Strata Star top DONE!
 

oh the agony! this is a wedding present, late as i fashionably am! i had SUCH trouble with this! i have been so busy lately and my time to work on this has been scarce so i wasn't as careful as i should have been. after numerous unsewing parties as i had things in the wrong order i had a fit when i realized the stratas weren't right. after an eon of trying to figure out why and almost wadding it up into a ball, i noticed that when i "redid" the painters tape to mark my 1/4 inch seam i was off...sigh. so then a few tears came and a renewed i CAN do this. after resewing ALL the stratas my fabric was now worn out and frazzled. but here i am, late this nite, reception now a thing of the past, but the top is DONE! measures 42", or it is SUPPOSED to anyways. i think it looks perfect. some lavender essential oil in the starch spray makes Terry a happy camper :) now to quilt it. i have the batting that is fusible on one side. i can't decide whether i should do it wrong side out and then turn it right side out, iron it down and then SITD with monofillament or if i should do it traditional style and bind it. the paisley tan i have for border. opinions? thanks! this is the second one of these i have made and someday i might get the hang of it!
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oh that is amazing!

i like the idea of binding it in that tan but i'm not sure what you mean by sewing it wrong side or whatever.

you'll sort it :) but first! to sleep with you!

aileen

very good work.

Very nice. How did you do the first one? Did you like the way it turned out? Do you mean to sew around the edges (leaving a small opening) with the right side of the front and the right side of the back facing each other (like birthing it)? Maybe you should get some rest before you figure out what you want to do. Good luck. Know that it will be super whatever you do. BrendaK

love the colors together. beautiful

That is lovely. I am so glad you persevered.

Thats great! Is the pattern called stratas? Love to make one! Wasnt sure what you meant about quilting either... love to see it finished!

looks great

you can buy the pattern here http://www.primesales.net/RuthsQuilting/BuyNow.html

here's a youtube video that shows how to sew it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNE3As-yctA

Beautiful! Just ordered my pattern. I watched the video on You Tube. Lots of ideas.:thumbup:

Absolutely beautiful! I'm more traditional binding type.

Wow!! Thanks Nan for this info!! Hey Terri, your strata is gorgeous!! You did a great job as always. Watch this tutorial!! It will help you cause I want one of these! hehehehe!! Great job!!!

Nice wedding gift and thanks for all of the pattern information.
On the pattern site it looks like they changed colour for all of the different outside squares.

Just watched the video no binding bonus

Very pretty!!!

hey thanks everyone i appreciate the compliments! my poor brain was just so done last nite! yes, i meant to birth it when i said sew and turn it all around. oops! the pattern is called "sew easy strata star" by ruthann eckersley of ruth's machine quilting and i got the pattern plus the kit for it VERY reasonable from Home Grown Quilts in grangeville idaho. their number is 208-983-0254 if any of you are interested in it. i am NOT affiliated with them in any way, just that this is where i got it. i think i am going to save myself the hassle of binding and just do it the fast and easy way :) the first one my brain was used to normal sandwiching and the batting ended up as the backing and i refused to take it apart. i needed a wall hanging for july for above my piano and this one is the 36". the only difference between the two is one more strip; the 36" takes four 1.5" strips of each of 7 fabrics, the 42" takes five 1.5" strips of each of 8 fabrics. the kit has 7 quarter yard fabrics in it. thanks so much for all the replies! (and my pastor's daughter, bless that little jewel, tells me if i squint, the patriotic star looks like a swastika with the red. geesh. she has forever ruined the beauty of it haha but i shall continue to display it properly! [ATTACH=CONFIG]480862[/ATTACH]

It is quite beautiful. I am so glad yo stuck with it and finished. How can you part with it?

wow,that is beautiful,sorry you had such a time with it.

It looks great!

:D:DI did one last year out of a border print because I didn't want to do stratas. Well, one of the colours was a deep rose which I didn't notice the problem until assembled. It has the same problem but I use it for a table topper anyways. Love your patriotic Strata Star!

Looks good to me !

Congrats on getting the top done. It looks great and I just love the colors!! Binding might be easier than sewing the backing and then turning right side out might be much harder. Sleep on it....you are in the homestretch now!!

It's beautiful. Great color.

I have made several of these and it is easier to sew the backing on and turn it. If you bind it, it may not lay flat. I usually stitch in the ditch and run a quarter inch seam around the edge.

I have also used Christmas fabric and made a tree skirt out of it.
Bonnie K

I am looking at this and the problem that I see, in "birthing" it is that you will have a distortion in the width of the last band as you will be losing at least 1/4" of that band in the seam allowance, and the rest of that band, which will not be in the seam allowance, will not lose that 1/4". I hope that this is "clear as mud" as I know what I am referring to, but not sure it makes sense in words.

Addendum:
In retrospect and having looked at the r/w/and b one, my theory is all wrong because the rest that is sewn has already lost that 1/4". So, just forget I even wrote this.

Beautiful Strata Star and interesting with 8 different fabrics, I've only always made them with 4 but I've seen them with 6 too, will have to give it a try :) Thanks for sharing!!!

It is beautiful and all your problems with it does not show.
I have been wanting to do one but figured I would have problems with it.

Beautiful. Well done.

Oh that is awesome for sure !!

Very interesting! Love the colors and the design :-)

Very nice.

love this, have one ready to quilt

It's really pretty.

I have this pattern but haven't made one yet.....yours is gorgeous! Thanks for the inspiration----and the words of caution!

This design in on my to-do list. You did a great job on yours .... eventually. Ha! Bet the happy couple will love it.

You did an amazing job, even if you had a few trials while assembling it. I think you could use the fusible batting, sew around like when you "birth" a quilt, and then quilt. I've done this a lot of times with baby quilts as well as wall hangings, placemats, table runners, etc. I like to sew 1/4 to 1/2 inch around the border and to me it looks like binding. Take some time, do something else, then come back to it and you'll have an answer as to how to finish it. Thanks for the website, I've been looking for this pattern for some time.

Well, how about that?! I had been seeing these but thought they looked so difficult that i didn't investigate deeper. This video makes it look so easy. Thanks terri for sharing and thanks QuiltnNan for the link to the video.

That is beautiful! So glad you hung in there and finished it. It's way beyond my capabilities.

You used a great collection of fabrics. Very autumnal. I have this pattern on my to-do list. I like the idea of birthing the quilt. I might even attempt sewing a facing finish.