Lone Star Quilt finished!

I started this quilt 3.5 months ago, and am so happy to have it finished!  It was one of those projects that snowballed from small, fast and easy to small, lengthy and challenging!  But I (mostly) love the way it turned out, and am excited to enter it in the state fair in August.

It measures 34 1/4" square.  The grey is Kona Charcoal.

The stars were made following Better Off Thread's tutorial.  I bought a design roll (only 12 strips of fabric) of Amy Butler's Alchemy just to make a star for fun.  I thought I was going to make a little wall hanging, but then I realized I had enough fabric to make 1.5 half(ish) stars.  So I decided to put a half(ish) star on the front and back, and quilt it to be double sided.  I used two layers of batting for the first time (warm and natural and some 80/20 scraps I had).  I added the hanging sleeve in the binding so that either side can be displayed (see my tutorial here)

Feather Plume quilting inspired by Angela Walters.

Detail of the mariner's compasses (I drew that out first following Green Fairy Quilts tutorial)--the sun is shining from behind it.

My biggest, and really only, regret is choice of fabric for the pink side:

Do you see all those shadow-y lines?  Ignore the spots, they are just raindrops.

The pink fabric is some hand-me-down fabric from a friend.  I'm not a pink person, but love how well it worked with the pinks in the star.  Since I was just planning on this being a little fun quilt (and not a show quilt), I didn't think about what kind of fabric I was using.  I'm sure it's some sort of poly/cotton blend.  I have no idea why the seams turned grey, but it is very frustrating and disappointing!  Makes me want to purge all of the questionable-quality fabrics from my stash and only get the good stuff!  Lesson learned:  don't use the thin, cheap-feeling fabrics for quilts.  Just don't!

This is my favorite part of the back!  

I love the curved part, and the half feathers!  They were inspired by this quilt.

A little harder to see with the pink thread, but still adds nice texture.

The only thing I haven't figured out is where to add my name and the date.  I think I'll write it somewhere tiny on the pink side.  And then I plan to hang it in my sewing room until August!  On to the next quilt!