Sunday, May 20, 2018

Oh My Stars and Garters!

Welcome to the first day of the Wish Upon a Star Quilt Hop, hosted by our beautiful and talented Carol of Just Let Me Quilt.

The Rules were so simple:  Your project must have a star somewhere on it.  It can be a star block, a star applique, or star shaped purse..whatever.  It can be big or small. As long as it has a star, you're in!

I thought wow this is super simple and easy for me I already had a star quilt in the works!  So of course I joined!  

The quilt started over a year ago as a Bag Lady Quilt with my quilt guild.  You can read all about it here.   I had my blocks returned to me in December at the Guild Christmas Party. I am surprised I never posted about my blocks when they were returned.  I truly do have extenuating circumstances and I will admit writing this post has caused many tears while looking back through the past 15 months of posts. 

Now the problem is what do you do with nine 9 1/2 inch quilt blocks?  They aren't enough to do a whole lot with.  Then I saw a pattern by Heather Jones called Ohio Supernova and it solved my problem.  Well kind of......I knew I didn't have enough of my original fabrics so I went hunting to find something that may match.


Original fabric




 I found this fabulous license plate fabric! 
Blue and white stars, and I had just enough of the red I thought I could make it.  I made one more 9 1/2 inch block.  Then went to work on the Ohio Supernova quilt.  



I made a few changes.  I added a narrow blue border around the large star.   I then added some sashing between my blocks to make them fit the width of the Ohio Supernova star and sashing.  I used a red star fabric from the initial group of fabrics which were in the bag. 



I had just enough of the red star which I used in the sashing to make a border around the quilt.  Truly this quilt went together so easily I knew something was going to end up going wrong, you know Murphy's Law?

I decided to be lazy and go to JAF for the backing.

I purchased more than enough.  But I wanted to use the blue stars so I inserted a strip. 

I quilted it with big loops and primitive stars.


Trimmed it up and had it ready to go.  I made binding out of the blue stars and had just enough and I figured I would sew on the binding while I was on my trip.  I had another quilt for the X Blocks Blog hop to finish first so this one was put aside, and went on the journey too.

Then the problems started.  I forgot to bring blue thread.  Being on the reservation-- it is about 70 miles away from the nearest town.....but I managed to kill 2 birds with one stone.  I needed to have my car serviced, needed to buy wedding shower gifts so I also hit the local quilt shop in town that day too..  Unfortunately the only blue she had was a variegated 40 wt.  I thought heck that will work so I bought it.  

Went to sew the binding and had a wee bit of a problem.  There were a couple of places that the fabric had torn.  Now this is not a lightweight fabric, it has a nice thread count and a great hand.  But I had no other option than to just work it out.

The quilt went back into the bag, and I pulled it out when I reached my mother's house in Portland, Oregon.  First thing to deal with was the huge set of tears along the side.  My solution?  Find some fabric and sew a long patch over it.  I would worry about the small tear later.


See my patch.  The fabric had little tears like the one above for about 10 inches down the side, I didn't notice when I was cutting or laying out.  My patch covered it though.

Next I put my binding on.  I have never had so many problems sewing on binding in my life.  I would not catch the top, or the backing, or it would go wonky, or it would wrinkle.  I tore out the binding and pinned and resewed it too many times to count.  Finally I got it on, the first and only time I got it all joined without any hiccups!  I looked in my mom's sewing things for a navy blue thread.  Nope none. Friday the 11th we went to a quilt show.  What are the chances that none of the vendors had any thread?  Seriously?    Off to JAF, I bought a well known brand of thread from them at $6 a spool, and I started hand stitching my binding down.  I will say I missed the Aurifil.  I fought this thread constantly.  It  would hang up, knot, I could only stitch for about 1/2 an hour before I would have to put the quilt down due to the frustration. 

I planned on stitching on it when I stopped for the night while driving back from Oregon.  That didn't work out too well, and to top it off, a coffee cup flipped out of the garbage can I had in my car and spilled coffee, yep you guessed it across the white.  Don't look too close I am sure you will be able to see it in the picture since it hasn't been laundered yet. 

I finally finished the binding, and tying off the quilting threads and burying them late Saturday, May 19, 2018.  Of course Sunday was a super cloudy day.  But it is done, except for a label, and fixing the one other small tear. Then I will wash it with a a bunch of color catchers and hope the coffee comes out.  I am a wee bit reticent about washing it seeing those little tears appear.  I think a small applique patch will suffice.  Or maybe I should make a label using my new embroidery machine and put over it?


I have decided I am naming this quilt Oh My Stars and Garters because of how much trouble it gave me at the end.

Now head on over to see the other great projects that the others have made. 

May 21

May 22

May 23

May 24

May 25
                                                                 Just Let Me Quilt

46 comments:

  1. Your quilt looks beautiful. Determination does it every time. I can't see any coffee stain. Hope it washes and wears well. Great use of the 9 and 1/2 inch blocks. Thanks for sharing ... :) Pat

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  2. I think that is a great name for the quilt! Love the way you used the 9 blocks. Clever idea, and it has turned into a beautiful quilt. Love it. I have done patches like that when I realise there is a tear somewhere and I haven't seem it before. I feel like a 'real' quilter on those occasions as I know so many old quilts were make do and mend

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  3. Great job and an amazing result!

