A Year of Stars with Natalia Bonner - The Wandering Star

Here is the last star for the year

...and finally, the whole quilt. Posted this already on Instagram and FB but for the sake of having the whole year on here, I am repeating it.

A photo outside to highlight the quilting...and yep, there is a lot of quilting on that one. I am not a 100% sure which sashing or border design we were supposed to be doing...in the end I just chose the ones that appealed to me from the many YouTube videos that Natalia has put up on the net. The stacked curl design and pebbles in the sashing made the quilt a bit stiff, but it goes with the density in the blocks. I am sure it will soften with time.

And another photo inside

It is an absolutely lovely quilt and while I finished this a long time ago because I could not wait month by month for the designs, I am really glad that I did participate in it. Natalia has so many ideas about block designs which was really nice to explore. I am sure you have heard by now that she will be running 'A Year of Blocks' in 2022. Highly recommended...you can learn so much from her.

I still need to finish off the binding on my 9 Patchalong quilt as well. Hoping to do this in the next week or so. Will be great to have these quilts around to look at when thinking about block designs.

Karin

A Year of Stars with Natalia Bonner

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone.

This is the 11th block in Natalia Bonner's 'Let's Stitch a Year of Stars' Quiltalong - Brian's Star

To tell you the truth, I cannot remember doing this block, but looking at it now I quite like it, although I would probably never quilt  that heavily in a pieced quilt.

Only one block left and then I really need to do the binding on this quilt. While I enjoyed doing the quiltalong, I don't think I will do another year long quiltalong. I do get impatient and as it was in this case just continue on my own to finish things off which really defeats the purpose of a quiltalong. I reckon I did finish this quilt way before we even approached the half way mark. A year is just too long for me. However, having said that, these quiltalongs are brilliant if you are a bit slower and make use of the many videos that Natalia puts up for guidance and I do appreciate the many ideas you get for quilting a block.

I need to make sure that I put up a photo of the finished quilt...it does look quite spectacular. Hopefully, next month...

Karin

A Year of Stars with Natalia Bonner

Here is the October 9 patch star block

Loved doing this one and was easy to fill in. My only issue was to do the swirl in the light purple triangles. It's a biggish space to fill freehand and I think I got one of my swirls the wrong way around. Natalia uses this swirl quite often to fill a space...I have to really think hard about that one...does not come naturally to me and promptly turned it in the right top corner. It's not really that obvious, so I just left it in there.

Can't believe it's already October...only two more stars to go. I better get my binding on to that quilt! I think Natalia is planning a Year of Blocks next...watch out for her announcements on FB and on her web site.

Karin

A Year of Stars with Natalia Bonner

The star for this month was the Large Star.

I was really looking forward to this one...love the simplicity of just quilting an inside echo, although I do think it looks better on Natalia's quilt as she is using a panel so you don't have the piecing seams.

Need to actually dig out this quilt as I still got the binding to do. It's all cut out, I just have been preoccupied with other things.

Did you see that Natalia is running a second 9 Patchalong? I think it starts this month. While I will not participate this time, I can highly recommend it. Good fun and the 9 patch quilt comes together much easier than the 'Year of Stars' did, so it is quite easy to participate. You can access information about the quiltalong on Facebook. 

Karin

A Year of Stars with Natalia Bonner

How quick does the month go by...we had 1 week of lockdown in between which was somewhat unsettling. Had a few appointments booked in which all needed to be re-scheduled, however in the scheme of things not really a big deal (just felt like it when it happened). We have come out ok in the lockdown, unfortunately the same cannot be said for other parts of Australia.

I have lost the plot a bit in terms of this quiltalong as I already have finished the entire quilt (just need to attach the binding). Very hard to remember to post the individual blocks at the beginning of the month as I have moved on to other things. 

So, a year long quiltalong obviously does not work for me...too long and drawn out. I recently saw that Natalia is holding another 9 Patch quiltalong. You can find the information HERE. Anybody wanting to get into ruler work, I can highly recommend her workshops. Thoroughly enjoyed the first 9 Patch quiltalong. The quilt was easy to construct and the designs were really interesting.

