I made progress in the UFO department. Â On Sunday I hadn’t sewn a bit…not a single bit on anything UFO related. Â I lamented a bit to Hubby about it and next thing I knew at supper time he said, “I’m doing dishes tonight and you’re going up and sewing.”
Well I like the sound of that. Â I think I should lament a little more often, right?!
Anyway..I didn’t really have a UFO picked out to work on. Â I thought which project would give me the most bang for my buck. Â That’s when I thought of my Santa Fe String Star. Â For those wondering this comes from Bonnie Hunter’s book String Fling. Â I sewed the diamonds quite a while ago. Â I started the diamonds in May of 2015…at least that is the first time I saw that I blogged about them. Â Then in that fall I finished the diamonds…then last year at this time I did the flying geese. Â Little by little it’s happening.
I had gotten the diamonds sewn together into a star but had stalled out on picking a background.
When it came time to sew the back ground on I had some problems. Â I had tried one time before but for some reason the numbers that were in the book didn’t work for cutting the background sizes. Â I don’t know if my star stretched. Â I had blogged about it then and someone said they made it and but cut all the pieces bigger and then cut the center down in size once it was all sewn together. Â I ended up cutting my corner squares bigger at 21″ x 21″….the side pieces I cut at 32″ x 32″.
That worked fine but then I had another problem….cutting the sides down. Â UGH. Â I couldn’t get my head wrapped around how to accomplish this. Â It turns out I couldn’t cut it down to the size that the pattern suggested. Â I would have cut into the star. Â Instead I added two more rows of flying geese to each side.
Then after lots of figuring I found I needed to trim so that there was about an inch of border beyond the star points. Â It wasn’t an easy task but I stuck with it.
I was so proud of myself….this project has sat for this very reasons…trimming…a task I hate.
I got up early Monday morning and in a short bit I had this. Â Looking good, right?
I am loving it!!
…and no Kelli and Connie…I didn’t use red as the background. Â Can you believe it? Â It’s a blue batik.
Well now I’m debating about adding another blue border. Â I’m thinking yes….what do you think? Â A blue border? Â The quilt isn’t very big as is. Â (Yes Mary, I can hear you teasing me about never making a small quilt!!)
I’m thinking a light binding fabric with the added blue border…or maybe a gold binding…Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
Catch me back here next week. I can’t believe that I might have this finished and turned into a top by next week…dare I hope?
I like the blue border. If you want to make it bigger, you could make a second pieced border, like small pinwheels or a piano key border. I like the gold binding idea, too. It’s gonna be fantastic, anyway you do it!
Jo, I forgot to ask you, how do you organize your UFOs?
Wow Jo that quilt is gorgeous! I like the additional blue border too! That hubby of yours is a keeper for sure!!!!
Your string star is looking fabulous! Do you ever use a multicolor binding? I like a scrappy binding on some projects.
The quilt is gorgeous, Jo! I like the additional blue border and gold binding.
I vote for multi colored binding!
I adore the blue batik. It reminds me of the night sky in those time-lapse pictures, where the stars are racing around a center point. I also really like the flying geese borders. My guild show is Saturday, so I’ve finished quite a bit lately. Yesterday I took out an old workshop project, one that had several variations, and for the life of me I can’t figure out where I was going with it. So I’ll improvise.
The extra blue border looks really good. Love the quilt.
This is beautiful! I like the blue border and an additional border to make it even larger would work too. If you just add the blue border I guess I would like the same batik for the binding if you have it.
I’ve been making good progress on UFOs since your challenge. I’ve finished three tops and I am close to having another top done. All of these have to go to the long arm quilter. I make the tops and do the binding but I don’t like doing the quilting myself!
Wow! Love this! I think the blue border is great. If you want it bigger, how about another flying geese border with the geese “flying” the other direction?
Love it Jo! I like the blue border around the quilt. Happy Sewing!
It’s a beautiful quilt Jo. I agree with Ellie. I would cut the binding strips first, then cut the remainder of the blue to make the outer border. It would keep your patchwork as the focal point of the quilt.
I love that you used blue for the background….yours is different from anyone else’s:) I too like the additional blue border and really love the other commenters idea of another round of flying geese!
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I do like the idea of the last blue border, it gives your eyes a final resting point. It’s beautiful, thanks for sharing.
What you’ve done looks awesome. Good suggestions from other writers.
