Oh My Stars! ... top completed! woo hoo!

oh yes, indeedy!  A big woo hoo for me!  :-)

Although, it wasn't without its attendant drama.  Isn't that usually the way?  There's *always* a back-story.  :-)

In this case, I was being So. Very. Careful. to make sure that all the sub-units were sewn in the correct orientation (you might remember the blog entry where I discovered, after the fact, that one sub-unit was upside down.  It annoyed me so much that I ripped the seam and re-sewed it right side up).   When all the sub-units are sewn together, you have three panels of stars: two narrow side sections and a wider middle section.

Anticipation was high as I eagerly sewed the three panels together.  And then the slab-o-borders.  Oh my!  Didn't that look wonderful?  Didn't that look tremendous??  I was feeling very pleased with myself.   I started to pin the assembled stars on my design wall to admire them.  But wait .. how come my sections can't be oriented in the same direction as the layout?  It's impossible that they can't!  I was Very Careful.

Hmmm.  OK .. I can see where *those* stars are the same as *those* stars in the layout but why are the stars at the END of the section different?  And then I saw it.  Oh. My. Gosh.  ::thunk  head on wall::  I sewed the third panel UPSIDE DOWN.   [see me stamp about the room, Very Very Annoyed, muttering Very Colorful Words.]

As I looked at it, more than a bit peeved, it occurred to me ... WHO, on this earth, will EVER notice that a section of stars .. stars which are SYMMETRICAL ... is upside down?  No one. I'd be willing to bet that in a year's time even *I* won't be able to remember or figure out which section is "wrong".

So, I left it.  :-)

I was about to take self-congratulatory pictures of the top, when I happened to come across a quilting blog entry that showed a Block-of-the-Month quilt with a very attractive border treatment.  In fact, I realized that I could use this border treatment as inspiration for the borders of my own Oh My Stars!

 And I did.  Instead of the country flowers on a straight stem, I put holly leaves on a wavy vine with 3 berries on the very end of the vine.  The quilt store that offers the Block of the Month ("Amish with a Twist") is A Scarlet Thread of McDonough, GA.

I was taught (way back, when I came over on the Arc with Noah) that "proper" applique is ALWAYS hand-done.  And I've usually done my appliques that way.  I know there are other techniques, but they have just seemed "wrong" to me.  Kinda like cheating, if you know what I mean.  But for this quilt, since it was a spur of the moment project, done with fabric I just had hanging about, I didn't feel like putting MORE time into hand applique.  (I have a queen sized quilt on my longarm machine that I MUST get back to and finish that quilting!) 

So, I cheated.  I used fusible holly leaf appliques attached with a zig-zag stitch with clear mono-poly thread.  Wowsers ... those holly leaves sure went fast!  :-)  As for the holly berries, I used the yo-yo technique and DID hand-stitch them in place. :-)   What I'm rather pleased about is that the berries are only 1/2" in diameter.  :-)

And now ... the top is completed!  I feel very very happy about that.  I have backing fabric pulled and I have some red striped fabric that will be used for the binding.  Since I use bias binding, the stripes will come out on the diagonal, which looks so attractive to me.

This top is on the pile of Tops to Be Quilted and will patiently wait its turn at the longarm.  :-)

And now?  I *really* need to get back to the longarm!