There were a lot of “firsts” in this quilt. (See this post to get background on sashing and borders:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...h-t161373.html )
Firsts:
1) Created my own design, although the stars came from a pattern.
2) Added more than 2 borders on a quilt
3) Mitered borders. I have mitered binding before, but never borders
4) Set a quilt on point
5) Quilted entirely by machine. I made this quilt with my new Bernina 830. The quilting in the 10 inch blocks is a design from Diane Gaudinski, which I modified to fit. I used a built in stitch to outline the stars and the small black & white squares near the edge of the quilt
6) Quilted in the borders. The first 1” border has a built in stitch, I digitized the stippling on the second 3”border and the outer border is a design from Diane Gaudinski, which I modified to fit the 6” black border.
7) Made this quilt in two diagonal sections and then put it together after partially quilting each side.
8) Attached the binding with a decorative stitch. (Per my daughter’s explicit instructions) I was hesitant to do that so I first made a mock binding with borders, emailed a picture to her, she loved it, so I went ahead. I think it turned out pretty cool.
9) Made a quilt with SO many pieces put on the bias and actually had stars with REAL points. LOL
I pre-washed all my fabric, and the black was still shedding color, so I washed it four more times and treated it with Retayne, than starched all the fabric with a heavy old fashioned starch. The fabric was stiff and hard after starching. As I proceeded with the quilt, I was so happy that I had taken those extra steps, as the black didn’t bleed when I washed it after the quilt was completely finished. Also the starching made such a difference in keeping all those bias pieces from stretching. Even though the edges may look wavy, they actually are very straight and do lay flat.
The quilt is 120” by 120”. The backing is muslin and I used a Hobbs poly/cotton blend for the batting. I quilted it with light gray sulky quilting thread. The bed that the quilt is laying on is my queen size. My daughter said it fits perfectly on her king bed. Her entire family called after they received the quilt and my grandkids told me that they even like the back. LOL. She was happy with the amount of quilting. She was a little “skittish” about the quilting, as she didn’t want it to have any quilting that showed on it. But I did talk her into some quilting and all ended well. (Sometimes Moms do know best)
Thank you in advance for looking, and now I am on to another project.