We make quilts for all sorts of reasons. This one came under the heading of “because I wanted to”. I have long admired Lone Star quilts, generally hand pieced and traditionally quilted, but it wasn’t until I saw the Plains and Pine Big Sky Star quilt pattern, that I was moved to actually make one.
This is almost an old quilt for me. I completed it about a year ago, but just hadn’t blogged about it as it was about to hit the show circuit (where it did pretty well), and I wasn’t in a place to work through what this quilt taught me.
When we make quilts, they teach us things. Well they do for me… even if the lesson is “I never want to do this again”. This quilt reinforced lessons about accurate cutting and the quarter inch seam allowance; but pressing and pinning seemed to be the big ones here.
Machine piecing a quilt such as this one, isn’t really a beginner activity.
But the instructions on the pattern broke things down really well, and there seemed to be an understanding of the why it was we needed to do things a particular way, something which I appreciated I am very much an “I need to know why it is that I am doing this” type of quilter/maker.
The hand quilting was something of an experiment as well, and I suspect that when I look back on it, will represent the beginning of something of a direction for me when it comes to the quilting side of things.
Summary:
- Pattern: Big Sky Star Quilt
- Fabrics: Jennifer Sampou, Sky Fabrics and Kona Grunge (background)
- Quilting Thread: Aurifil 28wt
