I’m getting ready to embark on a really cool quilt project, and have decided to document my progress in a series of blog posts.  It’s a big project, so by the time I’m done, all of you might be thoroughly sick of it, but I’ll try to keep it entertaining, and maybe there will even be some giveaways along the way.

Background

This project is a commission, and it’s a gift, so I’m not really going to say much at any time about where the quilt is going and who it belongs to.  The chances of the recipient reading this are slim to none, and if they did, the chance they’d realize it will belong to them is almost nonexistent.  I do have permission from the commissioner to post about the project, if I didn’t, you wouldn’t hear a word from me about it.  Except maybe to reference it as the reason I wasn’t talking about anything else.

The commissioner was given several books to look at, and I was given 3 different star quilts that were of interest.  I did some Electric Quilt drawings, and some price estimates.

The number one choice was the Radiant Star, and even if I do say so myself, I think it’s going to be spectacular.

Pattern

The basis for what I’ll be doing is from the Marsha McCloskey book “Quick Classic Quilts” — but the quilt in the book is only 72 by 72, and the finished quilt needs to be queen-sized.  This is a scan from the book:

We went back and forth with a few modifications:  adding blocks, tweaking the sashing size to come up with a final design, that will finish at approximately 94 by 112:

Yes, that’s right:  there are 20 Radiant stars.  At this point, I haven’t let myself actually count the number of small blue triangles.  I’m almost scared to do so…

Fabric

You’ll notice that the EQ sample was done in “my” colors — I had done that becasue I thought it looked good, but it turns out that the commissioner likes the color choices, so, to the material selection we go!

I had something in mind at the shop for the red and the creams, but nothing for the dark or light blues.  Luckily, the boys and I needed to go shopping yesterday, and I dragged them through a fabric shop to find blues.  It’s a wonder the 3 of us survived the experience.

At the moment, I can’t show you any of the fabric selections, because…they are all in a lump, having been washed and are waiting for pressing.

Oh wait.

I do have a photo to share:

The reds were still in the dryer at this point.  And front and center I see the one blue that we’ve actually eliminated, but the rest of it’s good to go.

So that’s it for today’s introduction to this project.  After I get the fabric starched and pressed, I’ll show the selections, and talk a bit more about some of the design decisions that have been made, plus I’ll suck it up and figure out just exactly how many of those tiny little blue and white half-square triangle units I’ll be making.  Won’t they be gorgeous?

TTFN-

Suzanne