Cobalt Stars Quilted

In attempting to boost my long-arm activity, I pulled a quilt top out of the closet. Many were the options, to be sure, and I considered several.

This blue and white quilt top is one I made in 2021 called Cobalt Stars. The stars chaining across it were inspired by a picture I saw somewhere on the world wide web. I searched several of my books for star patterns and came up with the two featured in this quilt.

I detailed much of this quilt top in this post from November 2021 when I finished it. As I reread my account, I am glad I showed the two individual blocks. I used blues from my stash of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I had in my stash the white-on-white background, and the two solid blues used in the corner units of the two blocks. One star has polka dot star points, which gives some unity to the design.

So, yes, I pulled this top to put on the Tin Lizzie and set to work quilting it over the weekend.

Do you see that polka dot backing that is rolled on the upper bar? I bought it off a sale table soon after finishing this quilt top specifically to be used for backing this quilt. 

The navy backing fabric brings me to the interesting part of working on this quilt. It was necessary to use a navy bobbin thread and a white upper thread. I had more than a bit of apprehension about this because it would require my tension to be nearly perfect. I didn't want white to show on the back nor navy to show on the top.

And if you've followed my long arm journey for any length of time, you know that tension issues have absolutely plagued me in my attempt to master the long-arm.

Mostly, I did just fine. I am hoping that once I launder the quilt, the crinkling will hide the tell-tale bits that did end up showing through. It's minor, so even if the washing doesn't hide it, the issue won't trouble me.

I decided that I would hand stitch the binding, and I have a good start on that. It's good for evenings when we are watching baseball or a tv show. With only a 60-inch square quilt, it will be quick work.

Perhaps my plan for a year of quilting lots of quilts can be as fruitful as I'd hoped. I have now quilted 3 in the first 5 months; how many in the remaining 7 months?

Happy Quilting, Friends!