In early December 2023, we released our 31st TCJ pattern, Everett Star. You can go back in time and read all about the samples we made for the release here:
Everett Star - the Snow Day one
After finishing all of our release samples, we were still itching to make more, so in January 2024, we kicked off an Everett Star Sew Along. Perhaps you were around then, and sewed along with us! Today, we'll flash back to the beginning of last year, and walk through our Wildflower SAL Everett Star.
The Everett Star pattern includes instructions for three sizes and three distinct design styles. For our SAL sample, we decided on the 60" x 60" Throw size, in the FQ Frenzy design style. We pulled 18 FQs to be used for our Diamond and Cross Blocks, and (2) 1/2 yard cuts to be used in our HST border. Officially we named this bundle Wildflower, but within the studio, inspired by the cozy, retro vibe of all the florals, we started calling it "Grandma's Basement". Can't you just see this quilt tossed over the perfectly broken-in couch in your grandma's basement rec room??
When making the FQ Frenzy style of an Everett Star, the first step before cutting into any fabric is to decide which FQs will become Diamond Blocks, which will become Cross Blocks, and what will pair with what. You can see above that we actually laid our pairs out in their position in the final quilt to make sure we liked how everything was looking. And to keep ourselves even more organized, we labeled our pairs as either Diamond or Cross Blocks, and which fabric was in which position (A/C or B/D).
If you want a deep dive on how we approach this process, you can check out our SAL - Week 2 blog.
And this is where we got to when things decided to take a turn in the city of Portland. If you read our Champagne Clementine blog, you will remember that a surprise snowstorm rolled into the city in January 2024, icing us into our homes for a full week. Meghan took all of our labeled fabric home, and cut everything at her kitchen table, just like old times!
For a more detailed look at block construction in an Everett Star quilt, take a look at our SAL - Week 3 blog.
Regardless of whether you are constructing a Diamond or a Cross Block, each Everett Star block begins with flying geese and HSTs. When sewing the FQ Frenzy style, no fabrics repeat from block to block, so it is possible to batch sew these for the whole quilt at once, but we preferred to each work one block at a time to avoid burning ourselves out on trimming.
The next step is to sew all those flying geese together into either their Sawtooth Star sections or Large Flying Geese Pair sections. At this point, you will want to be mindful of directionality, if working with directional fabric. And, again, head over to Week 3 of our Everet Star SAL for more nitty gritty in how these blocks come together.
Just a few more seams, and your blocks are done! One Diamond Block, and one Cross Block, ready to go! Now, on to the rest!
Now that our blocks are done, it's time to turn our attention to the HSTs that will make up our border. Dig deeper into this process with our SAL - Week 8 blogpost.
Just a little stitchy-stitching, and a little trimmy-trimming, and these HSTs are ready! Let's lay the whole thing out!
We played around with a few different layouts of the HST border: dark fabrics touching the quilt or light fabrics? Corners with the light fabrics inside or out? Follow our thinking in the SAL Week 9 blog, but you can see above the layout we finally settled on.
If you followed along with our SAL back in January 2024, then this is the point where we left you: our finished Everett Star top. We then pieced a back out of a dusty purple solid, and sent it off to Emily at So Sunny Quilts for longarming.
Emily used a light teal colored thread to quilt the Fun House pantograph, and then we bound it in a classic black and white stripe by Sevenberry. It's hard to go wrong with a classic black and white stripe, and it brings some structure and modernity to this very comfy, cozy Everett Star.
If after all of that, you cannot get enough of the Everett Star pattern, check out our Merch page. We have two stickers that feature this pattern, and our Everett Star bandanas are discounted! Happy shopping!