Sunburst Quilt

A few months ago my father in law had a heart attack, and the doctors realized he needed a triple bipass.  He was in the hospital for at least 3 weeks, and while I realized the best thing I could do was to support my husband in however he could help his father, I felt helpless.  A few days before his surgery I thought of making him a quilt!  That is the best way I could show that I cared and supported him!  I quickly chose this Sunburst quilt pattern from the 2016 QuiltCon magazine because I knew it would be quick to piece, a nice lap size, and it was designed by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl.  

QuiltCon 2016 magazine, includes the pattern for the cover quilt, Sunburst!

Some quick back and forth emails with Yvonne helped me pick fabrics that would transition nicely, but required an extra 1/4y of the Lizzy House whales.  Thankfully, my friend Afton from Quilting Mod came to the rescue and let me use the FQ she had stashed away!  I'm so thankful to have some local quilting friends that let me raid their stash on occasion!  And then if that wasn't already enough help, she and Sara (@bluequailstudio) came over to help me speed-piece the quilt top:

Sara (sewing) and Afton (ironing) helping make the blocks for the Sunburst quilt.

This is how far we got in the piecing within about 4 hours, including kid-wrangling and a lunch break:

One day of progress on Sunburst!

I can't thank those ladies enough for all their help!  I finished piecing the rest of the quilt top, basted it and quilted it over the next three days.  It was pretty crazy.  Here is the finished quilt:

Sunburst quilt, measured 59"x79" pre-wash.

The background is Kona navy and I used Quilter's Dream green batting for the first time.  I used all near-matching Aurifil threads, so mostly the texture would be noticed.  I love using Aurifil in my machine because I get consistently good results with it (not to mention how pretty the thread is!), and for this rushed quilt I didn't want any surprises.

Sunburst quilting detail.

Sunburst quilting texture.

I decided to piece the back, despite my time constraints, so I could use up some of the scraps from the top and the last of the Kona Cornflower I had:

Sunburst quilt back, using scraps and Kona cornflower.

Sunburst back quilting detail.  I have a tutorial for those peacock feathers under the Tutorials tab at the top of the page!

I'm so glad I was able to make this quilt and gift it to my father in law so quickly.  His surgery and recovery went really well and he's almost back to his previous physical abilities!  And I highly recommend this quilt pattern if you're looking for something quick, easy, and eye catching!