Christmas Stars

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!! I know I did, although it was busy!  Naturally, I did not get what I wanted accomplished. :-)  I promise to post the rest of Kristin's quilt and all the details on it later this week.  First, I have to share Cathy's gorgeous quilt!!!  She is also posting on it today, so make sure you stop by her blog here, Quilting On Main Street, where you'll find info regarding her pattern. This is the second quilt I have had the pleasure to quilt for Cathy.  The first one was called Stargazing, but if you don't remember it...check it out here.  I think Cathy loves star blocks!! :-)  Cathy was super patient with me.  She has by far been waiting the longest to get her quilt back, BUT I think (hope) I made it worth her wait. :-)  Thank you, Cathy.  Let me introduce Christmas Stars.

I probably took a 100 photos, but I will only spare you with around half. :-)

Yes that IS a poinsettia quilted in the corners!!

What's a Christmas quilt without a few poinsettias??  And feathers.  Cannot forget the feathers!

Lots of beautiful, curling heirloom feathers!!  Cathy did a beautiful job on the piecing and fabric selection!  Perfect for Christmas!

I decided I really wanted the borders and block design to have the detailed quilting, but not the sashing.  This way the sashing/nine patch blocks would pop and frame the blocks.

Lighting was terrible for capturing the quilting on the back of the quilt, but trust me, it looks exquisite.  The backing fabric is from French General for Moda.

Some specifics on the quilt... top thread is Cream Glide and So Fine in the bobbin.  All the quilting is freehand.  I knew I was going to feather the borders, add a lot of detail in the blocks and minimal quilting in the sashing, so I suggested to Cathy a double layer of batting.  She was very open to it and I am so glad because the results are awesome!  It really gave the quilting definition right where it needed it.  I used Dream Blend as the base layer with Hobbs 80/20 on top.  If you look at the 5th photo down from the top, you can see the double layer.

I will post on Wednesday a little tutorial and hints on how I quilted the poinsettias.  :-)

Thank you for all the congratulations for Kristin!!!  She commented that my readers/bloggers were the best!  Yes, you all are!!  I will have lots to post on her quilt and graduation at the end of the week.