Anyway, here is the Midnight Star block for the month of August for the Year of Stars quiltalong.

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone.

Karin

A Year of Stars with Natalia Bonner - Spider Star

And another month has gone by...

This is the Spider Star all dressed up

Head over to Piece N Quilt if you want to find out more about this monthly quiltalong.

Karin

A Year of Stars with Natalia Bonner - Joyce's Star

This month star is Joyce's Star.

This star was a bit more involved so I did it in sections, slowly but surely. Very enjoyable if you don't do all the pebbles at once. Not sure about you but I quilt pebbles relatively slowly. I have to concentrate otherwise I do wonky shapes and loose my way, so I took my time with this one.

Again, really enjoyed this one, although I am not sure I would quilt something as densely as that. Makes the block fairly stiff...however looks great quilted out.

Karin

A Year of Stars with Natalia Bonner - Morning Star/New Project Coming Up

Just a quick post to show you the quilted Morning Star Block for the month of April.

Loved doing this block. Particularly like the centre motif. Still have the sashings to do, but waiting for an opportunity to change the thread as I am quilting the pebbles in that dusty pink colour. Given that this is a year long quiltalong, there's plenty of time to pebble along. Have a few other things on the go at the moment.

Apart from this, we had our first Quilt Show after the isolation of 2020. Went the other day to have a bit of a look...it was brilliant, of course! Just nice to mix with like minded people and look at beautiful quilts and fabric. 

Found something very special

A fabric panel from Denise Burkitt called Fancy Free. How beautiful is that...sparked my creative juices straight away only hindered today by not having enough red fabric for a bit of a border to go around it  - otherwise I would have made a start on it. Just love the colours and the possibilities.

Planning to freemotion-quilt this with dense background fillers, outlining the flowers and filling in the spaces with different designs. A bit like the Big Dream Panel, except on a smaller scale and for the skinny petals obviously only following the outlines. Not sure yet, have not got a plan as yet, but itching to get going on that.

Karin

A Year of Stars with Natalia Bonner

Have absolutely nothing to quilt at the moment so finished the Mosaic Star for the month of April...I have got Natalia's Companion Workbook which details one of the options for quilting out the stars. For further options you will have to join Natalia on Patreon which I did not do, but obviously there are many different ways of stitching this out.

Anyway, here is my Mosaic Star for April

Enjoyed this one but made a few mistakes, i.e. not stitching in the ditch around some shapes which you can see are puffing up a bit, but otherwise was relatively painless to stitch out...almost managed to stitch this out in one hit.

I then did the centre of next month's star

Love this! Really enjoy this motif with the added echo around it. Will keep going a bit and then continue on filling in the sashings.

Need to find something else to quilt in the meantime...maybe its time for another wholecloth! 

Karin

Natalia Bonner's 'A Year of Stars'

Progress

Finished all of the framework for the sashings and borders. I do not have a huge curve ruler (Natalia used a huge curve for her quilt), hence I used my Pro Echo #12 ruler to put the scallops into the border. That was challenging enough! In the end I just made it fit. Not ideal as the curves were slightly different all over, but in the end I doubted that this would feature much. Having done this, I  realised that my curves were too shallow for putting feathers in there, so I had to come up with something else.

Decided to put Ribbon Candy in there which looks very nice indeed. Ribbon Candy has become one of my most used designs. So very versatile.

Then I went on and filled the remainder of the border with Stacked Swirls.  Look at that texture!

This was a bit of work but I thought that this was the ideal piece to further practice the design.

Stitched this out in a day and today started to fill in the sashings of the first completed row with pebbles

That's it, will now wait to complete the next three stars on top of this row to fill in the next section (I am trying to avoid uneven compaction as I go along as that makes it harder to quilt your designs out. 

