Saturday, September 15, 2018

Cloudy with scattered stars

Hi all, and welcome to another wet weekend!  What a surprise, huh?  The weather people said this week that we've had the wettest summer in 50 years, thus confirming what I have suspected all along.  Of course, I can't complain, because we are not currently in the path of a hurricane.  If you are, my sympathies and please stay safe.  I hope it dries out for you very soon!

Since this is the dark blue month for the rainbow scrap challenge, I decided that it was time to put together the galaxy stars quilt top, which I've been making to use up some dark blue half yards that I bought to test out another pattern.  I never use dark blues, so they were just going to sit around here, doing nothing.  Instead, they've become this little quilt:


Oh, gosh, that turned out better than I thought it would!  It's been quite cloudy, so the pictures are a little dark, but that's letting all the colors of the stars shine through.


The pattern for this star is HERE, but I made mine larger, 8 inches finished instead of 6 inches.  They were super-easy to make, and I used all scraps in the color of the month to make the stars.  I tried to mix up all the backgrounds as much as possible each month, and I didn't have a set number of stars that I was aiming for.  This made the quilt a pretty relaxed project for me.


I put the stars up on the wall and played with the layout and the distribution of colors for a couple of days, which was fun.  I didn't want to put them in a plain straight set, so I moved them around a bunch until I liked it, then filled in with leftover blue squares.  I laid this out in rows, but pieced it in columns, adding a piece to the tops and bottoms of the columns to make the stars off set.  This made them look much more scattered, which was exactly what I was going for.


So there's one more scrap project down!  I'm really pleased with it. I didn't put any borders on this top, but I still might.  I have just enough for a small border to go all the way around, and enough scraps for a binding.

Hope everyone is having a nice, dry weekend and you all have something fun planned.   I have to go to my daughter's house and alter a bridesmaid's dress.  Wish me luck!

PS-- There's still time to enter to win a blogger bundle from Bernie!  Check out THIS POST for details.

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC18.

23 comments:

piecefulwendy said...

Wow - those stars really pop against that background! I love it. Way to go on finishing another scrap project!

PaulaB quilts said...

This has turned out to be a charming top. The staggered blocks give It a lot of movement, especially with the yellow drifting down through it. The variety of blues is also effective. Congratulations on a lovely finished top.

karenbbsnow said...

Love the staggering, great effect. Beautiful finish.

Libby in TN said...

Great use for those blues. I like the casual setting, too.

Julie in GA said...

I love your bright stars against the dark blues--gorgeous!

JanineMarie said...

These stars are dazzling! Yea for your scattered layout and making good use of all of those dark blues. I’m thinking there’s no better way to make the stars sing. Good luck with the dress altering. (Why do our kids always think that because we sew quilts, we also like/can do clothing alteration, too? Lol)

works4me said...

That looks great. I love the staggered star placement.

Cathy said...

Wow, you came up with a great placement for those bright stars. It’s a darling quilt and I love it!! Congrats!

MissPat said...

Using a variety of dark blues for the background and the staggered stars really made this interesting. Hope the remnants of Florence don't come too close as she heads north. I think we're supposed to get rain maybe Tues.
Pat

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

That's so pretty, Mari! What a great way to use up those different blues! Why don't you send some of that rain out here to Colorado?! :) We are hot and dry...

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

I really like the way you used those!! that blue background makes them all just shine!!!

Chantal said...

WOW! Awesome! For fabric bought "just to test", they ended up in a gorgeous quilt. Love it so much it is now on my to-do list. Congratulations! ;^)

Bernie Kringel said...

Mari, staggering the columns was the perfect thing - and such a simple adjustment to get that scattered effect. Good luck with the dress alteration. I need to do a little altering to Julia's dress for the wedding next weekend and I am procrastinating!! Better get on it.

Louise said...

I love seeing these stars now as a flimsy! They are so twinkly and wonderful! What a fun project, and perfect for RSC dark blue month :)

KaHolly said...

My, oh my, it came out just lovely!

Katie said...

That is gorgeous! You should use dark blue more if this is what you turn it into! I love it!

The Joyful Quilter said...

Great use of some neglected fabrics, Mari!!

Katie Z. said...

Nicely done! Your stars are fabulous.

Rachel said...

Very pretty!

Laura said...

What a terrific relaxing project...great use of those dark blues!

Wendy F said...

The pop of bright stars on the dark blues really looks wonderful, and the offset rows really make them sparkle. Thanks for sharing!

Preeti said...

Perfect quilt for the soggy days that seem to stretch forever. I think I saw something bright yesterday briefly. I almost forgot - it was the sun :-D
Rain or shine - your quilt will always be bright. The colors sing against the navy background.

Kate said...

Very bright and fun! What a great way to use up the leftovers that you wouldn't use elsewhere.