Well, the calendar has finally ticked over to September, kids have all gone back to school (middle and high schools for all five of our studio kids!), and we are mostly back to our regularly scheduled programming at the studio. So, naturally it feels like a good time to flash back to this time last year when we welcomed the transition to fall with a Star Adventure quilt made from this super fun Ruby Start Society line of fabric, Favorite Flowers.
Favorite Flowers was a designer collaboration line for RSS, and after mocking up a Star Adventure for their sales catalog, we knew we had to bring it to life. We used all 26 fabrics in this fat quarter bundle to make the large square throw size, which has 25 blocks and finishes at 69" square. We followed the Mixed Up Stars assembly style so that each block would show off a combo of three of these gorgeous fabrics.
Using fat quarters for a Star Adventure couldn't be simpler, as each fat quarter will give you either two sets of star cuts or two sets of background cuts. We divided our bundle in half, giving 13 FQs to the stars and 13 to the backgrounds. If you are doing the math with us, you will notice that that gives us enough cuts for 26 blocks. The large square throw only has 25 blocks, so one set of both star and background cuts will not be needed.
After cutting everything, we mixed and matched our cuts to create our block piles. This part always looks a bit chaotic, but you can see how each star block will feature three fabrics, and we will truly get to see how all the different florals of this line will play together.
They are all so good together! We all tried to pick our favorites, and we just couldn't. Every block was so fun.
See what I mean? Could you pick a favorite amongst all of this gorgeousness?? No! It's impossible.
Once all of our blocks were sewn up, it was time to get them laid out on the design wall, remembering that sashing would keep any blocks from touching directly, but still wanting to be mindful of like fabrics right next to like fabrics. We also tried to balance scale and color, but really, there are no hard and fast rules here.
We knew from the beginning that we wanted to use yardage for sashing, as opposed to the scrappy sashing option in the pattern, but we didn't know exactly which yardage we would use. Once our blocks were finished and on the design wall, we held up several options to try and make up our minds. In the running were a charcoal gingham, a dark stripe, and this pink and orange hand drawn looking plaid. In the end, there was no contest. The plaid - 100 Aker Wood Picnic Plaid in Pink - was the clear choice. We got everything sewn together, and took her outside for some crisp fall photos on our roof.
We kept the Favorite Flowers vibes going as we chose what to back this Star Adventure in, deciding on a wideback version of one of the prints, in Balmy. Then it was off to Emily at So Sunny Quilts for long arming.
Emily quilted the Petal Hype pantograph over our Star Adventure, using a pale pink thread. Once we got it back, Meghan bound it in a woven from Fableism Fabrics, Wings in Dark Fuchsia.
And that's our Favorite Flowers Star Adventure! It's always fun revisiting the quilts we've made with you all...and now I'm feeling the pull to make another Star Adventure this fall. Stay tuned!