Karin

Block #3 of Natalia Bonner's 'A Year of Stars' Quiltalong

This is Block #3, the Union Star, all quilted out following Natalia Bonner's instructions on YouTube.

Not much to say about this block. Took my time with it and had lots of starts and stops as I did not want to travel in my ditch excessively. Found this quite easy to do but put in a few 'helper marks' to hit the right points and to keep my lines straight. 

Also made a start on the sashing...I think there are two designs that people are using. Well, I went for this diamond shape and quite like the looks of it. Have not filled it in yet, but that can wait...just want to avoid excessive compaction of the sashing as I go along and quilt the blocks, otherwise it is going to be too difficult to put the straight lines into the sashing. Have still got a fair amount of sashing to go, but quilted something else in between, so need to get back to it.

Good fun!

Karin

Block #2 of the Year of Stars Quiltalong with Natalia Bonner

Finished the Dandy Star quilting.

Look at that texture, it's really puffing out.

Loved quilting this block and learnt a few things. After many, many years I finally figured out how to echo around star points with a ruler without having to mark the exact spot you need to stop. That was a bit of an eye opener and very helpful. Usually I make a little mark on where to stop however that often is not exact and without fail my next quarter of an inch echo line is either too fat or too skinny because I did not get that exactly right. Annoyed me to no end. I was using my HQ Ditch ruler for this and started experimenting a bit and finally found that I need to stitch about 1in past the star point and then can align my ruler accurately on the next seam to continue with my echo. Worked almost each time and was a great time saver.

I stitched my pebbles in Manual and found a comfortable lower speed to do that. On the Bernina Q20 you can use the back kick function to set it for the machine to keep stitching without having to use the foot pedal. Like a Play button...find that very useful however get somewhat anxious (not sure that's the right word) by that rhythmic continuation of the stitching after a while and do need to pause every now and then. You can pause this with just one back kick and then the machine will wait for you a short moment to gather your thoughts and then you just continue. Must say that that is extremely useful. 

So here is my Dandy Star all dressed up.

Might start on the sashing and maybe the frame for the borders once we have done the next star as there is a fair amount of compaction setting in. Not actually sure yet what we are supposed to be doing with this and will have to have a look on Natalia's YouTube channel.

Karin

A Year Of Stars Quiltalong with Natalia Bonner - January

I am participating in Natalia Bonner's 'A Year of Stars' quiltalong. If you are interested - it is not too late, as the actual quilting has just begun and it is going to be running for the entire year. Natalia is also running YouTube tutorials on how to put the blocks together. I have not watched these as I purchased the accompanying Workbook last year to get going on the blocks as I knew this would take me a long time to piece.

Most of the last week was stitching-in-the-ditch with invisible thread to stabilize the quilt. In case you wondered how I resolved the issue of whether or not to go around every single element - I did a partial stitch-in-the-ditch, i.e. stitched around all the major seams and some of the seams in the blocks where it mattered in terms of colour. As I am stitching along in an off white Aurifil thread I was mindful of stitching the seams of darker colours down with the invisible thread and leaving the seams where I can get away with white thread for  when we get to that block. That seems to be working.

While a bit out of practice, I got into the groove of it pretty quickly. Did not follow Natalia's video on how to stitch this out in one continuous go as I would have had to stop the video every 2 seconds. I made some mistakes and had several stops and starts when starting off but then 'got' it and moved purposefully around the block stitching those lines. The only issue I had was the deep purple colour and the white thread. In order not to break thread every few minutes I had to travel along the ditch to get to the next part and initially that was a bit of a nightmare. Learned something though...I have become so used to the Bernina's stitch regulator that I forgot I actual have the option of using the manual mode. So, whenever I hit the dark purple fabric in the ditch I switched over to the Manual mode, carefully stitching along. Found that I had much better control this way. In terms of rulers, I used my trusted Handiquilter Ditch Ruler for the straight lines and one of Lisa Calle's Pro Echo rulers for the curves.

Turned out really pretty, I particularly like the crossed lines in the white triangles...looks very effective.