My thought? I think this is stunning in a way I never would have imagined this quilt could be. I would bind it in the same border fabric. That blue just let’s all of your piecing shine like jewels on velvet instead of competing for attention. I just love this enough I want to go start one.
It’s funny to read all the comments. Same color binding, scrappy binding, lighter binding….. We all have our ways to do things, but I must tell you reading your blog has helped me see my projects in a different light. Thanks for helping me expand my thought process.
I love the way the star quilt has turned out. The two rows of flying geese look great along with the extra border of blue to make it bigger. I agree with Elizabeth to make the binding scrappy to go with the scrappy star and geese. Either way it will look beautiful! I love the blue batik to make the lighter colors pop.
Blue border with gold trim. Lovely star. I’m math challenged and often have trouble with quilt math logistics! Haven’t sewn in about a week (forever). I have been tearing shirts down, organizing that fabric by weave feel (does that make sense?), and hauling in dirt for my beds.
I love it with the scrappy geese, than the blue border!
And I would make a scrappy binding for it.
Great job!
The star quilt is beautiful! I love the blue batik. I think a second blue border would be really pretty. Awesome quilt!
It’s beautiful! The extra blue border really adds something.
I like the blue border. It sets the flying geese off. Great work A’s always
Gosh, this Quilt sounds a lot of work. I admire how you stuck at it and overcame all the trimming difficulties. The blue batik background works very well, shows the star up beautifully, like a star in the night sky. Love the flying geese border: was this an idea of your own, not in the Bonnie pattern? I think it sets the quilt off really well and yes, I think the extra blue border finishes the quilt beautifully. Gold or the blue batik for the binding. A great UFO finish!
I like the second blue border and I bet a gold binding would be great….Your sense is usually right on…
I must have missed your post deciding on the blue background. I love it. I like the blue outer border. Not sure how to finish, but I trust your judgement. Beautiful quilt. Thanks for sharing.
It is gorgeous and your use of the blue batiks is perfect. I would add another blue border and I think your idea of a gold binding will give it some pop. Looks great.
I like the blue border and a rich gold binding. The star looks amazing.
I think your quilt looks good either way. Without the added blue border I would bind in the dark blue. If you add the blue border I would bind in gold. That particular way of doing the star has never grabbed me, but I would like that quilt as a more traditional Lone Star with the goose chase borders the way you have done. Isn’t it funny how we all have our own way of looking at a quilt and thinking of ways we would change it?
Jo, this quilt is awesome! I love the blue background…I don’t think you could have picked anything else that would have looked as good as this….I think another blue border with a gold binding would look great, but I know whatever you decide to do will be great…thanks for sharing!
It’s beautiful. That’s on my list to make…you are an inspiration !
I think the gold would be awesome. Love your project!
Jo, I’m sure you heard me shouting with joy the end of last week when I finally finished my Talkin’ Turkey. I added a link because you inspired me to get it done, and I wanted you to see it, I was tempted several times to put it back in the box and ignore it for a while, but I’m glad I stuck it out. Thanks for having UFO progress posts on you blog!
That is stunning. I like the extra blue border.
It’s fantastic!-Jean
I would bind in the blue and let the flying geese and star SHINE…. as they are what makes this quilt. Great going to get it this far without “real” directions……. here is to a finish soon, cheers!
Hi Jo! This is a beautiful quilt! I like the way you have floated the star. I think the blue border will finish it off nicely and it will stabilize the flying geese. I like the idea of a gold border, but not too light.
I like the additional blue border and I would use more of the same blue batik for the binding so it wouldn’t pull viewers’ eyes away from the star and geese.
You did a fantastic job on this quilt! I love the extra batik border, it seems to surround all the color just perfectly. I think I’d go with a navy blue border just to “put an exclamation point” on the whole “statement”. Thanks for sharing … you always make me want to head straight to my sewing room!
I love the flying geese border. From here, I would suggest making the blue border wider than the flying geese border or narrower so the two borders don’t appear to be the same size. I think whatever you do will be perfect as your quilts always look so nice.
I vote scrappy binding (or at least something that contrasts with the blue). :) A UFO I have been needing to get done is something I promised I would do for my mom. Someone gave her a bunch of scraps and she put them together the old fashioned way. She doesn’t have a rotary cutter or cutting mat. Just scissors. She sewed them into patchwork and I am in the midst of quilting it for her. It took me a long time to decide what kind of thread to use and which quilting motif and I got a lot of helpful suggestions from other bloggers. That is why I LOVE blogging! Love this community!
Looks fantastic! HUGS… and stitches