The Christmas Star Quilt is finished!

Yes, I know Christmas was a few weeks back but never mind, this quilt can be enjoyed all year round!

If you remember, a few posts ago, I asked for help with machine quilting this quilt, which was made with the help of The Quick Christmas Bee.  You were very generous with your advice and I got lots of ideas, especially from Marg, Lynz, Deeroo, Shayla Sharp and Sue SA. Thanks so much girls!


I had bought myself a walking foot so I thought I better use it and leave the Free Motion Quilting for another time. I just quilted diagonal lines all over the stars, lined up along their 'spiky' bits.
Because the quilt was made by 5 different people (which is lovely!) the blocks do differ quite a bit in size, so the diagonal lines aren't exactly parallel, but it was more important that they 'hugged' the stars.

You can see the quilting lines better on the back.  This was my first attempt at a pieced back on a bed quilt. It's a bit rubbish actually. I was trying to make it look random, I think I need to try a bit harder next time! Also I still begrudge using nice fabric on the back so I used a lot of red. Maybe I will just go back to using white sheets...
Do you like my wellies, by the way? I am standing in front of our barn.

Anyway, about the walking foot. At first it worked fine, but then it started juddering and 'jumping' a bit, and then it started breaking needles! After the third needle I gave up and went back to using the standard foot, and I have to say, it didn't make much difference with the quilting. So I am sending the walking foot back and my not bother with it at all.

But the quilt still didn't seem finished. I sort of felt like I had cheated by machine quilting and still needed to put more work in to it. Dolores had suggested picking out the stars with 6 strands of embroidery silk. Well Dee, I liked your suggestion but I used 3 strands, as 6 was just too hard to get through the layers. Thanks so much for the suggestion!
I tried to use a contrasting coloured silk to the star so that the stitches would really stand out. And also made them bigger than my usual hand quilting stitch size, more like Sashiko.

I am really pleased with the way it looks and it is already on the spare bed. The Spare Bedroom having reverted to Felix's room over the Holidays as he was back from his travels for about a month. You may remember, I mentioned in early December that his girlfriend, Emma, had an emergency appendix removal when they were in Sri Lanka, and they had flown home so she could recuperate. I have to say, she recovered remarkably quickly! But then she is only 18. So now they off again, this time to China! They flew to Beijing on Wednesday and it sounds like they are having a blast as usual. So now my spare room can look pretty for a few more months (until he returns again!).

So what's next for quilting? Well, I have my Doll Quilt Swap partner now, and am already having lots of ideas. This partner will really keep me on my toes and make sure I do something extra creative!
Also I am going to take part in my first Old Red Barn Company Quilt-a-long. This is being hosted by Dolores (yes, her again!) of DeeRoo Designs. It is a ticker tape quilt, which I had never heard of but it looks incredibly easy and really ingenious. I am going to try a cot quilt to start with. We are still at the getting ready stage so if anyone is interested in jumping in, take a look at Dee's blog or the ORBC group on Flickr.