In case you have not heard, Natalia is also running a Border and Sashing Online Class in March of this year. Looks great and no doubt there will be a lot of  inspiration and learning in that. This is my second quiltalong with Natalia and while I am tempted, I just have too many other things on the go this year and need to stay focussed.

On the home front, I finished testing my new pattern...now it is just a matter of putting the quilt together, quilting and binding it while at the same time writing the pattern up. This should take probably another 2 - 3 weeks and then its onto the next pattern.

Also, look what arrived today

Could not resist getting another E2E design from Urban Elementz. Undecided at the moment whether I use that for the new pattern...might be too distracting as the quilt features a few stars, so it would be more of the same and I usually like to pair lots of angular structures with more of a curvy and flowing design. We'll see...not there yet.

Karin

Freemotion-Quilting Again

Ahhh...after what felt like weeks on end, I finished my three quilt tops and am finally able to get back to what I love most... freemotion-quilting.

Made a start on my Natalia Bonner 'A Year Of Stars' quilt for the quiltalong that has commenced in January.  As I am not on a frame longarm, I have to secure my quilt with stitching in the ditch before I can start all of the ruler work. I did order some Monoploy thread on a cone which arrived recently and started with testing my tension.

I have a few blocks that ended up in the 'not so perfect bin' and I am using these for testing. On the Q20 I used a Universal 70/10 needle and Bottomline in the bobbin. I deliberately am using a different bobbin thread - normally I use Aurifil but I am a bit more in experimental mode with this machine and I have a few spools of Bottomline thread that need to be used. Had no issues really. The tension came in at 1.25 which was comparable to what I have read about on other owners' blogs. The testing did not take long and I was ready to tackle the stitching in the ditch.

I am using my trusted Handiquilter Ditch Ruler for this task. Must say that that ruler is one of the rulers I probably use most of all. It is just a good size for my hands and it has those handy notches that you can align on your seam. In the photo I am quilting on the right of the foot, but I often change over and also quilt with the ruler on the left side. Have not figured out which side is more comfortable for me. I think it depends how much bulk I am dealing with at the time, where the pins are and what the seam feels like.

How good does this look with invisible thread

I am using stitch regulation, so it is looking nice and even (except for those times when I wobble). Bit undecided whether to stitch in the ditch around the elements of the blocks with the invisible thread or to leave that until I go into the block for the ruler work design. I will do the ruler work with Aurifil 50/2 thread, probably in a light off white colour which would stand out a fair bit if I do the ditching in the block with that as well. On the other hand, I am unsure how much back tracking is involved in the ruler work, so I will have lines that will stand out more anyway. Will ponder on this as I go along. 

This was almost therapeutic! Tomorrow, no doubt, I will be whinging about the stitching in the ditch as I will get impatient to start the ruler work. Watched the first of Natalia's videos on YouTube and can't wait.

Linking up to Midweek Makers over at Quilt Fabrication.

Karin

Plugging Along

Very hot over here today. Fur Baby is completely knocked out

I am currently working on three projects all at once. Why I would have thought that this is quicker I shall never know. Everything seems to be taking so much longer!

Natalia Bonner 'A Year of Stars' Quilt

Made good progress and then discovered that I did not have enough backing (or wadding for that matter)! So had to wait a moment until I got to the shops to get suitable backing, then wash it...finally ready to put it together

Will wait for the weather to cool down a bit before I baste this together, then start on the stitch-in-the-ditch quilting in order to catch up on the quiltalong.

Pastel Quilt

Also coming together and will probably finish this today. A bit undecided whether I should put some applique shapes on there. This is just for freemotion quilting as I have not had anything to quilt on for the last 3 weeks!

Incidentally, my Superior Monopoly thread cone arrived in the mail and I can report that the Bernina Q20 just runs beautifully with it ...had no issues at all.

Actually hardly had to make any adjustments at all other than loosening the top tension a bit. 

Initially was going to go for Aurifil Monofilament thread but could not find it anywhere in cone format in Australia. Will have to wait until we (hopefully) have some Quilt Shows again and see whether I can grab it then.

New Pattern

Almost done...will have all of the blocks finished this weekend and will just have to work out what dimensions I make the borders. Thinking of offering the pattern in multiple sizes...

Still a fair bit of work to do before this can go up in my little Etsy shop, but at least the piecing is almost over.

Still feeling incredibly productive 😄

Karin

Happy New Year!

Wishing everybody a Happy and Healthy New Year.

I have been fairly productive in the last few days. Still exploring my new camera...started working on making a new banner for my little Etsy shop which now also adorns my blog. I thought it was time for a change. Well, that little idea went from one to the next thing to the next...before I knew it I was working on several other things. So far I 

- updated my Etsy banner

- cleaned up the site (still heaps more to do), and

- made a new button for the Etsy shop which also serves as my new blog button.

Was particularly impressed with the button as I literally started with nothing.

 

...and all of the sudden everything fell into place. Decided on my colour scheme, kept my font the same as the banner and then started playing with shapes. I did this in the Canva program which made this fairly easy.

Getting to know the new camera (Panasonic Lumix)

 

This shows some of the elements of a new pattern that I am working on. Really like those colours together which gave me the idea of using these elements for my banner.

Apart from this I finally picked up the quilt for the Natalia Bonner 'A Year of the Stars' quiltalong. Have been dreading this a bit as all my blocks are slightly different. I think none of them is exactly 12 1/2in. However, this is going to start today and I definitely want to participate. Worked on the sashings today and even managed to put on some borders. Was amazed as it went without a hitch. Points got cut off and I dare say it may not be entirely straight, but it looks great! 

Chose a dusty pink colour for the sashing as I could not see very well on my white sashing last time when I participated in the 9 Patchalong. Still got a fair bit of work to do as I will have to baste this and then do all the ditch quilting before I can go into the blocks for some ruler work. Should be caught up by the end of the month. Looking forward to this. This quiltalong goes for the entire year, so plenty of time if you are thinking of joining in.

Also started something new once again. Don't know about you but I get fairly grumpy if I do not have something to freemotion quilt on. There is only so much doodling I can do...so I rummaged around and found the leftover fabric from my pastel baby quilt. There was enough to do another one, so I cut all of the fabric into a stack of charm squares and spent some time arranging them on the floor.

It's so pastel that it is hard to see...planning to just stitch this together and maybe put some applique shapes on top...we'll see. In any case it will be great for a nice easygoing allover design.

Good start to the New Year.

 

Karin

Happy Scrappy Houses And Other Projects

I finally finished the quilting of the Happy Scrappy Houses quilt. The quilting is minimalist....did not want to loose the soft, cuddly feel of this quilt. Only quilted the sashing down with a curvy design that was used in Natalia Bonner's last quiltalong. Struggled a bit with that then and thought that this was a good opportunity to practice some more (really got that down pad now!). Settled on a very simple scallop design in the border.

Had a bit of fun in the border with variegated thread to match the scrappy quilt.

To speed things up I then attached the binding with the sit down longarm...had done this before on smaller baby quilts and thought it was about time that I try this on a bigger quilt.

This worked like an absolute dream...no pinning, no wrangling of the quilt through the DSM. Found this to be so much easier and faster! You cannot see it in the photo, but I usually baste around my quilts 1/8in  from the edge, so the border is already stitched down. This makes attaching the binding very easy. I always use the Handiquilter Versa tool for this (and for the basting of the edges) as it has a somewhat wider footprint and when placed on border and binding, keeps everything nice and flat. I actually think I am somewhat more accurate with this method too as my quilt does not drag off to one side so I have a very consistent 1/4in stitching line. When I come to the end of one side of the quilt, I crease the binding where it should end, then place the notch of the ruler directly onto that line and hence stop exactly 1/4in before the corner. Too easy!

