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Two years ago (at least) Jan Krentz taught a class on Lone Stars at GVQC and I took it just for the heck of it (hadn't even realized that I had the book the class was based on until later). I started this quilt in that class and in fact made an additional one that is larger and has molas (from Priscilla Kibbee) featured in it. I was having a bit of struggle trying to figure out how to quilt the star points. I finally took out the book to see how Linda had quilted it and decided that it was a good choice. I wasn't as crazy about some of the other choices so did my own thing. This is probably one of the first quilts that i really found fun to machine quilt although smaller quilts are soooo much easier to work with.
I decided to do "feather" quilting in all of the varied rocket points. I do like quilted feathers.
Here you can see more feather quilting and also the "1/4 inch" quilting in the star segments that surround the big star. My friend Janet told me that this pattern is the machine equivalent of the old 1/4 inch around seams that you do in hand quilting.
I have done all the quilting except for the background at this point which will just be simple stippling which is tedious but the best choice I think for this quilt as nothing shows on the black. I have used two different variegated threads for the quilting -- one shades of green and one shades of orange through green. Hopefully the quilt will be done tomorrow except for the binding.
I have had company while finishing the lone star mola quilt. These are my daughter LJ's two kitties who I am babysitting for a few weeks while she does some company business in Brazil. There are three kitty beds on this bed alone but they insist on putting thirty pounds of cat in just one. They are good companions for my quilt endeavors though!!
You can see I am nearing the end with the quilt here. I had finished the four corners and was testing how wide to make the strip around the outside. I am using the little Brother Pacesetter I have down here as I didn't want to ruin the needle on my Juki (they are expensive and I have to order them online) and the Brother uses normal needles!
Now the corners are attached!
And I have added the outside border as well here. It measures 61 1/2 inches square and I have yet to decide whether to more either all the way around or just the top and bottom or just leave it. I figure it will be a good ad for my friend Priscilla's molas!!
I couldn't resist taking a picture of these immature ibis down at Ft. Fisher. They look like they may get their white coat soon.
Much to my surprise, there were more than a dozen Yellow Rumped Warblers at Carolina Beach Lake today. They were resting on trees, the buildings and posts. They move swiftly so it was a little difficult to get good pictures but they are certainly identifiable. I even got one where you can see the yellow on his rump giving them the name!
Now that I have finished all the machine quilting on the projects I brought down here, it was time to work on one of my planned projects -- the Lone Star quilt utilizing some of the molas I have gotten from Priscilla. These aren't true molas in that there is no reverse applique but they are lovely hand embroidered pieces that Priscilla buys down on her many trips to the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama where she buys them directly from the Kuna Indians who make them. I have far too many and may make a super huge Lone Star at some point to use a bunch of the larger ones.
These are most of the individual units for this quilt. I had cut the strips before I left Rochester so that sped things up a bit. I had to go back to Jan Krentz's directions that she passed out in class to remember many of her little tricks for putting these quilts together. I still have to surround each one of the mola appliques with black like the one in the lower left corner. Additionally in each of the corners there will be an additional paper pieced motif (kind of spikey). I was glad that I was able to find four molas that were on point so that all the molas look like they were made for the quilt -- I tried to use colors that were repeated in the embroidered motifs as well. Of course I favor the ones that have birds!!
Well all this is is one very small piece of quilting plan for a new Lone Star quilt. We make these small samples to see if the colors are positioned the way we like and to see if we like the overall look. There is only one 45 degree angled piece with a set of mirrors positioned on either side giving the appearance of a full star when all the images repeat and merge together. I have already changed color placements and plan on changing a couple of more. It is much easier to change your mind at this point. Where the black is will be molas of birds (molas are the applique pieces from the Kuna Indians of Panama). All of these molas have a black background and when I did my original Lone Star as part of the class, I just did a "what if" placing the molas over the "rocket blocks" in the pattern and loved the look and the colors were just right so this will be a slightly larger version with molas where the spikey blocks were before and represented by the black above.
This is Priscilla's spectacular ice dyed piece (she had it in her blog earlier this week). Currently her plan is to slice it down the middle and rearrange and treat it as a wholecloth quilt. I think those corner reds look like poppies myself! We have definitely have had an influence on Priscilla -- first art quilts and now dyeing -- what will be next, a Grandmother's Flower Garden or Baltimore Album?
This is just a small corner of a new piece that Marcia is working on. The colors are just spectacular and I was ogling the purple as it would be perfect in my above Lone Star. She reminded me that we did that color together so that undoubtedly I have some in my stash!! (She's most likely right.) She saved the day later as well trouble shooting the problems I was having with my beloved Juki -- it just wouldn't run even after we checked all the electrical outlets and the plugs and foot pedal for the machine. Duh, you may have guessed but if you didn't, this brain dead senior forgot to turn the machine on -- I will never live that one down!
It's done!! I am relatively pleased with how it came out. I made some executive decisions along the way and left the original color choices a bit as I finished it. I think I am going to put a small black border and may then include a row of molas. As it stands, it is about 48 inches by 48 inches and really nice and flat. I am actually looking forward to quilting it as soon as I decide on the outside...
I will be making another one of these as for some reason I decided I would see how the molas I have collected over the years (purchased from Priscilla after her trips to Panama). I just placed these on top of the "rocket" blocks to get a feel for how it would look and I LOVED it so the next Lone Star will be started before too long using the same very colorful palette (looks like the palette was made for the molas, doesn't it! These are the smaller appliqued molas that are really made for the tourists but I have many nice ones that I like -- they are beautifully embroidered -- Priscilla is very picky.
I was bound and determined to finish up and decide what to do with this latest set of Serendipity blocks. I didn't have enough of the background hexagons to do what I usually do so had to move to plan b.
What I decided on was to use small stars in the background triangles. The star points alternate blue and green and are on white. I have done them all but one in this picture. I will use a medium blue for the background of the rest of the background hexagons.
It was an exciting day as I spotted an Indigo Bunting sitting on Marcia's fence but it flew away as soon as I got my camera out. I did get a photo of it way on the other side of the field but it is just enough to identify it and not publishable!! I had heard that we had buntings up here from a club member last week but this is the first time I have seen one. Maybe before I thought they were bluebirds but this definitely was a Bunting!
Of course I got home and am sure now I have a UTI -- drat. It will be a miserable night and will get a prescription hopefully in the morning -- why do these things happen after doctor's hours?
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