Monday, October 30, 2017

Stars and Stars

You might have noticed I like star blocks. Perhaps it's related to my astronomer husband. In any case, stars have been forming in my sewing room. (Did I mention he studies star-forming regions?)

I did finally remake Jelly Bean Stars, using the leftovers of bright fabrics from my Wandering Geese remake, just as I made the original from leftovers from making the original Wandering Geese.  I tweaked this version a bit.  Here are the two side by side.

Magnitudes (2017) and Jelly Bean Stars (2012)
With a few more years of quilting and designing under my belt, I decided the smaller stars in the sashing needed to shine more.  In the original, honestly, they look more like little X's joining the blocks.  A combination of extending the small star points into the border and making the small stars the same color as the large ones made them pop more. I also decided there was enough to look at here without having a triple border.  Making the borders the same colour as the sashing makes everything else float on the background and gives a more modern feel.

I think this new version has a crisper look than the original.  It's all spiffed up, so it needs a new name. Stellar magnitude refers to the brightness of a star, and I have big (bright) ones and smaller (dimmer) ones on this quilt.  "Magnitudes" seems a fitting name.

Magnitudes is now quilted and has a pretty blue binding but I haven't had time and pretty weather together at the same time to take nice pictures yet.  I wanted this quilt finished sooner than later and had too much on my plate already, so I sent it to Liz Meimann of A Quilted Memory for all-over longarm quilting.  Here's a peek until I can get proper glamour shots.


And a peek at the back too.  I found the perfect backing, but it was 60" wide and needed 66".  I really didn't want to buy a whole other length just for that 6", so I pieced a strip from scraps and inserted it into the back to make up the required width.





I love the way the back turned out, but honestly, "just slapping fabric together" for those improv blocks took me longer than planned blocks would have!  I really wanted to use up little scraps from the front though, so improv it was.  

I will be re-writing the pattern to reflect my design tweaks and to include additional sizes, and re-releasing it as Magnitudes. I just need to write up a different star quilt pattern first so it can go out to testers.  Then, and only then can I play with my Anne of Green Gables fabrics!

17 comments:

  1. I love your Starry quilt. I agree with all your points about it: a wonderful change into your new version. Those white stars really twinkle.

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  2. Well, I have always liked the original, but you did make those smaller stars pop in the remake. It is very bright and happy--and I love the improv piecing on the back, too. :)

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  3. Those came out great! Love the bright stars in the cornerstones of Magnitudes. Great job.

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  4. Amazing what a few tweaks to a design can produce. I really like the new look. The grey background is great with the colors. Neat backing, too!

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  5. I really really like the new version!

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  6. The original quilt was very nice but the 'new and improved' does look amazing. Both quilts look so cheerful!

    I love the backing with your pieced blocks - so pretty!!

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  7. I really like the mods that you made to your original pattern. LOVE the back art!!

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  8. You always know just exactly what to do to make all your quilts bright and beautiful, on both sides! ---"Love"

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  9. I like how you tweaked the pattern! The new version is amazing, great backing.

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  10. both quilts are lovely and of course the back too. I rarely have the right amount of fabric for the backing. Like you, I usually come up 6-12" shy of having the right amount. You did a good job on your backing.

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  11. It's great Joanne, and I like the name. Totally hear ya on the 'just slapping blocks together'...

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  12. You're right, the new version does have a more modern feel and the smaller stars are much more prominent! I love the improv blocks on the back, too, nestled into the perfect backing fabric :)

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  13. Hi Joanne, your new quilt really looks great. It's true that it has a more modern look. I thing that it was a great idea to make the border stars float on the border like that. Congrats!

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  14. That backing is perfect! ! ! I love all the bright colors in those stars!

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  15. You did great making all the stars stand out. It looks fantastic. I love the pieced backing!

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  16. Nice work! I like stars, too, especially yours!

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  17. Both quilts are beautiful! Nicely done!

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