Meet Mrs.Starlight - My New Living Room Quilt!

... Meet Mrs.Starlight ... She's warming up my living room and making it cozy! She is so long that I had to raise the quilt rack a foot ... well, my husband did that because I couldn't reach that high even on the platform ladder.  And the bottom of the quilt is still hidden behind the sofa!
This pattern is not for the faint of heart.  There are many bias edges to work with - every star has 18 bias edges in it!  The author does give directions as to which strip to put on top when sewing to prevent the bias edge from stretching, and that is the black strip {the non-bias one}.  This has to do with the feed dogs on the bottom feeding a tiny bit faster than the top layer of fabric, so the bias edge on the bottom is very gently eased in.  
Another thing I really love about patterns from Anka's Treasures is that the author, Heather Mulder Peterson, always includes which direction to iron each seam so they butt together when they are sewed together again.  And this information is so important in this pattern which has a lot of cutting, sewing, re-positioning, and then cutting and sewing again ... and again, and still the seams butt together so nicely.
I struggled with the borders, especially that outer patchwork border.  Getting the border to end with a full-sized square in the corner was a trick, and I made many adjustments and took out and re-sewed many seams before I got it just right.
The easiest part of the whole quilt was the binding - did you see it?  It is luscious!  My first-ever bias binding!  NOT!  Ha Ha!  This line of fabric comes with a stripe on the diagonal which I knew from the start would be the binding, so that is just a regular binding, not bias!  You'll probably see it soon as a focus fabric in toss pillows for the sofas.  I've got lots since it went on clearance at my local LQS awhile back {and I won't tell you if that was before or after the fabric moratorium came into effect ... a girl's got to have some secrets, ya' know!}.  Okay, I'll tell you ... I really don't remember.  :}
The batting is black, and I am sure glad I used it since white batting tends to migrate through in the quilting process, and this is very noticeable on dark fabrics.  If you do not have this problem, maybe you could tell me what size needle you use to machine quilt?  The black was a folded/rolled package of batting, and the large wrinkles and waves it came with reminded me how much nicer it is to use a huge roll of batting.  The batting is only folded once on the roll, so the bunching and wrinkles are eliminated.  It is also tons cheaper to buy it on a 25-yard roll at JoAnn's with a coupon rather than individually by the bag.  I usually buy a roll for under $110, seriously.
The backing of the quilt {of which I forgot to take a picture} is the same fabric as the green star in the lower right edge of the picture above {also thanks to the clearance sale downtown ... I would not have used a coordinate for the backing if it hadn't been 50% off}.  Why don't you just go take a picture since it is on your living room wall, you ask?  Nope, I ain't taking the tiny nail out of the corner where the corners are tacked to the wall.  It took way too much figuring and adjusting and measuring to get it to look sort of straight to nonchalantly pull the nail out of the wall!  Hanging a quilt on the wall is nothing like putting it on a bed - in my experience, it is impossible to get them to hang perfectly flat, straight, and square, especially when they are this big with so many bias seams.
Quilt Stats:

• Pattern:  Starlit Evening by Anka's Treasures, found in this book.
• Size:  85" x 105"
• Fabric for the Top, Backing and Binding:  Artful Home by Heather Mulder Peterson for Henry Glass Fabrics.
• Batting:  80/20 Hobbs in black
• Quilting:  Allover medium meandering in black thread on Mrs.Singer, my antique 31-15 mounted on a long-arm quilting frame.
• Binding:  Double fold, attached by machine.
• Value:  My new cozy winter quilt!

Sorry, this quilt is not for sale in my Etsy shop as most of the quilts I make are.  She is mine, all mine!  Nor do I plan to make this quilt available as a custom order because it is too time-consuming.  However, you just might see another quilt in this pattern come spring - made from California Girl for my spring decorations - the blocks are half done!

Linking to:
Crazy Mom Quilts