I’m back from a fun-filled week in Arizona.

My first errand of the day was a happy one: a trip to longarm quilter Nancy Stovall’s studio, Just Quilting, to pick up this quilt:

I asked Nancy to quilt gentle wavy lines horizontally across the quilt. I love the effect. Her quilting adds texture and visual interest yet lets the star blocks be the center of attention.

Here’s a close-up of the only block that features a butterfly:

The secondary star in the center of the quilt has a faux-kaleidoscope block in the center:

The quilt top started out a perfect 56½” square. After quilting and trimming, it measures 55¾” x 54¾” . This is the reason I don’t often make square quilts: they are rarely square after quilting. (But it looks square, doesn’t it?)

The back of the quilt includes leftover pieces of the focus fabric set on point:

At my request Nancy used the same pale blue thread on the back. It’s almost like having a reversible quilt. The batting is 80% cotton/20% wool, a low-loft blend I will surely ask for in the future.

I’ve named this quilt Billie’s Star because it was inspired by my quilt teacher and mentor, Billie Mahorney. Billie is very fond of stars and featured them in several of the classes I took from her between 2005 and 2009. She taught for over 20 years at the Pine Needle Quilt Shop in Lake Oswego, Oregon. It was a sad day for her legions of fans when she and her husband moved to Idaho to be close to grandchildren. Happily, she comes back to Oregon to visit now and then but her students sure do miss her.

To finish Billie’s Star, I’m going to bind it in the pale blue background fabric so the stars continue to float.