Another Giant Star Flimsy

I can't believe two weeks (or more. . . ) has zoomed past. I can believe that I have not posted. I had two quilts to finish remember? In case you missed it in my last post, my customer was so happy with his daughter's quilt, he ordered two more for his sons. . . for Christmas. Christmas Eve. . . not Christmas day ;) I am happy to report that the quilts were delivered on the 23rd. . . After two weeks of sewing like a fiend, ignoring all housework (guess what I'm doing today???), neglecting my husband (he would tell you that LOL) and the pups, having many moments of thinking "there is no way in hell this is going to get done", they are done, and the customer is again very happy. Mission accomplished. Barely :)

This Giant Star was a bit more of a challenge. Not the pattern, not sewing it together. . . choosing the right fabrics and combinations to make this purple quilt not look feminine . . . Alrighty then ;) I relied heavily on my husband's and #1 fan's opinions. Both agreed they like purple. Good, now I have some testosterone driven opinions to help me muddle through the fabric choices and layout. BTW, speaking of layout, I love this pattern because depending on fabric choices, it really does take on a whole different look. But I digress :)

As for fabric choices, many texts happen between me and my #1 fan and discussions between me and the ever patient husband, bold dark purples and black background. I think it worked! :) I'm just going to show the flimsy today. I don't have it in me to write a post about the flimsy and the finish - I'm still recovering! LOL But check back over the next several days, I'll be posting both finishes. Oh, and for those of you who were wondering. . . no, I was not able to keep the quilting simple. I'll be talking about that more in those finished quilt posts. . . I have learned much about myself and my style over the last couple of weeks! But that is for another post, for now check out this flimsy!

First, let's see the fabric pull and process for picking which would work best.

This is all of the fabrics for the original pull, I needed four fabrics to make the star. I vetoed the bluer purple, #1 fan vetoed the lighter Grunge purple and the marbled purple directly under it, too close in shade to the medium Grunge under the light Grunge fabric. #1 fan was not impressed with the background fabric I had picked. . . I assured him it was the right choice (Tula Pink, True Colors. . . what's not perfect about that???). Trust me, once I get going you will agree I said. . .

Here it is with the purple fabric cut into squares and folded in half - nothing is sewn at this point. I wanted to check my purple choices AND prove to #1 Fan that my choice of background fabric was perfect. . . I sent him this picture. The response was "NO!! Black. No question!" . . . Really, cuz I am digging the Tula :) "NO. Dark." OK, message received. I might add that my husband had the same reaction. . . I was outvoted. The black is Moda Marbled, as is the lighter purple, the two fabrics on either side is Moda Grunge and I have no idea what the fabric at the top star point is. . . I'm just glad that for some reason I had two half yard pieces of it!! More on that in 3, 2, 1, got to the next picture ;)

HSTs sewed together and rows sewn together. . . border. . . Panic. No more Grunge in those colors left. . . No more Marbled fabric left. . . AAAHHHH!!! Go back to stash. . . Dig through purples. . . OMG!! What is this half yard of the mystery fabric doing here??? Will it work? #1 fan and husband say yes, best choice. Crisis averted!! ;)

And here it is all sewn together!! :)

Seriously LOVE!! And I have a testosterone driven thumbs up ;) Me: Is it masculine enough? #1 Fan: As masculine as purple is going to get! He's a funny guy isn't he??

I took this picture so you could see how spot on the middle points came together :) Check the rest of the post for lessons learned and how I did this on the first try!

The back with the sun shining through. . . just love these back of flimsy pictures!!

And one more. . . just cuz :)

I did a couple of things differently when I was sewing this one together and they actually turned out to make this flimsy a little quicker to piece than the blue one.

1. I cut all of the squares for the HSTs corner to corner prior to sewing. These blocks are big. I cut them at 18.25" and marking the diagonal line down the middle was a bit of a pain with the first one. With this one, I decided I would deal with the bias and just cut it first. This worked out well and made chain piecing these huge blocks a breeze.

2. When I pieced the middle rows together, I started at the middle of the rows where all of the points converge. First I pinned (yes, me, pinning) and then I did a test seam just across where all of the points come together. Checked for perfection (or as close as this quilter gets LOL) and then I sewed the seam from the middle out to one end, then the middle out to the other. It worked well. I did not have to rip it out once. If you are looking for perfection, you might want to give this a try. I don't always want or feel the need for perfection with my points - but on this one I knew that if I was off more than a smidge (technical term), it would be pretty obvious and more importantly, it would bug me to no end! ;)

I finished this flimsy on 12/11. Yes, one day after finishing the blue Giant Star. I decided to quilt this one first. The finished quilt post is coming to your blog feed soon ;)

Finally, since it is Christmas day, I hope you are all having a great holiday season!

Until next time, keep on quilting!!