Feathered Star Progress (still Block/Month 1)

Two weekends ago, I made a little more progress on my Feathered Star BOM from Hoop Sisters.

One thing I made progress on was the center for the feathered star. Again, the stitching line you see around the edges is water soluble thread. This is where the blocks will get seamed together. On the pink parts, I was using pink embroidery thread in the needle and white thread in the bobbin. I'm having a little trouble with the bobbin thread pulling up to the front. I will likely end up coloring those with a permanent marker. I could use pink in the bobbin, but this stitching is done before the backing fabric is put on, and I'm afraid the pink would show through the back. That would not look good.

Here is a close up shot. Maybe you can tell I used two different colors of thread on the star points. I more "aqua" blue where the lines echo the shape of the diamonds. That stitching is done before the back is put on. The darker blue matches the blue fabric and is stitched after the backing is on. So, you can see the blue thread on the back of the quilt. It looks good. I forgot to take a photo of the back for you. I'll do that when I finish the block. I think it's neat how the blue star in the center looks pieced. But it's just one big piece of blue fabric that's stitched over with all these embroidery stitches.

I also finished three more of the feathered star points. So, here is how the block is looking so far when I lay it out. Not bad! I'm still having fun with this. I need to stitch the four corner blocks next. Those will just be whilte, with quilting stitches in them. Maybe I can get those done this weekend. This block is huge. Each of these squares you see so far are 8" finished! So, the block will be a 24" finished block. Wow! There are smaller blocks in the quilt, too. These are the largest ones, I think. There are a few of these.

I am still having fun with this project. It takes a lot of thread! I'm going to need more white Aurifil thread! :-) I went through a full bobbin of white thread about every two feathered star tip blocks! Just think how much thread it will take for the white corner blocks, which are almost all stitched with white thread (except for the remining "feathers" for the sides of the star tips). I think it will be worth it in the end, however!

EDIT: So many of you have interest in this and have asked good questions, I'll try to do a process post on this next time I do an applique block like this (the next ones I need to do are just all machine embroidery) so that you can see how it works. It may take just a bit for me to get to that next point, so hang tight. But, knowing I'm going to do that will give me the motivation to get moving and get to that point so I can do the post. Thanks for your interest!

It was 36 degrees this morning....with a forecast of rain mixed with snow. I started pricing plane tickets to Florida. Seriously! But it's supposed to be sunny and 70 by Monday. Finally, a little relief in sight.....

Until next time,