Starry Starry Quilt

 The starry quilt has come back from being longarm quilted and i had fun taking some pictures of it over the weekend.............i took various photos of it here and there, and pinned it up in my sewing room where it will stay for a while as i like the bright colours.............

 ..................above is a peek into my sewing room.........behind the door on the right is my fabric cupboard as well as a small sofa piled up with fabric and my ironing board with a partly made project on it (top secret, for a magazine).............i made forty four six point stars for this little quilt and joined them with a white hexagon, then filled in the sides with white fabric to straighten them and added a two inch border all round..............

 ............the stars were all hand sewn using english paper piecing........i got my diamond pieces from sew and quilt here..................i used lots of my favourite fabrics from my stash and the white fabric is kona white also from sew and quilt...............

 ...............making the stars was a pleasure, as i enjoyed using up lots of prints and it was a very portable project so i could make a few now and then and before i knew it had quite a collection.......

 ................here is a handy tip i learnt.........if you piece the diamonds together in two groups of three and then join the two 'halves' of the star together right across the long, straight middle seam it prevents that little gap that sometimes forms in the star centre and the wobbly effect that sometimes creates..........sewing across the middle seam makes it a much sturdier star :)...............

                                    ..............i tried not to include too many pictures ;)..............

 .................just a couple more.............here is the backing made using the gorgeous pam kitty picnic gumball dot pattern which i mentioned last time.............it picks out all the colours in the quilt so nicely and i used some of my old favourite pink and white candy stripe for the binding (i bought a vast amount of this fabric a few years ago and have used it in endless ways since then.......my stock of it is getting a bit low now though....................

 ...............the long arm quilting pattern is an all over one of daisies..................

..............some of you may remember the little patchwork birds i made for the exciting and inspiring love patchwork and quilting magazine...........i am pleased to say they are featured on the hobbycraft blog so if you missed them before and would like the pattern now, pop over there and see the feature........you can even buy the little white tree from hobbycraft to hang your own birdies on...............

 ............i have enjoyed a few posies from the garden this week and just had to include one here....

..............this deep magenta rose has a gorgeous scent and i love having  this jug on my desk while i work, or next to my cutting table...............

 ...............i am loving this time of year, with lots of sunny garden days and lots of lovely new crafty things to make too...........i am busy with work projects this week, but i'm also gathering yarn together for another flowery crochet cushion.........thank you to everyone who asked about my cushion in the previous post.........i will try to write out the pattern for it soon and let you know how i made it.......

                                           ...............a little pile of summery quilts.............

................thank you for dropping in to see me in my crafty little blog space, lovely readers, it is a pleasure to see you.........and thank you so much for the sweet comments too......i know everyone is very busy and i really do appreciate you taking the time...............wishing you all lots of happy sunny days and starry starry nights.....................back soon xxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxx