Frozen Stars – Finishing a bee quilt

Frozen Stars

I almost can’t believe that this quilt is finished.  I’m embarrassed to say that I think this was started 4?! years ago.  I was in a bee based entirely on sewing with red fabric.  What can I say?  That was when there were so many bees we couldn’t all keep up and we all got in over our heads.  I’ve learned my limits, but at the time I think I was in at least 5 bees. And so I’ve amassed a collection of bee blocks that often leave me uninspired.

Frozen Stars

I don’t particularly like red…it’s a tough color for me.  So I think I joined this bee to try to overcome my fear of working with red.  I don’t think it worked.  lol  And that’s why this quilt has taken SO long to finish.  I just was not as inspired by the color palette as I imagined I would be.  It’s a great color palette.  Aqua, Red and White?! What’s not to love?  But I’ve found that even though I love it when I see other people work with it, I don’t find it particularly motivational.  I’m surprised by that.

Frozen Stars

So, probably not a color combo I’ll pick soon for a quilt again (but don’t hold me to that…there’s nothing like proving yourself wrong!).  But I really love a lot of the elements of this quilt.  I gave all my bee members the fabric with the instructions to make any star block of their choice with white as the background, red as the main color, and the aqua as an accent.  I got a really fun assortment of blocks and then they sat.  and sat.  and sat.

And then along came Laurie Wisbrun's Brr fabric.  Hmm…perfect match!!  It was worth waiting all those years for the perfect fabric match that tied everything together.  I used her fabrics for the polar bear center, the snowflake border, the binding and across the delightful pieced back.

Frozen Stars

This is a pieced back that I really love.  Sometimes they are hit or miss for me.  But the proportions are working pretty well for me.  There is a DS print from Joanns, a Jennifer Paganelli print, and bunches of Laurie’s fabric including a newly released print from Table Talk.  I love combining all of these lines and seeing them blend so beautifully together.

Frozen Stars

The binding was a favorite print of mine from Laurie’s Brr line that I have been hoarding.  A stripe WITH polka dots?!  It hits the right notes for me.  But really it was PERFECT for this quilt and I had to use it.  I love when the right fabric tells me where it should be.  And boy does that binding just work the way it should.

Frozen Stars

Oh and this is a quilt that I happily sent off to my sponsor Denae of Plain Jane Quilting.  She was lickety split getting it done and even took pity on my non functioning brain…I totally spaced out on making the back extra large for a long armer.  So she did some last minute fabric strips so that the backing could be loaded on the machine and then rocked some free hand swirls on it.  I’ll definitely be sending her more quilts.  I’m trying to be less guilty about sending a quilt off to be quilted by someone else.  But I’m realizing that it often is just not good for my body to be hunched over a machine for hours and it doesn’t make me very happy.  Let’s focus on those happy things.  So for now, you may see me sending off a few more quilts than I have before to have them quilted elsewhere.  My health is worth more than my pride. ;)\

So, sorry for the lengthy write up, but this poor quilt has been in the making for four years and deserves its time in the sun.  Or the snow as it were…ugh…but let’s focus on the happy again  ;)Oh and linking up to the Blogger’s Quilt Festival.  Good timing!

21 thoughts on “Frozen Stars – Finishing a bee quilt”

  1. this is a very pretty quilt. I love the colors chosen. may have been started 4 yrs ago, but it looks fabulous finished. And yes I so agree our health is so much more important than our pride. Lots of luck to you.

  2. Ah, I love the border and the binding! And the layout–it's just a great quilt, even if it wasn't so inspiring to make! Don't feel guilty about sending stuff to the quilter–it doesn't de-legitimize your work on the quilt to have it quilted by someone else! And if you don't enjoy that part of the process, why force yourself into it? If I could finance having someone baste my quilts, you bet I'd be doing that. 😉

  3. Red is my favorite color! I also love stars in quilts. What a lovely quilt. I'm usually a hand quilter, but, I just haven't wanted to do much hand quilting the past few years. I finally had a quilt machine quilted earlier this year. The same quilter will be quilting another top for me next month (if I get the top finished).

  4. I really like your pieced back – how you interrupted the two main fabrics with the strip down the center. Sometimes (usually?) my pieced backs come out pretty helter skelter. I think something a little more planned like this would be nicer. The thing is I NEVER buy fabric for backing so usually have few choices. Anyways, your back turned out so goo!

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