Supernova

Supernova is finished and photographed!  I am thrilled with result.

Supernova started from a ton of extra grey and black triangles I had cut but didn't use in a king-sized quilt's background.  That quilt also produced a bunch of black and white crumbs.  Scrap Stars barely put a dent in the pile of triangles and crumbs.  Therefore, this quilt had two parameters:  use up the remaining triangles and create as few (or none!) black and grey pieces as possible.  While researching quilt designs I came across several lone star patterns.  I made the triangles into diamonds and started playing with various layouts.  

No more monochrome!  This needed a jolt of color and red is always great with black and white.  I went through my stash and found a couple of suitable reds to go with it.

I had so much fun making the lone star rings and the quilt size exploded.  Each ring added about six inches to its length.  The plan was to make a wall quilt and when it hit five feet across I knew I needed to cut back.  At some point I set the star on point, and the last solid red ring I planned became a mix of red and a pale peach.  That's about the time that the name came to me:  Supernova.  It fit.

Piecing together a lone star quilt was more challenging than I anticipated.  Small inconsistencies in seam allowances quickly made matching seams difficult.  Carefully marked and pinned points were hard to hit.  Several seams had to be redone because the high contrast in fabrics made nearly every mis-matched point to leap off the quilt.     

I didn't want my lone star to be set with big blocks of blank space, so I played around with corner designs.  Always a risk to sew as I design.  The red diamonds in the corners have sashing to set it apart, then surrounded by a mash of partial diamonds to set in place.  To top it off, I was rapidly running out of the white background fabric I had pulled from my stash.  As careful as I was to do the same thing to all four corners, not a single one lines up with the others.  Well, what can you expect from an exploding star?

I was pleased the flimsy was fairly flat and square.  The center domed so I ended up ripping out and easing in a few seams.  Don't look to closely at the very center - it is a messy clump of unmatched points!  The dark red was a good choice to hide all that.  

Quilting this was a dream.  Finally got the bobbin tension set correctly.  The only reason I had to stop was to switch thread colors or replace bobbins.  So much fun! 

Using a laser level to square the quilt was a game changer.  So much faster than running back and forth, double checking my measurements.  I will definitely use that with future quilts.  Also got to try out the new walking foot to attach the binding, which worked really well.  My only complaint?  I made the binding 16 inches too short and had to stop to cut another piece and add it on.  So close!

 

Ahh... the beauty of a clean cut quilt.  I even managed to get three of the four corners on the binding perfectly square.  Took me three attempts to get the label on, though, between a misspelling and moving it to a corner.  Seriously?  

The quilt came out absolutely square (yes, I am amazed at that).  I plan to hang it on the wall, though 50½ inches across it would make a decent throw quilt, too.  

I was so excited to share Supernova that I chanced a windy day to take photographs.  We had to be patient, waiting for the brief seconds when the breeze died down.  The sun was in a good spot to show off the quilting.

Love, love, love this quilt - from the first glimpse of it on the design wall to the finished product.  It made my heart leap every time I walked into my sewing room.  The color choices, the layout, the quilting.  Oddly, as proud and elated as I am with this quilt, I'm not sure about submitting it to any fairs this year.  The quilt has some inherent wonkiness from the scraps that inspired it, visible to any judge at close range.

Doesn't matter.  To me, it's perfect.

Sharing with:
Melva Loves Scraps - Sew & Tell
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Alycia Quilts - Finished or Not Friday
Nina-Marie - Off the Wall Friday
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