Starry Log Cabin finished.

TA DA!  I'm so doggone pleased with myself!  :-)  From being in a UFO bin since late 2014, I pulled this project out into the light of day late April 2016 and it is completely FINISHED as of May 6, 2016!  I mean .. labeled and bound!  Woo hoo!

You can read about the first post here.
 

I wasn't sure exactly what to do in the sawtooth stars.  I ended up doing a loopy petal sort of design, but the middles came out rather messy, as I wasn't very accurate about where all the stitches met together.  So, to disguise this lack of preciseness, I appliqued small circles in the middle of every sawtooth star.  Who's to say they weren't originally supposed to be there?  :-)

I put off appliqueing the Christmas Tree until I knew whether or not my daughter actually liked this project.  I've gotten 'burned' on some projects, so if there is any doubt at all in my mind, I ask first. :-)   It's OK with me if my daughters don't care for a project .. but I need to know BEFORE I quilt it. :-)

But, she did like the look, so I proceeded with needleturn applique of the Christmas tree and some hand embroidery embellishments ... fly stitch along the lower "branches", a metallic swag and some bright shiney flowers.

For the quilting, all of the sawtooth stars and the Christmas tree got stitched in the ditch.  It just takes a LONG time to do that sort of outline stitching on a longarm.  Be aware that if you ask your longarm for stitch in the ditch, you're going to pay for it.  Literally.







As I look at the photo of the finished front, I see that I STILL FORGOT the Christmas tree topper!  Sheesh!

The float border was quilted in undulating feathers.  The red part of the log cabin blocks got hearts with feathers around the outside.  The white part of the log cabin blocks (which forms the background for the Christmas tree) got a clamshell filler that flattened that part of the quilt, allowing the Christmas tree to puff up a bit.  Because the Christmas tree is a fairly large expanse of fabric, I also quilted a swag line inside the tree.

I was fortunate when it came to the backing ... because my favorite youngest daughter just MIGHT want to use this as a small (very small at 42" square) personal throw whilst sitting on the couch or a chair, I wanted a cozy backing.  I had some leftover flannel from previous projects .... just that none of them were the right size or shape.  The white flannel got widened by inserting a red flannel strip.  Then that entire piece got lengthened by adding on a piece of lime green flannel, which absolutely, perfectly matched the green used in the front.  I haven't a doggone clue how I came to be in possession of such a color ... it it totally outside my color palette .. but I'm glad it was there because I used the entire thing up!  :-)

And just in case she would like to use it as a wall-hanging, I put a hanging sleeve on it. :-)