Starburst - Finished Quilt

Time to share Starburst, all finished and doing the job it was intended to do, wrap sweet Benjamin in hugs until I can get there to give him some real time snuggles!

All of the info on patterns I used to make this quilt can be found in my previous post. As I said in that post, some of the quilt was quilted on a long arm. I thought I would be able to finish most of the quilt that day. . . not even close! The quilting on the left side (about 15 inches along the side), in other words, one pass before having to roll to the next section. . . Imagine my surprise when I got to that point and looked at the clock and it was past time to pack it in and head back home!! Time truly does fly when you're having fun! haha

Finishing this quilt up on my domestic presented a problem or two. My domestic is very finicky when it comes to Glide thread. Sometimes it works just fine and sometimes. . . well, let's just say that it likes to eat and shred it. Because I mistakenly figured I'd have the quilt finished by the time I left that day, I wasn't too terribly concerned. . . talk about bad assumptions! But I pushed through and got 'er done! ;)

My machine also decided to have issues with a 12 wt Wonderfil thread that I had been using on Pixilated Strategy. I had quilted almost an entire spool into Pixilated with not.one.issue! I used it to put Benjamin's name on the quilt. It looked fabulous on the front:

I remembered to take a picture after starting to rip it all out. . . then I remembered this might be good to share. . . you know, the good, the bad and the ugly. . .

And the ugly I found on the back when I flipped the quilt over. . .

Wish I had taken that picture prior to ripping. . . the 'E' was solid blue loops on the inside curves and the outside echo was more of the same! Notice how the tension is perfect. . . until it isn't!

I wish I could say that I figured out what the problem was. . . I cleaned my machine, changed needles, threaded and rethreaded so many times it made my head hurt! In the end, I went very slow and ended up pulling a few loops into the middle of the quilt. Definitely not optimal but hopefully it will not come out. . . I thought maybe it was the batting? So I put Pixilated back under the needle the other day and guess what? MORE LOOPS!! That quilt has quilting in other areas that is done in different thread and I am working on that portion to save my sanity. NO issues! Stay tuned, maybe I'll get it figured out by the time I post a finished Pixilated Strategy. . .

OK, enough on issues :) Wanna see the entire quilt? :D

Sun was not cooperating with this picture. . . See one below that was snapped pre wash and before I quilted in Benjamin's name. . .

Definitely can see the quilting better BUT, never fear, I have LOTS of close ups ;)

All quilting to the left of the small star was done on the long arm.

In this picture, everything to the left of the large spiral was quilted on the long arm. I quilted the spirals and paisleys on my domestic. The bottom goose was done by Gina Perkes :)

I ripped so many times on his name I was afraid I was going to ruin the fabric! It all disappeared with the wash and dry :D

I used curved rulers for the inside of the stars. This portion was all done on my domestic.

Ghost Geese! We all know I am a fan of ghost anything in negative space! LOL

I tried to really exercise a little bit of restraint (SO hard!! haha) so I just ditch stitched this star :)

And the back! All flannel I had in my stash. Yay for stash! :)

And here's what a learned while quilting this quilt:
1. Not all wool batting is the same. This is not a criticism at all. I used wool Hobbs wool for this quilt. If you have been following along for any amount of time, you know I am a Quilter's Dream fan girl and almost 100% of my quilts are made with it. I used batting from a roll Gina had at her store and it was Hobbs. There is a difference. The Hobbs was a little 'stiffer' . . . I don't know how else to describe it. It is kind of like the consistency of an 80/20 batting with slightly more loft. It quilts up beautifully. I kept thinking while I was quilting it, this would probably be a better choice for show quilts. The quilting POPS a little more. I wondered if I would lose that wonderful snuggly softness of Quilter's Dream wool which maintains that snuggly softness even if it is quilted to death. After washing, the quilt was as soft as Quilter's Dream. So like I said, not better or worse, just different.

2. There is a long arm in my future, I just am not sure how far into the future it will be. I am totally OK with that. It's not like I'm limping along with an inferior sewing machine. I have 11.5" of throat space - I can easily quilt any size quilt with it. When the time is right and the universe aligns, I'll have a long arm. Until then, I can go up to Payson and rent Gina's machine :)

3. Flannel plus a good starch soak equals backing that is stiff and very resistant to puckers or wrinkles. When I say 'soak', I mean I poured a bottle of starch (might have actually been two) in a bucket and added the flannel and soaked it. Then I let it dry on my ironing board outside under the patio, out of the sun. Gina asked me what the heck I did to it! LOL Even with all of the traveling this quilt did while it was in process, there is not one wrinkle or pucker on the back. I was a little worried about the fact that the quilt was definitely not completely anchored when I took it off of the long arm. It seemed like that might have been a recipe for disaster but it wasn't.

Benjamin will be all snuggled up in this quilt by the time you read this. And that my friends is why I make quilts :)

Next week I will be posting about another finished quilt. I'll post in two separate posts again, flimsy and finished quilt. I used a free Art Gallery pattern and it was a great pattern but if I were to make it again, I'd make a few minor tweaks. I'm way behind in blogging (not posting for two months will do that. . . ) so by then, Pixilated Strategy will be finished (SO close) and I have another baby quilt that I started today. That will be finished soon. Easy peasy quilt and the baby is due Oct. 1st. . . I thought I had so much time to make the quilt when the mom contacted me . . . Seriously, where does the time go?? Oh, AND I am Queen this month for my hive in the Stash Bee! I cannot wait to show you!! Patience my pretties ;) haha

Linking up with Finish it up Friday. I'm pretty sure that it is the linky party of the quilting world that will derail any plans of not starting a new quilt. SO many beautiful finishes to peruse!

I hope you have a great quilty weekend and until next time, keep on quilting!