Sunday 16 March 2014

Hidden Star, hidden beauty (quilt)

Have you ever looked at your stash and thought "I'm not too keen on that material" and decided it was worth trying out a new pattern with the less than appealing fabric.  So if it does not go well then it is little loss?

Well that is just what I did. Borrowed a book from the library for quilts made using jelly rolls, charm packs and layer cakes. Not that I had any of those pre sorted precut delights.

What I did have was a sample book from a curtain shop, they were having a tidy out into a skip!  A polite request later and I have pattern books of fabric.

So I worked out the measurements and figured that I had  enough in the not grabbing me fabric (plus a couple of bits from elsewhere for the stars and to add to the edge lozenges) and off I went.

Stars in hidden star quilt

I think the design was called hidden star.  An odd thing happened as I worked on it.  The material with its big patterns started to grow on me.  Even odder the shade I had disliked the most, a sort of cross between old gold and mustard became my favourite, it became beautiful to me.

Who is that one for I was asked, I kept saying depends on how it turns out however,by the time it had reached the quilting stage the answer had changed.  It is for me, it is mine I like the colours sooooo much!  



Hidden star quilt

I entered it in our local craft show in 2012.  The show is small and there is a best sewn item into which quilts, clothes, bags sewn stuff goes (cross stitch and embroidery goes into a different class). As I was heading off to hand in my entry I got my eye on a small log cabin cushion, I had not expected to still have it in September when the fair is held but it had not as yet reached its intended recipient.  I picked it up and entered it in the show as well.

Back the next day for the results and my friend met me at the craft tent, I had already seen the cards with the placements and was laughing.  When asked what was funny I pointed to the table and my wonderful quilt with a comment sheet but no prize and next to it my last moment entry cushion with its 1st place placard!  You never can tell what a judge is looking for at theses things, this was not the first time this sort of thing had given me a giggle.

This post has a double moral, never write off a material in your stash you may find just the patchwork design to bring it to life and if you want to enter something do, others may not have the same opinion as you but hey they might like it better than you do.

Cushion trumps quilt to take the prize




2 comments:

Julie Fukuda said...

Thanks for the good picture and the even bigger laugh.

tealeafquilts said...

Never thought of using an ugly fabric in its entirety for a complete background! So clever and turned out great. The solid stars are set off. Now I"m going to be rethinking those ugly pieces in my stash.