Back in the fall of 2022, I announced my next fat quarter bundle with Robert Kaufman - Rejoice! It started shipping end of last year and I knew I wanted to use it again for the Star Adventure release. The bundle includes 20 FQs of Kona Cotton which is the exact amount needed to make a Med Throw Star Adventure.
I love this bundle so much. For the Med Throw, when using FQs, you can also make the sashing scrappy! So next I had to decide how to split the FQs - 10 need to be used for background cuts and 10 need to be used for the star cuts. We played in Illustrator a little and here are a couple mock ups we made.
We ended up going with the second mock up as our inspiration. I liked the way that we divided the colors better and I loved having the bright yellow and greens as stars instead of background cuts. Here is how we divided the bundle:
The STARS: Acid Lime, Sage, Dusty Blue, Pearl Pink, Thistle, Ballerina, Dragon Fruit, Mango, Salmon, Pepper
The BACKGROUND: Petunia, Blush Pink, Creamsicle, Grapemist, Seafoam, Desert Green, Leather, Yarrow, Pickle, Bright Idea
When cutting the Background FQs, that is when we cut the optional sashing pieces as well. Once we cut all the FQs out, then we organized our block piles and for this sample we chose Mixed Up Stars for the Star Style.
We referenced our mock up only a little bit while building our block piles but really just jumped right into sewing our blocks together.
I snapped a few photos of my favorite blocks on their own. In the Mixed Up Star Style, you have three fabrics in a block - background, star points and star centers. I love how high contrast, med contrast and low contrast these blocks can look depending on how you mixed up your pieces.
Once all of our blocks were ready, then we had to play with the layout. Once that was decided, we placed our short sashing strips that are sewn into the rows.
Once all our rows were sewn together, then we made our long sashing with our left over strips from the background fabric cuts. We sew this strips RST, end to end and then attach them on the rows as I go and cut when I have finished each row.
The scrappy sashing just adds another fun dimension to the quilt top. I love that all the sashing strips come from the background fabrics of the blocks. It creates a "cohesive chaos" to the scrappy feel of the quilt top.
Funny enough, we are sharing this sample as our last one but we made this one second. Emily of So Sunny Quilts worked her quilty magic on it and we used a grey thread and Lollipop Garden by Julie Hirt. I super love how playful and fun this pantograph turned out. We made sure to load the quilt on sideways so that the pantograph design was vertical in it's final orientation.
I decided to bind this sample in Kona Peapod which is a pretty saturated pickled green. And then we backed it in Carolina Gingham in Periwinkle.
I love that this entire quilt top is made using a single 20 piece FQ bundle. I love when patterns work out like that.
Alysson made all of our floral bouquets for this photoshoot. I buy all the flowers that I think are fun and will go with the colors of the tops and then I give them to Alysson to work her magic. I told her, in another life, she should be a florist. She and Redford are also great models.
I got a new social media profile photo from this next round of photos! I typically try to update my headshot about once a year and I hadn't changed it in almost two years!
I actually think this sample was my most photographed. We shot this quilt in a few different areas of our studio. And I wore a couple different outfits. It's all fun and games until I have to edit them all!
We brought up our studio kitchen table to the upper mezzanine. It is the perfect size for this little alcove to set up a table scene. Alysson and I jumped into the photo with some food. And then Luke told us to pretend to be happy... and here are those photos.
We do not have any fun here. All sadness and tears. No joy or laughter. If only these photoshoots were audio recorded, we'd be in trouble. ha!
I almost done with our photos, I promise. I think this next set are some of my favorite photos of myself with my work in a long time.