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  4. You did a fantastic job. Great lesson in determination.

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  5. My goodness, what problems! Sorry it was such a fight with this quilt, but it turned out nicely.

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  6. Goodness me.... well, you won the battle because it is beautiful, but what this quilt has put you through! I hope you get much use and delight out of it now that it is done. A well-placed label sounds like just the ticket. :)

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  7. Well, you conquered it. You finished the quilt and it looks beautiful!! Congrats on finishing it!!

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  8. You prevailed and produced an amazing quilt!

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  9. Oh my goodness, what a journey this quilt took you on. It's really beautiful Rheema. I bet you are glad you finished it and I hope it doesn't give you any more problems.

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  10. I could feel your frustration. I had one like that not too long ago. Your's turned out beautifully .

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  11. The finish sure looks like it was worth climbing over the humps. Easy to say from my chair I know. It is a lovely quilt.

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  12. Beautiful quilt and my gosh...your were determined to get it finished, congrats!

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  13. Looking at the finished quilt, you would never know you had problems with it. It turned out so beautiful! I'm amazed you were able to get it together with all you had going on. I've had a few quilts fool me in the beginning and have me thinking things were going good and then turn ugly. You shined at resolving all the issues with this quilt and turning it around. Thanks for being my shining star in life and in this blog hop! xo

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  14. Your quilt turned out wonderful! Sorry for the mishaps along the way.

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  15. You are a lot more persistent that I am. Wow. It turned out beautifully in spite of all your problems.

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  16. Creative solutions to bumps along the way and love your star and patriotic theme.

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    1. Thank you I wanted to make a patriotic quilt, I discovered recently I have a bin of patriotic projects waiting in the wings.

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  17. Some quilts just don't want to become quilts. I like it. I love star blocks.

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  18. Perfect name for your quilt of many frustrations, and the license plate fabric was a wonderful find. I do hope there are no more frustrations with this beauty.

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    1. Thank you. I will figure out either a little applique or label, create a label then attempt to wash it. I am a wee bit worried about that.

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  19. Oh my goodness, what a story this quilt has! It's beautiful, though, and I hope your frustrations with it will fade over time, and instead you'll enjoy it!

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  20. You persevered through the bumps in the road. Your quilt turned out lovely. Great choice of quilting pattern: the loops and stars.

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  21. Wow, wow wow, that is absolutely fabulous! I love how you turned trials into tribulations too. This is one that will make you proud (even thru those trials) for years to come. Great job!!!

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  22. great quilt! love that big STAR!!

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  23. all great quilts must have some tears! Hugs

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  24. Ohmygosh--you are certainly a determined gal--but it turned out beautifully--(I wonder why that fabric tore so much?) You definitely took the lemons and made lemonade with this beauty...Congratulations...hugs, Julierose

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  25. Hi Colette,
    Good grief! I would have given up on the quilt long, long, LONG ago. Yes, I would definitely cover up that little tear with a label. And maybe it should be a wall hanging as that doesn't need to be washed too often. Really nice project and I applaud you for finishing it! Happy Monday! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  26. Ah, my persistent friend...it looks like a wonderful finish despite the bumps along the process. You deserve to snuggle in this one you worked so hard to gain!

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  27. The stars look mighty wonderful to me,and if you didn't tell us, how would we know there might be a tear somewhere. Or was it a teardrop in frustration? I love your story so much.

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  28. Oh you poor dear! Bless you for seeing it through to the end ... you are finished and you will always remember the lessons learned on this one. Yay you! Great job :)

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  29. Good for you for finishing this quilt. It turned out beautiful.

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  30. It's beautiful... and I used the same quilting pattern... loops and stars!

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  31. For all the trouble, and it was a lot, the quilt is beautiful. I like the fabric on the back, and I wonder what caused all the little tears. You stuck with it, and you have a great quilt for all the patriotic holidays coming up this summer!

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  32. It looks wonderful. Just in time for the 4th.

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  33. The quilt is great and you are very resourceful in adapting to adversity. My mom sewed most of my clothing and I had one dress she referred to as "That Damn Dress." I'm thrilled that you have a great finish. Congrats and the stars fabulous.

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  34. It turned out just wonderful! I love the way you have the smaller blocks at the top and bottom, looks fantastic! xx

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  35. I hate when a quilt gives you difficulty! You did a fantastic job overcoming its adversities.

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  36. What a trial...you need to write a book. It made me smile but I'll bet you weren't smiling. Wonderful problem solving.

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  37. It is amazing that without all the difficulties you didn't just set this aside, but WoW, it is so pretty and a wonderful way to use those few blocks. Congrats on a job well done.

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  38. What a pretty quilt! I admire your perseverence, with all of the difficulties presented as you were finishing.

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  39. I'm a little late to the party, but I'm so glad I didn't miss it. This is a fun and fabulous quilt. No one would know the difficulties you had. Love this one!

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  40. Those stars are so pretty! Love it!

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  41. Wow! This is a stunning quilt! You definitely have a story to tell with this quilt, all about perseverance! Well done!

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