allsorts

Isn't this a cheerful quilt? I rank it amongst my favourites. I purchased the Colourworks Concepts jelly roll from Sew Sisters during their Stuff Your Stocking event a couple of years ago. Then I had to determine what to do with it. I googled to find jelly roll quilt patterns and was disappointed to discover that there really aren't that many options. For layer cakes, there are patterns a-plenty, but for jelly rolls, the selection is limited. And I definitely did not want to do a Jelly Roll Race. I have never particularly liked stripes and I find the Jelly Roll Race boring. 

One of the patterns I did find was Sorbet, and this pattern really appealed to me: much more interesting and challenging than the Jelly Roll Race and not stripes. However, my quilt was definitely not sorbet colours, so I searched for a name for a sweet treat that would suit this quilt. 

The filled circles reminds me of stuffed olives, but that didn't fit what I was looking for. However, it also reminded me of Licorice Allsorts.

In my opinion, licorice allsorts have got to be one of the worst excuses for candy out there. While they are quite fascinating in their varied appearance, they are disgusting to eat. And that's because I really don't like black licorice, and I couldn't get away with just eating the coloured candy from around the licorice. Besides, it all was contaminated with the flavour of licorice. However, with the black and multi-colours in this quilt, I decided this was the most appropriate name. 

And I chose a pantograph named Licorice with which to quilt it. 

It's a fun and fairly east design by Patricia Ritter and Tracey Russell from Urban Elementz. 

Mystery, of course, had to help.

I used some colourful thread from my stash. I don't remember which one I used in the top and which one in the bobbin. I think I used the one on the left in the top. I had purchased it back when I was renting time on a longarm and most of the label was missing. But I was able to determine that it was a Wonderfil thread from the cone and what remained on the label. Searching for the colour code on the Wonderfil website, I found that this is actually a 30 weight rayon, named Mirage. This is probably at least the third quilt I have used this on, and I don't remember having any problems with it, which is great, considering my problems with other variegated threads. The thread on the left is Wonderfil Fabulux in Ocean Breeze.

Here's the back of the quilt. Isn't this just such fun fabric? 

This quilt is for my great nephew, Thompson, but I don't intend to mail it to him until I have quilts made for his sister, Katie, and brother, Declan. I don't want anyone feeling left out.