Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The 4th is With Us!



My darling Great-Nieces and Nephews are the reason I started quilting 6 years ago. Melody Rose received the first quilt I ever made in 2012. Two years later, I was a little more advanced and designed a quilt named Unsinkable for Molly Kae. Then came Thomas Maverick with an appliquéd Batman themed quilt. And now, the 4th is with us; Tucker Marcus inspired this fun Star Wars quilt.

I’m an avid subscriber of Block magazine (published by Missouri Star Quilt Co.) and a huge fan of Jenny Doan’s quilting tutorials on YouTube. When I found out the 4th Great was on the way and a Star Wars theme was happening, I was getting nowhere fast with ideas. Then the Block Baby issue came in the mail and the geometric design of the quilt pictured on the cover made me think of the command center of a space ship. 



So off I went to Joann’s where I bought amazing Star Wars print fabric for the quilt top and back, solid lime green for the second border and binding, and adorable black with white dots that resemble stars in a night sky for the first and third borders.



I fussy cut the Star Wars fabric for the 13 blocks featuring space ships, lasers, explosions and the Star Wars name. Everything else was half square triangles. I always put the child’s name and birth year on their quilt, along with a custom quilt label, usually machine embroidered. For Tucker’s quilt, I found the Star Wars lettering online, printed out his name and birth date, transferred it to HeatnBond Lite, adhered it to solid black fabric, then cut out each letter and number and fused it to the green border, finally machine stitching each one down.





For the label on the back, I sketched out my idea, starting with the large number 4, laid out the design using computer software, printed it out, transferred it to the green fabric using a water soluble pen and the light box my oldest daughter bought me at Michael’s, hooped it with tear away stabilizer, then hand-embroidered it. I did back the finished label with fusible interfacing to make it long lasting.





The quilt has been washed with a Shout Color Catcher, sent and received, ready to snuggle into. Tucker, Aunt Janie cannot wait to meet you in person and kiss those sweet baby cheeks!




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