Star Shuffle and a Giveaway!

My quilting cup runneth over at the moment! So many good things to share with you and be thankful for and one of those this month is my quilt "Star Shuffle" that is currently featured on the cover of Quilts and More, Winter 2015. My ever-supportive and patient hubby was due for a quilt just for him. This was my attempt at a "guy quilt", if there is such a thing. No flowers, no fru-fru. Just some very manly grey/black/red combos in flannel, just in time for the fall/winter season.

Images used with permission from Quilts and More
 magazine and Meredith Corporation. Copyright 2015

 If you click on the images, they should expand and you can see the detail on the quilting.


Images used with permission from Quilts and More
 magazine and Meredith Corporation. Copyright 2015

Here's the flat shot of the whole quilt. I often like to vary the scale of a single block within the design. It just adds a little somethin' somethin' that I tend to like. The big star in the lower right is pieced in five segments and then appliqued on as a one piece. Very easy to do. Same shape, just bigger.

Images used with permission from Quilts and More
 magazine and Meredith Corporation. Copyright 2015

The fabric shopping for this one was fun. I love a fabric hunt! Once I decided the direction I wanted to go and had a handful of fabrics from my stash,  it was time to hit the shops to find some more to make the project complete. Many of them were Woolies Flannels by Maywood Studio, but not all. The background squares are all flannel, not something I usually work with but this quilt was going to be made to cuddle up on the couch in the winter with my honey so it was the go-to option. The applique stars are done with regular cotton fabrics.

Some of the flannels for the background squares.

Some of the cottons for the stars.

So a couple of things about working with flannels if you haven't before. First of all, I definitely recommend that you pre-wash your fabrics and dry on high heat. Flannels shrink like crazy at very different rates and you don't want that to happen after you have your project all sewn together. Also, flannel is super-linty (not sure that's really a word :) so prewashing helps cut down on the lint a bit. Even so, after you sew a flannel project together your machine is going to beg for a lint cleaning in the bobbin casing and a new needle!

I would also suggest using a generous 1/4" seam allowance. Some people even choose to use a 1/2". Whichever you choose, just be consistent throughout your project so all of your seams will match. And remember, if you use a wider seam allowance, your finished project will finish a bit smaller, too. I almost always press seams to one side and still did with the flannel, but some people find it preferable to press the seams open. Again, take your pick.

As for the applique, I used cotton fabric for the applique star shapes themselves. I chose to do needle-turn applique because I was toting these blocks around with me at the time and posted about that method previously here. You could also use fusible web and the directions in Quilts and More include directions for both methods. So do what you enjoy!

Many kudos go to Tracey who did a lovely job of quilting this one and made the stars really shine with the straight line echo quilting around each one. She carried those lines out into the borders as well and I think it fits the design perfectly! Thank you Tracey :)

So let's share some goodies, shall we? I have a couple of copies of the magazine to give away and I'll even throw in a mini-bundle of flannels from my stash to share with you for your project, how's that? If you'd like to win, just enter a comment below and share with us who the lucky recipient of your last quilt gift was. Easy enough? I'll draw two names next Friday, lucky November 13th! It will be lucky for a couple of people :)

And with that, happy quilting!

Tonya