Wonky String Star Quilt

After seeing Sew Katie Did's Quilt last week and her reference to Denyse Schmidt's string star quilt, I couldn't get it out of my head.  I have a tendency to collect ideas and become paralyzed by their execution, so this time, I just jumped in and started collecting reds, yellows, and oranges, with a little bit of purple.

I cut strips thinking my blocks would be smaller.... maybe 6 inches, but they turned into 10 inch blocks, so that the center block was about 19 inches square.  I used left over pieces from the center blocks for the star points.  (Instead of paper or muslin piecing, I made long slabs with strips that were 14 inches tall, and then cut them into squares on the diagonal - using the center square on my cutting mat.)

I had a time piecing the star points, until I finally realized I could trace the shape with a water soluble marker.  I traced the line having the triangle hanging off about 1/4 inch, then I flipped it over and sewed a seam using the line for placement.

This took much longer than I planned... there was a lot of seam ripping.  The neutral I used for outside the star was really thin and hard to work with.  I won't use something like it again.

This quilt had a mixture of washed and unwashed fabrics, but after a wash and dry came out perfectly fine.  I threw in a Shout color catcher because none of the reds had been washed (except the binding) and that worked great!  There was absolutely no color running.

This will go to a lovely young couple in our church expecting their first baby in the next few weeks!

And just to remind myself and anyone else who may also have serious trouble EVERY TIME they attach the binding.  (I usually do this part several times.... ) Here's what it should look like:

Stats:  finished size 48 X 48

Blocks:  9 patch-ish, middle block 19" square, middle blocks 19 X 15, corner blocks, 15 X 15

Linking up with {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations.