Sunday 17 May 2015

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Galaxy

It's that time of year again when Amy runs her fabulous Bloggers Quilt Festival for those of us who aren't lucky enough to go to Quilt Market. And it's nice to have an excuse to share a couple of my favorite quilts from the last six months ;o)

You probably remember this one, as I over shared it to death while I was making it. I made this quilt over a (slightly insane) five week period in October/November last year. I spent close to 100 hours working on this quilt (mostly quilting it). It was worth every single second though - I am SO happy with how it has finished up! It's just been accepted to hang at Modern Quilt Show Australia too, so I finally have a push to finish burying the threads and get a hanging sleeve on it!


Almost all the star fabrics in this quilt are from various collections by the hugely talented Jenean Morrison. Her fabric designs are just perfect for fussy cutting, and it was lots of fun creating kaleidoscope effects with them. This quilt is vaguely made using Jaybird Quilts Night Sky pattern - although there are only a few Night Sky blocks sprinkled around the quilt. The rest were made using Julie's Sidekick ruler (which is PERFECT for fussy cutting), but simplified so they don't include the outer star points in the Night Sky blocks. I also mucked around with different sized stars - some are bigger and some smaller than Julie's pattern.



Having the stars different sizes was the perfect way to incorporate lots of quilting into the quilt, too. I added 2 1/2" borders to the small and medium sized stars to bring them up to the same size as the biggest ones. The way I pieced it made it very easy to plan my quilting too - and it meant I did very little marking too as I could just use the borders to guide my quilting. I went all out with the quilting on this quilt, and I am delighted with the results. I feel like I'm a lot more relaxed when I'm quilting lately - I don't need to focus on what I'm doing as much anymore, so it is a very meditative thing to do. The only problem is how sore my shoulders get after quilting a quilt this densely ;o)




The back is an amazing print from Parisville by Tula Pink - I had just enough for the back, but not enough to match the print unfortunately. I suspect this one will hang on a wall though, so I'm not too phased (and it's the kind of print that isn't horribly noticeable when it isn't matched). I love, love, love how much the quilting shows up on the back - I used a bobbin thread matched to the top thread, and even though there are lots of different colours in there, they all blend into the print.


I used 100% wool batting in this quilt - and I am completely in love with using it. I've gradually been working my way up in terms of the loft of batting I use as I've become more confident with my quilting, and I love how much texture wool gives to quilting. I don't think I'll go back to lower loft batting now I've tried this stuff.


The stars themselves are quite sparsely quilted - I used the fabric design as a guide for the quilting in most of them, and simply stitched around some of the designs to add a bit of dimension to the stars, but still letting them pop a bit.







 Quilt Stats:

Size - 72" x 75"
Fabric - Lots of Jenean Morrison prints, along with a few Joel Dewberry and Amy Butler prints. Background is Cotton Couture in Soft White. 
Quilting - on my domestic Bernina, using a variety of Aurifil threads (40wt in the background, 50wt in the stars). 
Backing - Damask Dot from Parisville by Tula Pink
Binding - Cotton Couture in Soft White. 

It's really nice to be able to share this quilt again. I'm looking forward to checking out the other entries this time around, too :o) 

xx Jess 

32 comments:

Angie in SoCal said...

Fabulous job, Jess. What a gorgeous quilting job you did. Bravo!

Charlotte said...

it's lovely to see it again - it really is amazing :-D

Jessica said...

Can't wait to see this quilt at the show Jess!

Charlotte Scott said...

Gah! That is stunning. Love the quilting and agree, wool batting is the best.

Hayley said...

I love this one just as much second time round.

Karen said...

WOW!! Amazing.

Cheryl said...

This is one of my all time favorite quilts, the quilting on it is just stunning!

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

yes, can't see this one enough!!! great work...love the quilting

Leanne said...

I love seeing this quilt again, it is beautiful and the quilting is fantastic.

elizabethdee said...

Yes, yes, I do remember this quilt because I love it so much! Your work simply astonishes me. Thanks for another look at it.

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

This is a stunning quilt, Jess. I love the interest the different size stars give the layout, and the quilting is just sublime. :)

What Comes Next? said...

This is amazing! I love everything about it! Your quilting is just the icing on the cake - gorgeous!

Snoodles said...

Oh my goodness....this is a stunner. Great job! Love the fabrics, but the quilting is the star here, and just takes my breath away! I want to quilt like this when I grow up! LOL+

Renee said...

I love seeing this one again! It's gorgeous! I nominated it for Viewer's Choice!

ipatchandquilt said...

So incredibly stunning !!! A real jem!
Esther
esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo com
ipatchandquilt dot wordpress dot com

Plain Ol' Vanilla said...

Oh my goodness! I'm squealing with glee just looking at your beautiful quilting! Your quilt is so lovely.

Joyce

Farm Quilter said...

Every second you spent quilting this beauty was so worth it - it is gorgeous!! I love quilting with wool as well, it really does do beautiful things to the quilting!! Perhaps it is time to only quilt with wool...as soon as I finish up all the rolls of batting I have in my closet! Your quilt, piecing and quilting, is totally inspiring. I hope that one day I will be able to quilt like you!!

Jenn said...

This is such an amazing piece of work!! It's just awe-inspiring!

Stitchin At Home said...

Gorgeous quilt and quilting!!

Peta - SheQuiltsAlot said...

That's one heck of an amazing quilt Jess. Good luck with the festival :)

Jessica said...

Gorgeous!! Inspires me to get a move on with my own projects, albeit not as glamorous as Galaxy above :). Congrats on the acceptance to the quilt show as well!

Shannon said...

Just wonderful! Both the piecing/fabrics and quilting really shine!

Carla said...

This takes my breath away! Such amazing quilting Jess

MC said...

Fantastic quilting! I love the kaleidoscopic effect of the fussy cut stars.

Sarah said...

Beautiful and amazing.

Dianne said...

Into which category is this beauty entered? I'll vote just need to know where to look. 300 quilts it too many to look through time wise.

Mary maloney said...

Wow' I absolutely love it!

Justella said...

Beautiful quilting looks really stunning.

Jennifer said...

Yup. I still love this one!

Newbie Jen said...

I love seeing this one again; it is so gorgeous! You have my vote!

Karen@littlebirdiequilting said...

This is such a beautiful quilt- good luck in the Quilt Festival!

Lucy | Charm About You said...

It is just crazy!!! Crazy amazing, crazy talent, crazy beautiful!!! Love it xx