New Quilt Update

If you follow me on Instagram, which is increasingly difficult, not to say most aggravating, these days, then you may have seen a few posts of the new quilt request I am working on. Since I like to track my quilting and bit of life journey here, I’ll show you what I’ve been preoccupied with of late! It started with a screenshot Dayna sent me, a post of cozy room décor that happened to have what looks like a quilt or maybe a printed microfleece blanket artfully draped over the back of a couch.

“Can you make me this quilt?” she texted.

I zoomed in on the photo, seeing that it was basically an Evening Star surrounded by… a TON of HSTs. Gulp.

“Sure!”

The next day I got out my graph paper book and sketched the block. Went back to the photo several times to figure out what was happening between the star blocks, and then sent Dayna the sketch of a few blocks.

“Eeee!” she approved. Next came fabrics. With a two-colour quilt, I knew I’d need a fair amount of yardage of both the red and the white. I remembered that I’d bought three metres of Kona Snow last summer, since I was out of it then, so I would use that. I went to my stack of red yardage and found two, both monochromatic, that had more than a yard. Both had a small all-over design in black printed into the red. She picked a cute Buggy Barn one that actually has those stars inside circles all over it. Unfortunately, once I guess-timated a little more closely the actual yardage, I knew there would not be enough. Personally, I had preferred the one Dayna did not choose that has little ‘starbursts’ motifs, also in black, all over it. 

I also prefer this for its mottled red as opposed to solid.

The next step was making a test block. 

Unbeknownst to Dayna, I used the red with enough yardage to make the test block. She loved it. Then I ‘fessed up, and she was actually fine with the block, yay!

I did some quilty-math and figured out all the patches for one block—81 of them!

And made the block you see at the beginning of this post. I did figure out some shortcuts to lessen the amount of HSTs. I also broke down the piecing into manageable units. I wrote up what I did for this first block and then started writing up the pattern figuring out the yardage and cutting for the entire quilt too. Great brain work.

Blocking out the instructions because yes! I think it will make a great pattern!

I did cut the pieces for the entire quilt. It took two sessions over two days! Two very hot and humid days with humidex values in the low 40s in a two-week run of heat domes with a two-day break between. I stayed indoors for most of those two days. Now I’m making a second block from my instructions to double-check my figurings. So far so good. The quilt will have nine Holiday Star blocks. That’s the working name right now for the quilt. Dayna said that it’s in a similar vein to whoever did the décor for the movie The Holiday.

Allll the pieces for the large throw quilt!

I have an idea for a baby quilt size with less blocks, so I will include that in the pattern. Here I was planning to write up the pattern for Seacliff Beach next, but if family submits a quilt request, I happily acquiesce.

An update on the turquoise quilt, Zephyr. My new hairstylist (as of last fall) is one of my neighbours. At my second last appointment, I’d walked in to find her on her phone with, I thought at first, one of her sons who was clearly very upset. She started my appointment, still mostly listening to the person, but in the offering of comfort, I realized it was her sister. It turns out her sister had been through breast cancer treatment, (a mastectomy I believe) and was now facing chemo when she thought she wouldn’t have to. She’s only in her 40s. Fast forward two months to last week at my hair appointment. I asked Shelby how her sister was doing and learned she was half way through her eight chemo appointments. The next day was when I pulled out that stack of Zephyr fabrics and started on the quilt. I knew it would be a comfort quilt to someone, somewhere as I stitched it up. It was when I was quilting it that it came to me that it could perhaps go to her sister as a comfort quilt. Maybe she could have it on her lap at chemo or if she feels chilly in AC at home. I first checked with Shelby to make sure the colours were okay and they were. I then stitched her sister’s name in the quilt and walked it over. I do hope it gives her a little boost.