twinkle, twinkle Quilt

My affair with star-making was positively delicious. Every few nights I'd make a pair, starting with my favorite wonky star and then venturing on to find my own way to make wonky-ish sawtooth stars. The sawtooth star has a larger center, in proportion to its points, than a "regular" wonky star. Mixing the two types allowed me to make good use of my Echo charm pack.

All too soon I had quite enough for the front. There are 5 different sizes and 2 different varieties of wonky stars on the front. Prints are mostly Echo, with a few others mixed in. And then Kona - lots of that.

I was thinking as I basted this baby quilt that I am so thankful to have a stash of Kona solids. Early on in my sewing adventures I once saw a popular quilt blogger's stash of neatly folded solids - a whole rainbow! I remember thinking that seemed rather decadent. Nice, but decadent. Well, maybe I still think that, but now that I'm on the owning end I can also attest that it's quite helpful to have that rainbow to work with.

In this quilt I used three shades of teal: the dark Kona Everglade, the medium Kona Sage and the pale Kona Aqua that is also my solid background fabric. The darker shades, Kona Marine (dark blue) and Kona Charcoal (dark gray), add contrast and the bright Kona Canary brings that yellow zing. There's also lighter Kona Ash and Kona White of course. By golly!

I would never have thought in advance that I'd want eight solid colors to make a quilt like this, but as it turns out they were very much required to create the effect I had in mind. The expecting mother has a sophisticated modern style. She wears a lot of white and gray. With this little quilt I was trying to keep things simple, but not boring. Using a lot of solid shades strikes the right balance, I think. Anyways, if you do not have any solids on hand, maybe think about adding a fat quarter bundle to your holiday wish list. They always, always, always come in handy!

I thought it would be dandy to discover a new wonky star, so one night when I was feel particularly adventurous I made a rather strange creature that landed on the back of the quilt. He was much to leggy to mix well with the chubby little beings twinkling on the front. I'm not sure what to think of him. Do you like him?

I never plan the back of my quilts. Just like all the others, I started somewhere (this time with leggy star) and let it all evolve. Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannel in that sweet little deer print was precisely the right colors for this quilt. With that lovely soft texture on the back, I wonder what side they'll really want to use!

This quilt was just so fun to make. I love improvising and I love stars! And, just wondering... do you have charm packs that you'd like to make up like this? I've been asked to make a pattern, so I'm kind of wondering if there's a demand for it from those of you who don't like improvising. In an ideal world I'd make up a twin size version too to make the pattern more worth your while. So, please let me know if you'd be likely to buy something like that!