New Star Rising

I recently finished a repeat version of a quilt I made a couple of years ago.  The first version was shown at the inaugural Quiltcon, and did well there, which was quite a surprise.  It also sold, which was another surprise.  Since it did so well and was no longer in my possession, I decided to make one to keep.

.

I quickly settled on a couple of Parson Gray fabrics for the rust and white stars.  For the background, I decided to try a chambray.  The golden yellow fabric for the transparency, though, took quite a while to find.  I tried out several fabrics in mock-ups (sorry, maquettes) like these:

Some were the wrong hue; some worked to create the transparency effect but the fabric design was not to my taste.  I finally found an In The Beginning fabric that seemed just right (the one on the left above).

The background fabric is Robert Kaufman's Nep Chambray in Indigo.  It is a navy/cream cross weave, with flecks of red and gold here and there.

It has a bit of a loose weave, so I got concerned when I read abour Rachel's experience with Essex linen.  I had already cut the pieces, though, so I forged ahead.  I didn't experience much unraveling until I started sewing rows together, then I got nervous.  I ended up placing dots of Fray Check every few inches along the straight seam allowances.  And as you can see, I quilted it quite heavily too.



I quilted the background in the same design I used in the original quilt, but I did the stars differently this time.  For the white stars, I did a point-to-point design:

For the large star, I marked two consecutive stars inside, similar to a Rising Star quilt block, then used different fills in each area.

I filled the outer section of the star with feathers.

For the backing fabric, I wanted something bright and multicolored, to contrast with the front.  I chose a Laura Gunn fabric, and added some Parson Gray stripes with a little bit of BasicGrey trim.

The colors in the stripes don't really match the rest of the quilt -- what I thought was navy in online images is actually charcoal -- but I think it still works.  The label is pieced in.  I'm quite pleased with how well the stripes matched up.  The binding is a Laura Gunn Painters Canvas.

I finished the quilt shortly before we took a family trip for our school's fall break.  I packed along the quilt and got a few of these photos at a North Carolina campground.

That was a couple of weeks ago.  It has taken a while to get the additional photos for this post, because on the last day of our trip, we went whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River, and I came home with a broken ankle.  That has slowed down both my photography and my quilting.  I am thankful it is a simple fracture with no surgery required.

I was motivated to get this posted in time for Blogger's Quilt Festival; I'm also linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.


Update 1/30/2018: A pattern for this quilt is now available as a PDF download in my Craftsy shop.