Nocturne Star Quilt Top

As soon as the pressure of finishing the haunted house season was over (that is, Thanksgiving weekend), I cast around for some quilt projects I could sew on. I was done all the Farm Girl Vintage blocks and I felt up to pulling out the machine.

I thought of the squares for my Nocturne Star quilt. I laid them out in early June:

I changed the layout slightly after this picture, but that was basically it. I wasn't sure what I would find when I opened the box--I wasn't looking forward to laying them out again trying to match what I had before.

And lo and behold, before taking the blocks off the wall, I labeled them so I would know how they went together!! I was so grateful to June Christina for doing that for me!!

I sewed all the seams in one direction without cutting the thread in between blocks.

See the orange sticker? They didn't stay on very well when
I started moving the quilt around, but they stayed on long
enough for me to be able to put the blocks together.

Not only are all the blocks held in position to sew the seams in the other direction, but you can also examine the quilt top before you sew them. I laid it out on my bed to check for misplaced or rotated blocks.

Vertical seams are sewn. Horizontal seams still
need to be sewn.

I had the added bonus of having my sister visit the same day so she could see the quilt in progress. I didn't find any errors, so I went ahead and sewed the rest of the seams. As I recall, I had them done by Friday evening of Thanksgiving weekend.

Then I took out the extra strips from the top and others I cut to use in the border. I sorted them by value (light/dark) and then sewed them end to end in strips long enough to fit the quilt edge.

I started with the lightest colours to match the background of the quilt center and then worked darker toward the outside. When I was done,  I stepped back and it looked just like I pictured it! Happy success.

Here is the entire top:

I am hoping to quilt it in early 2017. Before then I have to come up with a back. I'll look through the leftovers and see what's there.

My plan is to take it to a local shop that I found out has a long arm machine you can rent time on. It would be so exciting to get it quilted in an afternoon!!! :)

The top is 92"x100" and Troy will be happy to finally have a blanket that is wide enough to go over the sides of the mattress! (We're making do right now.)

The last few people to whom I showed the quilt (or pictures of) asked me what I was making it for. I.e., who was I giving it to? Um, me. In my head I was thinking, "Back off from the quilt...it's mine and you can't have it!"