Focus Through the Prism Project QUILTING Challenge #2: Friendship Star

June 1st launched the 2nd month of the Focus Through the Prism Project QUILTING Challenge, with this month featuring the Friendship Star.  This month, I chose to use the indigo fabric from the Cherrywood ROYGBIV bundle along with a colorful selection of argyle print, gelato ombre and swirling spirals.  I was torn as to which ombre to use for my background and had my small quilt group weigh in on their favorite.  They were great about helping me to narrow down the field and the yellow to blue ombre was the winning pick.

Fabric selection, auditioning different ombres for my background and the winning design

There was some trepidation and procrastination with piecing the top as I wasn't 100% certain of the dimensions needed, so I ended up supersizing the background, in order to allow ample shrinking once the quilting was added.  

Quilt sketches, winning design in the top left--thanks Angela Walters!

Another reason for my procrastination was that my Bernina had been in the shop for 2+ weeks and I needed it to accomplish the free motion quilting.  After replacing a chip and then the LCD screen, the repairman said the only option left was to swap out the entire computer memory, which would require another week!  After a brief moment of panic, I collected myself and inquired whether they might have a loaner available and was so relieved when they offered me a complementary machine that was very similar to my own.  Alleluiah!!

Look at all that Quilted Texture!!

I spent some time getting acquainted with this new machine, starting with my stitching in the ditch and straight line quilting along the argyle spinning borders, before attempting any free motion quilting.  I sketched out several motifs but none were all that enticing. Then I turned to my collection of Angela Walter's books for inspiration and tried out 2 new motifs which were an instant success once sketched out.  

Much to my relief, I had no issues adjusting to the new machine and managed to complete all the free motion quilting in one evening!  

These echo spirals and background ripples are definitely being added to my list of favorite quilting motifs!!   They were super easy to quilt and provide so much rich texture!!

Once quilted, I trimmed it down to the 20" square dimensions required for the challenge and added a final pop of Indigo for the binding.  

Naming quilts always seems to stump me.  I always marvel at other quilter's creative names for their quilted creations.  I made a list of words related to this particular project:  friendship, star, starry, argyle, spirals, azure, etc; and then sent a picture to my mother who said it looked like a galaxy.  One class of galaxies is the spiral galaxy, which captured the center spiral fabric as well as the spinning borders.  Hence my quilt title:  Argyle and Azure Spiral Galaxy." 

And without further ado, and a day to spare before the June 30th entry deadline.  Be sure to check out all the other fabulous designs submitted!!

Argyle and Azure Spiral Galaxy measuring 20"x20"