wonky star / sparkle punch quilt

Some quilts hurt more than others to give away. Baby quilts, much as I love them, have no use for me personally so they can be given with no qualms. But full-size quilts could easily be incorporated into my life (in fact, the one for Patrick and Katie was finished long before I gave it to them, and I actually used it on the couch myself for… months (I washed it again before wrapping it!)). And this one, with so many different fabrics that have a tiny back story for me, well, it was hard to give it away to my cousin and new cousin-in-law to celebrate their wedding.

There are fabrics here that I used in Holly’s quilt, ones I bought while on vacation, some that were given to me by thoughtful friends, others that I particularly love for one reason or another . . . In sum: I love it.

I deliberately used two different khaki shades as the background fabric for the stars, to give it a vintage/scrappy sort of feel. I chose a color palette that was overall coordinated and sort of muted, with all colors represented. At the edges I got a chance to use some fabrics that I only had one square of from a charm pack—I’m particularly pleased with using one black-and-white print in the lower right corner. Something about having injected some actual black into this quilt makes me really satisfied.

The quilting actually goes in both diagonal directions, though now that I see it in pictures I see that one direction is far more dominant! I used different threads and I think one was heavier than the other. One was khaki/off white and the other was blue. Why? Because I had enough of each! I’m happy to report that the quilting went infinitely better than it has for me in recent quilts. I changed as many variables as possible: I spray glue-basted the backing (but for some reason pin-basted the front. don’t ask.). I remembered to put the more table surface thingy on my machine. I was sure to wear my quilting gloves. I used a superior brand of batting. I got no puckers when I went across the first parallel quilting lines—everything just sort of worked right out the gate! I look forward to doing it all again for a future quilt and seeing if I’ve solved my quilting issues.

The binding is pieced with two fabrics: both khaki backgrounds, one with circles and the other with small polka dots. The backing is a completely different neutral (with a very pink undertone—I didn’t think that would work on the front) with my “signature” stripe block.

The label, added after I took these pictures, has, I hope, special meaning to the bride, as I was inspired by a photo she posted online months ago. She went to a The xx concert and posted a picture of this quote, which was printed just like this on a pillowcase. I pulled the photo into Photoshop and resized it to what I wanted and traced it onto the fabric. I thought the sentiment was beautifully appropriate for a wedding gift, right? In case you can’t read it, it says “Being as in love with you as I am.” I know nothing about music, though (The xx… who?), so I had to Google this phrase to even know what song it was from. I added the date of their wedding and a little “love, Erin” to complete the label. It was stitched with black perle cotton on a piece of Kona that I, um, not too precisely folded into a “square” before affixing it. I put it in the lower right corner; the picture on the right below might give you a sense for where it is.

I wrapped it up in a simple ribbon and brought it with me to the wedding, and I was sorely tempted to tear it open and wrap up in it when the temperature dropped after the sun set! If I’d done so, I may well have just left with it. Instead I’m going to have to plan a quilt like this for myself.