Star Surround QAL (by Happy Quilting), Never Again #2

This is the last quilt I've finished this year...and actually the last UFO I had in 2015. Time to get some sewing done so I have more UFOs!


I started this quilt as part of the Happy Quilting's Star Surround Quilt A Long (QAL). I love Melissa's patterns and actually had downloaded and completed a QAL after the fact since I loved the pattern. I happened upon this one in time to do the QAL in real time...except I didn't complete my quilt in the time period. I took this one to the LAQ along with the Pickle Dish quilt. They are very similar as they both have double batting and very dense quilting.


Never Again refers to me never wanting to hand bind a double batting quilt again...too hard on the finger!


Anyway, here's the top:

This is another quilt that I pulled the fabrics all from my stash. I'm always drawn to blues when I look at fabrics. This one is blue and green leftovers from a variety of projects. I LOVE the fabrics! Here's a close up of one (or more) of the star surround blocks:

You can see the quilting in the closeups. Basically, the LQA marked a big X through the center of the quilt, put in some parallel lines and then quilted in between them. I love this - and will try and do something similar on smaller projects. I have the straight line part down!


Now for the back where you can really see the quilting.

and a little close up

I bound this in the same fabric as the Pickle Dish - I actually made one long binding strip and then cut off from the first quilt...and luckily had just enough for the 2nd quilt. Otherwise, I may have had an extra strip...which would have been ok as I would have cut them into 2.5" squares that I use for a variety of projects.


And there you have it - the last quilt finishes of 2015!


I'm still trying to finish my latest Swedish Weaving afghan - should be done this weekend. I'll post that and some other projects I completed this fall. I have to get a couple of things documented so that I can send them to their new home!


One last thing... here's a link to Happy Quilting's Quilt Along page.:
Happy Quilting QAL Listing
This is the Star Surround. I've also done the original one...and have my eye on two others to make from this list! If you like it, try one of her patterns - she's really good at both the written directions and the photos!