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This is Part B of a series of posts explaining how I make my version of Stars Upon Stars.  

B. Planning the colours

 1. External stars in the blocks. 

A key design feature of the original Stars Upon Stars quilt is that each block is unique.  I decided replicate that idea by using different fabrics and colours for the external stars of each block. I opted for tone on tone fabrics in most cases, and tried to use every colour within my limited colour range - blue, aqua, green, pink, orange and yellow.  If I repeated a colour I used a ...

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Kokomo quilt.  As promised I'm going to explain more about how I made it - both for anyone thinking about making one themselves, and for my personal record, because after all, that's what blogs are for.

A. Fabric selection

Where do I even begin to describe my happiness with how this quilt has turned out?

I'm thrilled with it and I'm not going to let it out of my sight.  I've even considered sewing an Apple AirTag into it so if it goes missing I can track it down! I've spent so many hours making this quilt but I've enjoyed them all. 

I started this quilt back in January 2020.  I've spent four years working on it in the background.  I haven't once put it on social media or even shown my ...

I know, I know – I’ve been gone for ages. All sorts of things have been happening.

Including lots of stitching. I’ve identified a few projects that I want to try to focus on. Try being the operative word. And this is one of them – Nocturne from Millefiori Quilts 3. I had started it ages ago but then it sat. So when that project box came out, I figured out what I needed to finish it and got all the shapes printed that I’ll need. A little fussy cutting/printing was done – of course. And now I’ll ...

Can you believe that Willyne Hammerstein has produced enough Millefiori Quilts to fill 5 different books now?

Yes, volume 5 of Millefiori Quilts has just been released by QuiltMania and I'm lucky enough to have my own copy here in front of me.

I've already bookmarked some favourites and I'm tossing up ...

According to Wikipedia, a Dear John letter is a letter written to a man by his wife or romantic partner to inform him that their relationship is over.  

I've called this quilt Dear John because my relationship with the Dear Jen pattern is over.  Although the fully finished quilt looks beautiful, (see below) I just don't have the energy or dedication to make all the templates required and then hand piece all the blocks.    

link to the pattern at Amitie Textiles

So I've turned my blocks into a cute wall hanging, table mat, sampler quilt.  

Next weekend ...

On Sunday I went digging in my quilting cupboard to find a WIP I wanted to work on.  But before I could find that WIP, I came across my Dear Jen blocks from the quilt along in 2019.  

Jen Kingwell ran the Dear Jen programme and she issued patterns for 6" hand pieced or hand appliqued blocks each week or month.  The blocks were very intricate and making my own templates for every block added to time each block took too.  

In a sign of how my thinking has changed, I went from, "I'll make some more of those ...

This, the beginning of the Capriccioso quilt from Millefiori Quilts 3 that I now think of as the Candy Cane quilt, was one of the projects I looked at and was ambivalent about. Until, that is, I mentioned it to a friend and showed her this picture. She persuaded me that I didn’t want to toss this one.

Particularly since all the little stars for it are done and nestled in this box.

And all the pieces for what I think of as the bow-tie unit are all ready to sew.

So I decided to sew one of the ...

Where have I been – again? Among other things, this time I was taking stock, so to speak, and assessing what projects I have in varying states of completion and — well, it was a bit scary!! There are a LOT of them! I was opening project box after project box and finding ones I had conveniently forgotten.

I hadn’t forgotten this one, though. Who could forget a project in a project box like this?

When I opened it, it wasn’t quite as full as it is now as there were still 11 blocks to be made. I completed the ...

Remember these – the box full of batik sunflowers last seen here in 2017? They have been my focus for a week or so because I decided that I needed to make a few more.

A few? Famous last words. Because this was the result.

Thanks to a blogging friend who had sent me a lovely selection of batiks from her stash, which I had set aside for this project, I have a few really interesting sunflowers to be made. A few? Try 90+. I got carried away and any batik I had that I hadn’t used already for a ...

I chose to use some gorgeous fabrics called "Neptune and the Mermaid" by Tokyo Milk for Free Spirit Fabrics.  And some Tula Pink too as required.  

I finished the ...

My Ruby Star quilt is finished! 

I used the Raindrops are Falling on My Head pattern by Willyne Hammerstein from Millefiori Quilts 4. 

I've called it Ruby Star because the fabrics are all from Ruby Star Society.  I had a lot of fun fussy cutting ice creams, rainbows and birds.

I chose to hand piece my quilt, but there are English Paper Piecing papers available. 

Last year I used the same Raindrops pattern to make my Bollywood quilt. 

I had a bundle of Ruby Star Society fabrics that I wanted to fussy cut, so I decided to make the ...

I know, I know – it has been a very long time since I blogged. I don’t even want to think about how long it has been. Lots has been going on, but I just haven’t blogged. I’m going to try, once again, to get back to blogging on a somewhat regular basis.

At Christmas a friend gave me a huge set of markers and an adult colouring book. I was hooked immediately! Since then I’ve progressed to coloured pencils and have found that I’m drawn mostly to colouring books that involve floral designs. Big surprise ...

I've been enjoying a return to what started as my 100 day project, hand piecing my Merrow Croft quilt (pattern by Margaret Mew). If you haven't done any hand piecing before, I have a how-to with lots of tips in my hand piecing tutorial. Using some of my treasured hand printed fabrics by Karen Lewis and Lucy Engels, I'm enjoying the neutral cool vibe of these pieces.

So I'm using up my stash but I'm also adding to it...

I fell for the Merrow Croft pattern at the Festival of Quilts in 2019, where I met Margaret Mew and was enchanted by her work. My wonderful friend Michelle very kindly (and sneakily) bought me the pattern and gifted it to me later, just when I really needed something to smile about. It's taken me some time to start working on it but my plan was to finish a couple of other things first - they're getting there! With everything that's going on though I decided I really needed something that was no pressure, that I would enjoy ...

I'm pleased to present "Bollywood" - another finished quilt from Millefiori Quilts 4 by Willyne Hammerstein. 

I love the vibrant colours in this quilt.  I started with a piece of the Legendary fabric by Pat Bravo as my inspiration fabric, and chose the other fabrics from that.  The hot pinks, the rich golds, and the sparkling teals.  I love them all together in this fabric.  

Bollywood is made from the Raindrops Are Falling on my Head pattern that is in Millefiori Quilts 4 by Willyne Hammerstein.  I chose to hand piece my quilt, but it can also be paper pieced ...

No change in the numbers, but quilting has begun on the challenge quilt. It’s just a matter of time.

The top hasn’t changed much from last week. Instead of showing it again, another valentine-ish quilt gets the honors today.

This was the 2019 hand pieced QAL quilt hosted by Simple.Handmade.Everyday and Elm Street Quilts. I might have switched out a block or two, and I bailed on hand piecing it. But I finished it timely and I like it.

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