Also finished my little improvisational quilt made out of a Fat Sixteenth Bundle from Hillstitches Fabric. It came out at about 37in x 37in. This is next to be quilted. Planning an allover design to really give the stitch regulation a workout. Thinking of the 'Loose Thread' design but that might change still a number of times.

Lots to do...also need to finish Natalia Bonner's 'A Year of Stars' quilt. Bought some dusty pink sashing for this and just need to do the cutting and then finish it off. One more month to go until the quiltalong kicks off, so that should work!

Karin

Finished The Piecing!

I am so glad I finished the piecing for Natalia Bonner's 'A Year of Stars' quiltalong. I had left the most challenging block to last (did not think that through). By that time, I had hardly any fabric left, so was faced with the scenario of only being able to have one go at it. Must admit, while I was putting it together I was already thinking  about what other block I could substitute this one for with the scraps I had left over. Was not at all confident that this would work out, 

but, tada... The Spider Star!

Amazement over amazement...after an excruciatingly slow cutting this to size it came out at 12 1/2in. Only problem were the corners...they were totally off. I only had one corner that resembled a HST but I fixed this since taking the photograph and it is looking good. Basically maneuvered that inaccuracy into the last flying geese unit by re-doing the corners which then makes it hardly noticeable. Very pleased. 

Now I am ready to do the sashing and get going on putting this together. Thinking of getting a dusty pink sashing as the white is always hard on the eyes if we are going to quilt in the sashing. I am really looking forward to this quiltalong...lots of ruler work coming up for the entire year!

This exercise has got me thinking that I probably should piece a bit more so as to not get so woefully out of practice. Most of the time I freemotion quilt, so I might have to work on finding a bit of a balance. So at the moment I am super motivated with at least three new patterns  in the pipeline. Even made a test block with my newly refined piecing skills.

This is the Duck Tracks block...

...an oldie, but I like the older type quilt blocks. Planning a cute little baby quilt around this, just need to work on cutting requirements, making the quilt and putting the pattern together. This morning then I thought of another pattern that I could whip up relatively easy...that makes it three in the pipeline. I am on fire!

If you are interested in easy to construct quilt patterns, have a look at my Etsy shop (link above in tab) or on the new Madeit site

Currently running a 20% sale for this week only on the entire range. 

Karin

Still Piecing

We are in lockdown again! This time they went in hard and fast and so far we are looking at 6 days of strict lockdown and then another 8 days where hopefully restrictions are eased somewhat. Can't leave the house at all, unless you do need to go to the shops. No exercising, walking or meeting anyone. Very impressed really with the government's quick reaction to our new cluster over here. We  currently have  23 cases in Adelaide with a few more expected. Compared to other countries this does not sound too bad, but I am really glad the government is taking this that seriously. It's been such a horrific experience across the world.

I am still piecing the Natalia Bonner quilt for the 'A Year of Stars' quiltalong.

There is an end in sight...have done 10 blocks! 

Only 2 more to go and I am done. Then will have to see how the situation is going to develop over here as I was going to buy some sashing to go with this. This may not be possible to happen now and I will just have to improvise when ready to attach the sashing (or maybe go online). 

Have not been idle otherwise...in fact life has been incredibly busy. I finally explored other options (then just Etsy) for selling my patterns and have opened another little shop with Madeit, a uniquely Australian online buying and selling platform that supports local independent Australian talent.

You can find my little shop HERE

I am including a few quilts to sell as I am literally running out of space to keep them all. While I do give away many of my quilts as gifts, it is just getting too much and I do need to get rid of some to create room for new projects 😂. So, we'll see how this will go. Speaking of patterns...I have at least two patterns in the pipeline and today washed the fabric for the first one. 

Cute Anne Kelle fabric with tone-on-tone colours mixed in. I am motivated to finally put this together. It will be a smallish baby quilt and I am hoping to have that done by Christmas. I love pattern writing and this one will be fun with lots of diagrams which usually means days upon days on the computer. 

Also still need to finish off my Scrappy Houses quilt...so much to do!

Karin