Big Stars Completion

So here it is.  My Big Stars is now a completed quilt top!  (Pattern is from 'Simple Pleasures' by Jan Patek, Alma Allen and Sue Spargo.  The colors are a little surprising coming from me, but it all seems to work somehow.  I went ahead and used the original pattern for the pieced border work and just added an additional triangle of each fabric per side.

Big Star quilt top!

The border directions call for cutting the triangles out from a template, which to be perfectly honest, made me very, very grouchy.  I tried and tried to figure out how to do things different, but it all seemed to change the look of the border more than I cared for. My husband got a such a good laugh out of all of my grumbling.  He's always a very sympathetic man with my quilting woes.  'Well, it's funny.  Look who's following directions.' ha ha

The pieced border.

Before I added the sashing to the quilt top, I made a short pieced mock-up of the border to determine the necessary width for the sashing--3 7/8".   I really, really wanted to have the pieced border come together properly at the corners and not have to do a Gwen Marston sew and chop.  You know that not every quilt welcomes that kind of behavior.*wink

The directions stated that after sewing on the pieced border, the last background triangle would be cut to form a 1/2 square triangle unit.  Unfortunately for me, I cut after I had sewn the triangles together, which made for some problems at the corners.  This is why I re-write directions sometimes.  I don't always thoroughly think things through before plowing full steam ahead.*sigh

Much better match-up on the corners.....

It only took me an hour and a half or so of seam ripping and fiddling around with all four corners to finally get fairly acceptable corners.  Fudge, finesse, ease....*sigh  So crazy when the rest of the quilt isn't exactly perfect!  It's like this.  When I'm dealing with something new, I willingly accept that there is a steep learning curve for me.  However, when it's something I've definitely experienced and/or conquered (plus it's not improv. work), I expect better of myself.  I've almost trained myself not to point out mistakes.  Why make it harder on myself?

Big Stars quilt top completion.

I've learned a lot making this quilt:  1.  I need more experience in sewing curved pieces  2.  It IS possible to change a pattern slightly, yet still not lose the integrity of what drew me to the quilt initially (Mini Cake Stands shook my confidence a bit earlier this year) and 3.  It's extremely important for me to put my own stamp on every quilt I make.  I'm just not going to feel the love I make a direct copy!

Now I better get moving on with other more mundane matters.  So very much to get done around this house!  Busy weekend, and then next week our girls have three nights of high school basketball, our youngest son will play the alto sax in an elementary Christmas concert and then our oldest son flies into Seattle late Friday night.  Yay!  Maybe I can squeeze in a little hand work somewhere in between.  lol