Friends used to ask me how I manage to find time to create and blog with two little boys in the house keeping me busy and I have to say that it was never really a problem. I sewed at night, grabbed computer time when I could during the day and just like that I got it all done. That was the time when I used to blog frequently. When I used to spend time each day catching up on the blogs I follow with Bloglovin. When I used to post to Instagram and facebook. But lately it feels like I do none of those things. My blog is rather neglected, my Bloglovin feed features hundreds of unread posts and both Instagram and facebook are strangely quiet. The only one constant, now in the background, is that I continue to create.

I have not been sharing but I think it’s time I made a serious effort to change all that. The year is drawing to a close and many of you, I’m sure, are in the midst of a last minute rush to get presents or home decor items finished in time for the festive season. I must admit that I am, for the most part, fairly organised and so as we countdown these final few weeks of the year I am going to use the time to do my best to share once more.

"Acid Star" star surround quilt | Mud, Pies and Pins Today I’m going to start with my “Acid Star” quilt. This quilt resulted from a single big block top that I had pulled from my UFO pile a couple of months ago. At 48” square the single block top was originally made as part of the Star Surround Quilt Along hosted by Melissa from happy Quilting back in 2013. My original plan was to make a single block light throw quilt for the sofa but as soon as I pulled it I knew I wanted to make it a bit bigger and more versatile. After playing around in the only design space available to me – the garden – I quickly added a couple of borders and made it up to a more practical 68” square.

"Acid Star" star surround quilt | Mud, Pies and Pins

Back when I made the original top I had purchased some Calypso Frogs fabric by Ro Gregg for Paintbrush Studio fabric that I had intended to back the quilt with. Thankfully I had purchased enough yardage to still allow me to use the fabric for my larger version of the quilt.

"Acid Star" star surround quilt | Mud, Pies and PinsI had a packet of Quilter’s Dream wool batting in my stash that I was eager to try out and as luck would have it was just the perfect size for this project. The only one problem that remained was finding space to base the quilt. Our house is small so there wasn’t a single room with the free floor space to baste a quilt of that size so out to the garden I went once more. I set up one of our picnic tables, got out some clamps and set to spray basting it section by section on the table top.

"Acid Star" star surround quilt | Mud, Pies and PinsFrom the minute I first lifted the basted quilt I was in love with the drape and feel of the quilt and I knew that I wanted to keep the quilting light to retain as much of the drape and loft as I could. I opted to simply echo quilting the various sections of the quilt with Aurifil threads in matching colours.

"Acid Star" star surround quilt | Mud, Pies and PinsI finished the quilt using V & Co’s Simply Color lime green ombre fabric for the binding, yet another stash find. It really pulls the design together perfectly and adds that extra pop of colour at the edges that, I think, really helps give the central star surround design some extra pop.

"Acid Star" star surround quilt | Mud, Pies and PinsThis is my biggest finish to date, and surprisingly it is also one of my favourites. I say surprisingly because the original top left me uninspired, I fell out of love with it as I was making it and I think that is why it languished in my UFO pile for so long. The addition of the borders, the bright and fun background print, the drape, the warmth… all of these things have added so much to this quilt that now it brings a great big smile to my face each and every day.

"Acid Star" star surround quilt | Mud, Pies and PinsGiven how quick this quilt was to originally make (one evening) and finally finish (one day) there is a part of me that is feeling guilty that I did not finish it a lot sooner. That said, there is also part of me that knows that, had I done so, I may not have been as happy with the finished result as I am now. Time works wonders and in this case it most defintiely gave me the experience and knowledge to let me take something I deemed imperfect and transform it into somethign I could not have previously imagined.

3 thoughts on “Countdown

  1. Great finish, Paula! Sometimes you do have to put beauties away and pull them back out to fall in love again! Your Acid Star is beautiful and a great size for your little ones!

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