Bloggers Quilt Festival - Stars in the Loft

It is time for me to decide what quilt I will show at Amy's Bloggers Quilt Festival. Each person is permitted to register a maximum of two quilts in one of several categories (mini, small, large, applique, art, hand quilted, home machine quilted, modern, original design, rainbow and scrappy). If you have a blog and a quilt why not register a quilt or two? Go here to read more about the event! Then on May 24 through to May 29 go back and enjoy the quilt show and vote for your favourite quilts! There are prizes to be won by those who have quilts registered and for readers too!

Yesterday I registered my small quilt Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden in the small quilt category (quilt measures more than 80" but less than 240"). I wanted to enter a second quilt and with your input I have decided to enter Stars in the Loft in the scrappy category. I didn't buy any fabric for this quilt. Instead I worked with the scraps in my stash. When I ran out of one fabric I added a second, third, fourth and so on! There are at least five fabrics in the background. While the navy border looks like a single fabric there are more than a dozen navy blues.

Stars in the Loft. Karen H

This quilt was inspired by an antique quilt. I saw black & white picture in a book but there was no information about the quilt maker nor was there a pattern. Many years after I made the quilt I came across the original which was made in 1830. I subsequently found a second quilt that was made more than 100 years after the original. And mine was made more than 170 years after the original! If you would like to see the other two quilts I wrote about them on June 1, 2013.

I wanted to make some beautiful hexagons for Stars in the Loft and although I didn't mind fussy cutting the centers I wasn't about to fussy cut the six surrounding hexagons. Also I was working with scraps so in many cases I didn't have enough fabric to fussy cut six patches. My solution was to developed a technique to quickly and easily piece the interesting hexagons so that I could create all sorts of interesting shapes.

Center medallion in Stars in the Loft

The navy and off white patches are foundation pieced on the paper hexagon before English paper piecing. These patches remind me of fireworks because they seem to sparkle!

The border on this quilt is similar to the original but the stars and hexagons with gold centers are my own design. When making the border blocks I ran out of fabrics and again had to insert similar fabrics to make the required number.

I loved the rusty red fabric for the star points but soon realized I would only have enough to make about half of the stars. They are surprising easy to make! I wrote a tutorial on February 7, 2014.

For the other half of the stars I added a similar fabric and I alternated it with the rusty-red.

The same thing happened with the making of the gold centered hexagons in the border. I had a blue stripe fabric for the outer half of the hexagon but there was only enough to make have of the blocks.

I substituted a similar grey-blue print for the remaining half and then alternated the blocks so that the border would be balanced.

I thought I would share some close-ups of the blocks in my quilt!

Not all of the hexagons are made using this piecing technique. Some had just a fussy cut center or the six surrounding hexagons were fussy cut.

For more information about English paper piecing have a look under the tab English Paper Piecing & Hexagon Fun just under the banner at the top of this page!

Thanks for dropping by for a visit. Tomorrow I'll have an update on my Godstone Grannies hexagon quilt and I'll show you the most recent African themed quilt my Mom is working on. Until then, happy sewing!
Karen H