improv quilts

My Little Galaxy

September 27, 2024

My Little Galaxy is the next finish as I work through my stack of unfinished quilt tops. This little mini is my own creation, using Aunt Em’s Quilts’ Wonky Maverick Stars tutorial. Once I had a bunch of the stars made, they sat for awhile until I realized that I could make a little burst of stars from one corner to the other in a quilt top.

The background fabric is extra yardage from another quilt (I can’t recall which one!), and I thought it would work well for the space theme. The quilt measures about 36 inches square. (This photo is the true color of the quilt, the next few photos washed out with the closeups.)

For the quilting, I stitched wavy lines diagonally through the quilt. I stitched the first wavy line through the center of the stars and then worked my way out to each corner, following that first wavy line.

I used a 50 wt medium gray thread for the quilting. I wanted it to be noticeable but also blend in with the background fabric. I had enough of the background fabric to use for the backing, and the batting is small Hobbs 80/20.

One little added feature, suggested by BigJ, was a comet. Initially, I thought I would add it in with a little free motion quilting, but then I realized I had a variegated 12wt thread that worked really well with the colorful stars. So I ended up hand stitching the comet instead.

It was a little difficult to get a good photo of it, but I hope you can see it. I debated about stitching in some random stars, too, but decided not to for now. I can always add them in if I change my mind.

For the binding, since the stars draw the eye from corner to corner, I thought it would be fun to add some scrap binding in those corners and then use the background fabric for the rest of the quilt.

It took a little longer to make the binding and attach it to the quilt. I clipped it on first, so that I could avoid get the placement right.

And then My Little Galaxy was finished. Since BigJ hung this quilt in his work office, maybe he’ll want this one for his home office. We’ll see!

Oh, by the way – are you curious about my progress on the tree quilt? Here’s a peek:

The tree quilt top is quilted (not by me, obviously!!) and ready for binding. More on that in an upcoming post!

Wendy

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