Quirky Star

Bobbi's Quirky Star
42.5'' x 42.5''

 When co-author, Carol Gilham Jones, and I were selecting quilts from the International Quilt Study Center collection for our book, Fresh Perspectives, we loved the star quilt which is simply called "Stars".   As Carol pointed out in the book,  the viewer's focus is constantly switching between the four-pointed stars and the bold diamonds with the green eyes.

Carol and I were both working on quilts from the selections we had made and she made up the Star quilt first, and then Kathe Dougherty made another interpretation.  Kathe developed a foundation machine piecing pattern which is published in the book.  

Here is Carol's quilt and then Kathe's.

Well, we didn't need three versions of this quilt and I'd already made my share of quilts for the book so I put the idea aside with the intent of making one "someday".  Finally in 2012, I found some time and wanted to get started on my version.  I found some fabrics in my stash that I thought would work though I knew there was not enough of any of them to make the more formal version Carol had made with just four fabrics.  I made about four blocks and then had to put it aside for another project but recently, finally found time and it is finished!

Mine turned out to be more like the original as I ran out of one fabric and improvised to find another.  In some cases I had to sew scraps together to make a large enough piece to fit the pattern.  I started with the old Pilgrim/Roy brown and gold woven look print, the pink and gold twiggy print that I'd purchased at Rosie's in San Diego in 2010, the raspberry print left from the a quilt of years ago and the maroon solid. When I ran out of the weave, I added the leafy print.  Soon I ran out of the twiggy print and substituted the pink botanical which I'd actually bought along with the twiggy print at Rosie's.  Then I ran out of the leafy print and really had to go looking in my stash.  I found the subdued paisley and decided it would work fine in the center blocks.  I barely made it with the raspberry print, having to sew leftover strips together to make it.  And, in the end, ran out of the maroon and had just enough of the raspberry print to substitute.  

I am quite pleased with the result, shown at top.  Here is a closeup to show the fabrics.

 It was a really fun pattern to work with and with Kathe's pattern for foundation paper piecing, it was a snap to piece.  I think it lends itself to all sorts of interpretations from Carol's orderly version to really scrappy and in many different types of fabric.  I'd love to see your version!