Blogger’s Quilt Festival ~ Starburst

It’s that time of year again…Blogger’s Quilt Festival hosted by Amy over at Amy’s Creative Side.

AmysCreativeSide.com

I love seeing all the quilts.  It really blows my mind that there are so many talented people in the quilting community.  If you are stopping by my blog for the first time, Welcome!

I hope you will have a look around and maybe even come back sometime.  I love to share pictures of my quilts and I try to throw in a tutorial here and there.  Mostly I drive myself crazy trying to figure out what I’m doing.

Last Fall I was lucky enough to win the Applique category with my Texas Teardrops quilt.  I was so shocked and honored.  I really never thought I would win.  I’m not sure I’ll get that lucky again but it’s always fun to try.

This time I’ve decided to enter another quilt that I designed, Starburst.  I hope you love it as much as I do.  It’s really turned out to be one my favorite quilts.

This design was born out of an idea I had to make a quilt using a asterisk symbol.  I tried to design a paper pieced block but had zero luck.  After several tries and a little brain power I came up with a design and figured out how to make it work.

I have to say I really love how it turned out.  I love it more and more every time I look at it.  I wanted to do something special in the centers so I added little hexagons.  Who doesn’t love hexagons?

I also thought I needed to spice it up a little so I added the row of colored blocks.  Then to make it even better I used the same concept on the back but swapped the colors.

The white stripe lays directly behind the row of colored blocks.  It’s hard to tell but the white fabric has tiny pink polka dots and the pink fabric has white polka dots.

Here’s a closer look at the quilting on the front of the quilt.  All the quilting is freehand.

This was my first time using very intricate quilting on a quilt.  I don’t usually quilt so heavily and so tiny.  But…I LOVE it.  I have to say I didn’t really love it when I was doing it.  I had to count out loud as I was quilting so I didn’t get confused and mess up.  It went something like this…1, 2, 3, 4.  1, 2, 3.  1, 2, 3, 4.  1, 2, 3.

I sounded crazy but it worked.  I find that I have to stay very focused or my quilting goes haywire.  It only takes a split second for me to lose my train of thought so counting worked for me.  I think the quilting turned out pretty good considering I had no idea what I was going to do when I loaded this quilt.  I just grabbed the handles and this is what happened.

It almost looks like I quilted little beads all over the quilt.  That was such a cool accident.  And who would have thought that the back would have such awesomeness.  Can you tell I love this one?  It really is my favorite quilt so far.

Here’s a closer look at the quilting on the back.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my quilt.  I’ve been saving this one for awhile and it seemed like the perfect time to share.  I’ve actually had the pattern ready to share for a long time but I’ve been too chicken to do it.  So I think it’s time I do that.  I’ve added the Starburst pattern to my Craftsy.com pattern store.  I hope you will check it out if you love it as much as I do.

Starburst Quilt Stats
Finished Quilt Measure: 67.5″ x 81″
Special Techniques Used: English Paper Piecing used to make the center hexagons
Quilted By: Vicki Ruebel {Myself} on Roscoe {my Gammill}
Best Category: Favorite Throw Quilt
Thanks for stopping by…now go check out all the other awesome quilts!
PS…Frugal Friday will be back next week.

29 thoughts on “Blogger’s Quilt Festival ~ Starburst”

  1. Oh this so cute, Vicki!

    Impressive quilting – I’m glad i’m not the only one who has to talk to themselves so as not to get lost in the pattern. 🙂

  2. Great quilt – the quilting really enhances the design – and I love your use of value and the unexpectedness of the reversals you did.

  3. I love it! The colour reverse strip on the front and back, and the quilting! It’s totaly amazing. Congratulations on the win and such a beautiful finish!

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