cortellini star

Hmmm...what to make?  The new mama was a soccer star... Daddy's a musician... 
I went searching, through blogs and Pinterest, and suddenly - BAM!
When I spotted this post  I knew what I would make for this newest little Cortellini - a star!

Katie doesn't offer a pattern for this or mention what colors she used.  So I just used her quilt as a guide and chose from my stash.  I counted up the different combos of half square triangles and was able to get started cutting and sewing right away.  That's always fun!

 

My original plan was to copy Katie's quilting, too, but at the last minute I spun my thinking to a spiral.  I did a Google search on spiral quilting and found some great tips.  I'm always amazed by how much free information is available from this amazing community.

On Very Kerry Berry's blog I found this template to get started.  It creates a 1" spiral.  I wanted tighter quilting so I printed it at 37% to get a 3/8" seam and be able to use my walking foot as a guide beyond the template.  I carefully pinned my template to my quilt sandwich and carefully dropped my needle in the center of it all.

Then I took a deep breath and a patience pill and followed some great tips from Flourishing Palms.  I set my stitch length very small and used my hand-wheel to take one stitch at a time, picking up the presser foot and moving the quilt with each stitch.  Again and again.  Finally being able to take two stitches, then three, very slowly, till finally I was moving right along.  I lengthened my stitch as I moved further out, constantly turning the quilt.  It was a good right arm work-out for me.  Advil helped!

On the back I used the popular Newspaper print by Carrie Bloomston.  I had to add a little to the width and there are no worries on matching the print with this one.  Yay!

Quilt stats:

42" square

RJR and Kona solids

Quilter's Dream Cotton Request Loft batting

Aurifil Dove Gray (2600) 50wt for piecing & 40wt for quilting

Ready to roll, around and around...

We're enjoying early spring over here.  Did you notice the wild forsythia in the background?  It hasn't bloomed like this in years.  Love it!

I'll be linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social and Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.