Modern Solstice

Last Friday, a new exhibit went up at Island Quilter! And that would be "Modern Solstice", an inspiring collection of star quilts from the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild.

I couldn't resist getting a photo right off of my "Auspicious Sky" hanging in the line up!

I'm going to omit the commentary, and just let you enjoy "the show" . . .

"Seattle Star" by Katie Pedersen

by Carrie Franklin

by Anna Boenish

by Amy Kilian

by Season Evans

"Harlequin Star" by Ara Jane Olufson

by Louise Wackerman and the Nurture Circle of do.Good Stitches

by Vicki

by Amber Arnold

Unknown

by Blair Stocker

Unknown

"Seeing Stars" by Katie Pedersen

left quilt is "Meteorite" by Grace Lainhart; right quilt unknown

by Meaghan Quinlin

by Kirsten Ballou

by Megan Riley

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

"Auspicious Sky" by moi!

I'm afraid I missed getting pictures of a couple, and apologize for any credit omissions, but you can see there really were some lovely quilts. It was quite a pleasure to see them up close and personal and mingle with my fellow guild-mates. Honestly, a pretty great way to spend a Friday night!

Auspicious Sky

Every once in a while a project comes along that just about takes all you've got. This one was that for me. 

At my first meeting with the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild in March, I heard about a star quilt challenge - something that had been in the planning for several months. The deadline was today. Ie. I was way behind from the get go. What seemed even remotely possible when I finally got around to starting was to take the Lucky Star blocks I had made so far (each 6 1/2") and pull them together into a small quilt.

I call it "Auspicious Sky", honoring those Lucky Stars that gave me inspiration in the first place. I surrounded them with a sky of Kaffe Fassett shot cotton accented with bits of Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Denim and Kona Nightfall. Quilting was somewhat randomly spaced straight-line using several different blues, from midnight to royal.

Backing is Kaffe's Shirt Stripes in brown which I just happened to have in my stash, and seemed apropos. And for binding, I used more of the Essex.

Finishing at an odd 38x68" (I used every inch of the shot cotton I had), this is one of those where I'm glad I made it but I'm more than glad it's done. The vision is my mind's eye to start is not quite what I ended up with, though close. I found the improv piecing a challenge, the shot cotton somewhat unstable in such a large quantity, and my original quilting plan just didn't pan out.

So that's a perfect explanation for why this quilting thing we do can justifiably be called a journey. There's stops and starts, hills and valleys, detours and unexpected turns. But in the end, it's a trip worth having taken. Time to plan the next.

This finish was on my FAL Q2 list for 2013. Linking with Fabric Tuesday.