Superstars Quilts – Sis-ters Boom Ba; the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show – Part 2

Here’s the second installment in my series about the fabulous Sister’s Outdoor Quilt Show.

This time I’m speaking as a teacher, and I’m really excited and proud to show you some of the student’s work from the A Quilter’s Affair classes.

Maverick Quilts and Beyond was one of the two classes I taught. Each student came with a favorite large-scale print and over the two days they designed and created a quilt using one of the patterns in Maverick Quilts, Using Large-Scale Fabrics, Novelty Prints & Panels with Panache.

Several of the students worked on a Superstars quilt. It’s a great quilt to showcase a cherished collection of fabrics or a fussy cut six-inch image from a fabulous single fabric. Large, showy stars surround a modified nine-patch block, and the play of color and texture is really exciting.

My favorite part of the quilt is the secondary square, set on point, which surrounds the large center blocks. When I designed the quilt, I didn’t want to figure out the math of inserting the triangles into the side rectangles, so I just added in Prairie Points instead. These are triangles made out of folded squares which are simply sewn into the seam. Set against the rectangles like this they are a modification of a Flying Geese block, but the Prairie Points really add dimension and a three-dimensional effect, which I really like. They can be left flappy or stitched down with the quilting.

Each student created a totally different version of the quilt.

One of us, no names mentioned (Diana), made a bunch of the center blocks, even though she only needed two for the quilt. So, this led to her creating a whole new setting and layout for her quilt. We all got to laugh with her that she hadn’t read the directions at all. I actually love when this happens, and I am always energized by the surprises quilting can bring. Let’s hope to get a photo of her finished quilt soon!

Although there were many different quilt patterns being worked on at once everyone was really wonderful about encouraging each other. It was thoroughly delightful to experience the collaborative spirit that the students brought to the class.

Each quilt evolved in its own way and the everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves!

Carolyn started out with a juvenile rocket ship fabric and made the star points to go with it. Then she decided that she wanted to make the quilt for herself and make it more elegant, so a quick trip to the Stitchin’ Post and she had a new focus fabric! It really worked out great.

Rosemary’s angels were framed with lovely emerald-green triangles.

I was so inspired by this fun work that I’ve decided to offer the Superstars quilt as a class this fall! If you want to have a little bit of time with me and you’d love a great stars quilt, join me at In Between Stitches in November!

I just found this fun Christmas pixie fabric and have made a sample for my class. Hope to see you there.

I’m also scheduled to teach next year at Sisters (yeah!), so watch for the announcement and sign up EARLY! Classes sell out in a heartbeat!

If any of you A Quilter’s Affair students have some finished work from my classes to share, please send photos to me; I know we all really want to see how they all came out.

Stay tuned… more to come!