Classic 1800's Star Quilt

 

When I was first getting into quilting in the early 2000s, I started collecting fabrics I liked. I didn’t have much reasoning other than whether I liked it. It’s a risky game because you can end up with a lot of different genres of fabrics. 

 

 

 

We had gone to our local quilt show and I found this beautiful fat quarter bundle of 1800’s reproductions fabrics. They came in reds, blues, greens, and browns. I loved it and added it to my collection.

 

 

 

I always had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I was so new to quilting I didn’t know how to do it yet. I needed to study and learn more first. In the meantime, I knew I needed white contrasting fabrics in each of the colors, so I started looking out for those too.

 

 

 

After so many years, this pack came out of the deep storage of project fabrics. I matched up the dark fat quarters with the light reproductions I had collected. Things were looking up. I decided a star pattern would fit the genre of fabric, and used my computer program to design a star block that I liked. 

 

 

 

I wanted to make a checkerboard style layout, so I mixed the different lights and darks and put them together randomly. Then, I laid the blocks randomly while still creating the checkerboard look. 

 

 

 

Once all the blocks were together, I felt like it was complete. It didn’t need any borders; I wanted to keep it simple. I found a nice, neutral colored backing and used a basic meander for the quilting. I felt like it didn’t need anything elaborate since it was a scrappy look.

 

 

 

The binding was a bit tricky. I didn’t want anything I’d already used in the quilt, but I also didn’t want it to take away from the rest of the top. I found a perfect dark blue in my mom’s stash. Binding done. All that was left was adding my tag. 

 

 

 

I am so glad this one is finally finished. I’ve loved this fabric since I found it all those years ago. Every time I saw it in the stash bin I was bummed I hadn’t used it yet. This was just the finish I was looking for with this collection.

 

 

 

I actually still have some darker reds and blues from this set that I pulled aside for another project. I’m hoping to get that one done next. Keep checking back.