First Light Designs

Jennifer Varney of Hudson, New Hampshire — one of several quilters I have become friends with over the last few months through our shared desire to make a sampler quilt called Reach for the Stars — revised her center medallion recently.

You may recall from an earlier post that Jennifer plans to arrange her center medallion and blocks in a straight set, rather than on point as called for in the original quilt. Jennifer’s fabric choices include some elegant border prints and metallics in a palette of pewter, soft blue, gold, and black. Before I show you the revision, take a look at her original medallion block  (and take note of the four corner squares):

Nothing wrong with that medallion at all! In fact, it’s beautiful. Now take a look at the revised block:

It’s better, isn’t it? Jennifer used the same fabric in the outer blocks that she used in the first version but fussy-cut the squares to highlight a different motif in the fabric. I agree with her that the change brings more light and balance to her medallion.

Directions for Reach for the Stars are coming in serialized fashion from Quilter’s Newsletter magazine. Thus far the magazine has provided directions for 12 blocks (plus the medallion). Jennifer fell a wee bit behind on the blocks but for a very good reason: she was getting another quilt ready for her local guild’s spring show — and it won a second place ribbon!

Allow me to present Lady Guinevere’s Quilt, designed and made by Jennifer Varney:

Jennifer fussy-cut border prints and pieced them into Night and Day blocks, which she then set on point. The outer edges of the quilt feature a gilded tapestry-look border print.  Lorri Wurtzler of Seventh Heaven Quilting in Nashua, New Hampshire custom quilted Jennifer’s quilt. Here’s a close-up of Lorri’s beautiful quilting:

The finished quilt measures 53″ square.

Congratulations, Jennifer! Now: back to work on Reach for the Stars?

Eleven blocks down, three to go. I’m heading into the home stretch on my Reach for the Stars sampler quilt! Before I reveal my new blocks, let me refresh your memory with a photo of the original Reach for the Stars quilt designed by Terri Krysan of Lakeville, Minnesota:

Copyright Quilter’s Newsletter. Used with permission. Photo by Melissa Karlin Mahoney.

So striking! Quilter’s Newsletter magazine is presenting instructions for this quilt in seven consecutive issues. The current issue is the fifth, with directions for Blocks 10-12.

Here is my Block 10:

My Block 10 bears no resemblance whatsoever to Block 10 in Terri Krysan’s quilt. I departed from her design because I found a block I liked better on — of all places — a coffee cup I’ve had for over 20 years:

See the block just above the capital N of Nebraska? That’s my Block 10!

Here’s that block on point, as it will be in my finished quilt:

It’s neighbor, Block 11, is also a renegade:

I dreamed this one up myself, though it’s probably been done before. The black squares in the corner blocks were an afterthought. I think the block is much more interesting with the addition of those 1″ squares, don’t you?

Here’s the block on point:

Here are the blocks together. Did you notice that they both have fussy-cut centers?

I challenged myself to incorporate a fussy-cut element into each of my blocks without repeating any of the images.  It’s a good thing I have only three blocks left!

Oh, my. What a difference sashing makes on my Reach for the Stars quilt-in-the-making! (Reach for the Stars is a queen-size sampler quilt designed by Terry Krysan of Lakeville, Minnesota, with directions coming via Quilter’s Newsletter magazine over the course of seven issues. The current issue (June/July 2014) contains directions for Blocks 10, 11, and 12.)

I had nine of the 14 blocks  pieced except for the sashing strips. I decided to add the strips before proceeding with the next blocks. Let’s have a look at my center medallion (with one of its two sashing strips) and my nine blocks without the sashing . . .

. . . and now with the sashing:

Quite a difference, eh? It makes me eager to get started on the next blocks, even though I’m not wild about Blocks 10 and 11. I’ve already made changes to four of the blocks so far, and it looks like I will be doing the same with at least a couple more.

I was pondering what I might do about those blocks when my eyes fell on my coffee cup:

You just never know when and where inspiration will strike. I brought this cup home from a trip to Nebraska about 20 years ago. See how the quilt blocks are in the shape of the state of Nebraska? I’ve occasionally thought about making a similar quilt in the shape of my home state of Oregon. It never occurred to me that this cup might solve a design dilemma on a completely different project.

Check out those two blocks on the upper right, just to the right of the big heart block. They just might be making an appearance in my version of Reach for the Stars!

My good friend Colleen Coffman recently finished the center medallion of her Reach for the Stars sampler quilt, and it’s a showstopper! Take a look:

Instructions for this queen-size quilt, designed by Terry Krysan, are being published in a seven-part series by Quilter’s Newsletter magazine.

Colleen’s focus fabrics are from the Morris Apprentice line by Barbara Brackman for Moda fabrics. Her beautiful fussy-cut corners featuring the artichoke motif are even more dramatic when the block is set on point, as it will be in the finished quilt:

Colleen, you are off to a great start!