Starry Skies quilt

I think this quilt was my first sewalong quilt #starryskiessewalong, I didn't finish by the deadline but having the sewalong was really lovely, seeing everyone's progress and chatting to people.  The quilt pattern is the Starry Skies Quilt by Then Came June patterns.  I finished making the quilt top in May 2018 and finally got it quilted in May 2019!

Starry Skies quilt, pattern by Then Came June

I really should keep a note of which fabrics I buy specifically for projects as it would be interesting to see. In this case I really can't remember. I think I may have bought the Cotton and Steel crosses yellow and mint for this project but I think most of the others were ones I already had. The peach, deep pink and white are the only second-hand fabrics in this quilt, the peach was a large piece of fabric I got in a charity shop in Wales years ago and it's been used in lots of things. The white is a 100% cotton sheet I got in a local charity shop. The pink was given to me by a friend whose grandmother had passed on lots of fabric to her. The small diamonds are from a pink Betty Jackson fabric I bought in Cloth House years ago and made a tank top with, it wasn't very well made so it came apart and has been re-used for quilting projects.  I love these two centre fabrics, I think the terracotta is April Rhodes for Art Gallery Fabrics and the horses is a Leah Duncan print.

I found this instructions for this so clear and easy to follow and I love how the stars aren't in straight lines.  It is obvious in these two close-ups that my stars are far from perfect, they don't line up properly at all. However I don't really care as I love the colours I used and this quilt makes me happy.  I think I'm getting more precise now and have found using my walking foot helps with this as it has a proper 1/4" seam allowance, previously I'd just been using my standard foot and assumed the edge was 1/4" but it's slightly bigger. Also I am slightly more careful with cutting out now than I was a year ago. But really, I'm not that into being precise and perfect anyway, I'd rather have it finished and loved!

Quilt backing, photographed in a garden.

For the quilt back I found a single IKEA sheet in my local charity shop.  I didn't buy it the first time I saw it, kept thinking about it and went back the next week to find it was still there.  The terracotta colour matches the April Rhodes fabric on the front really well and I added in some other pieces as it wasn't quite big enough.  The binding is made from all the little scraps, not cut on the bias this time as there wasn't enough fabric.  This is the second quilt I've made for our own home and by the end of this year I'd like to have another 2 finished for us.  Seeing this quilt, and the one I made for my son's bed, every day brings me joy!