June ROYGBIV - True Blue

My June #focusthrutheprism challenge was in many ways the biggest challenge yet.  I did a ton of new-to-me quilting techniques.  Improve sewing, meandering that looks good, binding 3 sides, literally empty space as a design element, facing a quilt instead of wrapped binding.  The result was well worth it.

This months challenge was the friendship star.   At first I thought I would have a hard time with it - then I suddenly popped an idea.  My closest friends are mostly far away.  So I wanted to incorporate that feeling of distance.  Then I was reminded of the friendship charms we have as kids.  Little charms that have special words and look to be broken in half - each member of the friendship charm wears it on their person.  That image stuck with me.  So how to interpret it...

Taking my greys and making a background in an improv style.  I chose to use the indigo for true blue.  Then to start working on the 2 halves.  I wanted the star in blues and the background in greys.  As I was sewing I decided it needed a outline to make it clear and give a bit of punch - so I used two thin black and white borders on the star pieces.

Straight starburst quilting on one part of the star.After I had this piece is when I cut the jagged end of the upper side of the hanging.  I did not get pics but I wanted the cut out in the middle to follow the same path - and that was tricky with still having those edges turned under.  By finishing the edge of one, then laying it over the backing of the other and sketching the line - I got my jagged edge evenly spaced.

Then, my next challenge - meandering.  I am much better with waves or straight line stitching.  But I tackled a mini meander on the blue of the opposite star.  Got muscle cramps in my hands but it was worth it!

More straight line quilting and a larger meander later and I had 2 pieces of the friendship star.  The next challenge was how to bind on 3 edges.  Someone suggested facing the quilt.  After reviewing a few how to blogs, I went with this fantastic and simple tutorial.  There are a ton of additional tips out there, but this one worked for me!  I am now a huge fan of facing a quilt!

Next - to block the pieces and then somehow attach them to each other.  As the Cherrywood fabrics are hand dyed I did not want to soak them, just in case.  So, a spritz of water and hot iron on the back was enough to get it flat and pinned to its correct size.  Lay out over night.  

Then, to attach.  I wound up pinning them to a large mat I have and just hand stitching in lines of thread at all the points of the jagged edges.  I love it!  The thread is almost invisible from a very short distance away.  As a final design element I added two large beads to the front.  For each friend in the star.  

This is a series of techniques I want to continue to explore.  Very fun results!