Star Bright Mini

Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone!

I just popped some watermelon flavored cupcakes in the oven to take to a cookout tomorrow and now I have a few minutes to show you the details of my Star Bright Mini Quilt that you saw in yesterday's Minis and More Parade.

This is a fun pattern!

 I love how the corners of the stars form some different secondary patterns and that the star corners actually form the same star in the middle of the quilt.

Sherri has a large version of this quilt that I love, and the fact that the corners of the stars form other stars is the reason why I like it so much.

Someday I'd love to make that one too!

You an find both the mini and the large versions of Star Bright in Sherri Mc Connell's Etsy shop here.

As I mentioned yesterday all of the fabrics in this mini came from my stash and I was happy about that!

I was hesitant to use the Boathouse binding at first.

I wasn't sure if it would be too busy, especially considering the patriotic text background that I used.  

But now I think the binding really goes well with the red and white text background and I'm happy with it.

Oh, and I was able to match up the pattern all the way around the binding.  I love it when that works out!

  

This quilting pattern is new to me and I think it looks great here.

I'd seen something similar on lots of flag quilts the last few weeks and I liked that it was simple, but yet it would give me interest and movement to the quilt so I gave it a try.

I drew and cut out a template, copied it onto my quilt once with the purple disappearing pen, then I quilted on that line.

For each line after that I just used the edge of my walking foot and ran it along the line before it.  

Every few lines I would use my template again to get my quilting lines back on track because I found that my quilting lines were gradually getting a bit straighter and what I liked about this pattern was the wave.

I'm definitely using quilting design again soon!

If you didn't catch the announcement yesterday, Sherri and I are hoping that more of you will participate in out Minis and More Parade each month, so we'll be giving monthly prizes now hoping that you'll play along with us as we make more mini quits and projects throughout the year!

The August Parade will feature free choice Christmas projects or any gift or project that you've made during the month.

Just send me an email or send one to Sherri from A Quilting Life with a picture of your project and a link to your blog if you have one and we'll include you in our Parade and our prize drawing.

I can't wait to see what you sew this month!

Star Bright Mini Parade

Happy weekend everyone!

I'm glad you're here for Parade Day!

Today's Parade features the Star Bright Mini by Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life.

When Sherri and I were discussing which pattern to use for July, I suggested her Star Bright Mini because I thought it was perfect for the Fourth of July holiday and it could also be a great Christmas pattern.

It's a great pattern for any kind of fabric for an everyday look too!

Here's Hildy's Star Bright Mini Quilt.  Hildy used an assortment of Bonnie and Camille's fabrics for her mini to come up with this bright and cheerful look.  She added some black dot fabric too since Bonnie and Camille's new, yet to be released line of fabric has some black fabric in it. Your mini looks awesome Hildy! I love the additional black fabric.  It makes your quilt pop!  Great idea!

   

I made my Star Bright Mini with fabric that all came from my stash!  That's right, even the binding was fabric that I already had. That doesn't happen to me very often, so I had to mention it.  I've done lots of red, white, and blue quilts over the years and holding on to those scraps helped me here.  I did some wave quilting on my home machine inspired by quilting that I've seen on many flag quilts over the last few weeks.

And now for some big Minis and More news!

Sherri and I are pleased to announce that we're going to be giving a prize after each Parade.  We're so excited about it! So gather your patterns and start sewing!

The next Parade is Christmas in July!

 You can use any mini pattern you'd like.

Anything goes! 

If you aren't interested in a Christmas pattern or theme pick whatever you'd like to make.

It's summer so take it easy and make that pattern you've been interested in but we haven't chosen yet.

Don't forget to visit Sherri's blog to see the rest of our petite Parade.

Happy quilting!

Summer Sparkle Quilt for the Fourth of July

Back in June of 2014 I saw the Summer Sparkle Quilt by Faith Jones of Fresh Lemons Quilts and it stopped me in my tracks.

I had to make that quilt with those fabrics!

It was a three part Bernina Sew Along.

Luckily,  I was just in time to find enough of the Color Me Happy ombre fabrics by Vanessa Christenson to make my quilt.

I got it all pieced that summer, but not put together.  I was disappointed that I didn't get it finished in time for the Fourth of July.

Fast forward to the summer of 2015 when I was determined to have that quilt ready for the Fourth, and I did!  Just barely...... but it seemed like it was too late to blog about it.

Now its the summer of 2016 and here is this post!

I love this quilt!

Last summer picking the binding slowed me down in the finishing process.

Should I use pink?  Blue?  Even denim went through my mind.  I do have quite an extensive collection of old jeans that I've collected to use in a denim quilt someday.  No, denim wasn't it.

One day I went to my LQS with my husband while we were running some errands and I wanted to stop by to look for possible bindings for my Summer Sparkle Quilt.

And guess what?  My husband found the perfect fabric!

He pointed out a blue fabric with white stars that I walked right by.  I was so stuck on some of the plans I had for my binding that a star binding on a star quilt never occurred to me until he pointed it out!

I loved it and hurried to finish that quilt on July third.

I was so happy to get it out this year and enjoy it!

The quilting is straight line quilting that I did on my machine using my purple disappearing marker and a yard stick to draw my lines.

The backing is Ikea Britten Nummer fabric that my husband found for me in Dubai when it was becoming scarce here.

My husband is great at fabric finding!

Thanks for letting me share this Fourth of July finish with you today.

Tomorrow you'll find the Minis and More Parade here and on Sherri's blog A Quilting Life too.

Congratulations to Sherri on eight years of blogging today!

See you back here tomorrow for a mini parade of mini Star Bright quilts!