Seeing Stars

This was my first-ever class at Quilt Camp in the Pines - Sedona Stars with Marti Michell, 2004. Marti is a delightful teacher, and this was a very fun pattern. I chose red, white and blue fabric with the intention of sending the quilt to Operation Homefront, an organization that was giving away quilts to families of fallen soldiers. As a former Air Force officer, and a military brat, I have a soft spot for military charities!

When I came home from camp, I added a few more stars and pieced the top with red sashing. Then, this project went into the UFO bin. I thought about sending it out to be quilted, but then I decided to quilt it myself. I tried one other twin size quilt on my little Janome machine, and it about broke my back. (I get severe pain in my left shoulder after sewing for any length of time. I see a chiropractor regularly and try to stretch. )

But now, I have a longarm! I finally hada break between deadline projects, so I put this on and use a pantograph. That got it done in no time! I went to the LQS this morning to get material for binding (the same red as the sashing). Next I'll have to see if Operation Homefront is still accepting quilts...if not I have a couple other charities in mind.

I quilted this with red, white and blue varigated thread, which wasn't the best option. I love the look of varigated thread ON THE SPOOL, but I'm generally less than thrilled with the result. I have too many spots where the thread matches the background fabric, so you lose the quilting design. I need to order a thread color chart and start building my stash of thread so I don't have to trek an hour across town for each new quilt top!