A completed quilt! I have mixed feeling about this one… it’s so bright. On the one hand I think the colors are pretty, but why am I making so many saturated quilts these days? Really my true favorite quilts are slightly more muted/vintage looking.
The inspiration for this quilt came from the pattern in my book called Stars Upon Stars. It uses four different simple blocks that all end up the same size and so they can be used interchangeably. Both quilts in the book used the same layout, but I immediately saw that there was a lot of potential for using these blocks to make other fun quilts.
For this quilt, I used the star block, the nine patch block, and the quarter square triangle block. Although I feel like the colors are plenty bright, I know I’ll make this again. I’d like to try it with vintage sheets and cream backgrounds.
There is also variations in how you use value which will change up the looks of your quilt! Take for example the nine patches. You can see that I did some that were lighter and some that were darker.
Where the nine patches are lighter, it allows a large star to appear around the small star.
Where the nine patches are darker, it makes more of an overall diamond shape to the quilt.
I wish I had done more of the light coloured nine patches because I really like the secondary big star. Note for next time!
Here’s a glimpse of the other version of this quilt in my book. Again you can see how the values and block placements can make such a different looking quilt! Oh, quilting is so fun!!
And really for all my saying that the quilt is too bright, I do have to say that I love all the fabrics in it! So many sweet and awesome fabrics…
Quilts with colors like this one, where there’s an obvious color scheme but still lots of variation and busy prints, can be so hard to choose a backing for.
I’ve sometimes thought I should write a blog post on how to choose backing fabric, but honestly I haven’t figured it out yet, even after a few hundred quilts. I ended up going with my safe choice of natural coloured flannel. (buy good quality flannel flat sheets).
I guess I really feel like this ‘Stars Upon Stars’ is a great pattern. I wanted to share a link to a quilting friend of mine who made her own version of it. I love her’s so much, and you can see it in her blog post here. (again, this is the original layout that I used in my book)
This quilt is also available to purchase in my shop.
I’m also having a 25% off sale of some of the other quilts in my shop!
Oh my, Jolene, I love this version of ‘stars upon stars’, your choice of fabrics & colour combo is amazing. And thanks so much for the shout out – I enjoyed making my quilt so much, you are an inspiration!
I love your quilts! This quilt is especially beautiful. You inspired me to make a square in a square quilt. I donated it to our local Hospice thrift store. It sold quickly. Thanks!!!
well done, donating your work to a great cause♥
Just love this quilt….lots…
Jolene, your color sense is incredible. The quilt is bolder, but still strikingly beautiful. I am in awe of the variety of fabrics. I actually like the stars peeking out among the lighter 9 patches. If they could be seen everywhere they wouldn’t be as special.
Your quilts always have a certain glow, whether or not they’re low volume. I love the moodiness of your saturated fabrics – I think your darks are just really really good and tone down the brights to the perfect level. Hats off! I love your book too!
Jolene, is your Stars Upon Stars book still available?
This quilt looks so cheerful! I have not been quilting (or sewing!!!) for long, but I am learning and doing all I can. I have your book and have studied it and will continue to do so. I have two blogs that I study the most and you are #1!!! I may have missed it, but I am really struggling with picking fabrics with clear vs muddy colors. I know that the computer distorts this some, but this quilt here seems to combine clear and muddy colors…would you say that is so?? I know that practice and doing what I like and getting my own sense of color through trial and error is the best path, but would love to hear your thoughts in future books or posts when you feel inspired to talk about it!! Thank you for all you share!
Yes, it’s bright, and your use of darks keeps it from going over the top. You’ve used all those whimsical fabrics and somehow kept it from looking childish! I really love seeing how you manipulate color.
Such a beautiful quilt, I love Stars. I have been contemplating buying your book, it looks exciting, but mailing costs to here in New Zealand works out around $90 NZ, I may look at the ebook version but there’s nothing quite like holding the actually book in your hands! More contemplation needed I think.
I luv this quilt! backing choices can be hard sometimes ,I went round & round in circles looking at the same fabrics for 2 quilts yesterday & finally decided lol