Ombre Stars (mini quilt swap)

A few months ago the other ladies in the Blue Moon Quilters group (Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl, Afton at Quilting Mod, Sara at Blue Quail Studios) and I decided to do a swap using the V and C Ombre fabrics.  We were inspired by a swap we saw happening on Instagram, but wanted a smaller group to swap with.  Smaller groups seem to have better results in terms of quality and each person taking responsibility for their part in the swap (at least in my experience, but I do know many people have had amazing success in larger groups!).

Ombre Stars quilt, measured about 18" square, I think.

I made this quilt during a sewing slump and at times felt like I was dragging myself through the process.  Honestly if there hadn't been a deadline I wouldn't have finished it this summer at all.  But I pushed through and enjoyed it as much as I could (and got it done in time!).

Ombre Stars quilting detail.

To make the stars I followed the Sparkle Punch Quilt tutorial, but sized things down so I would have 4.5" finished stars.  I played with the layout a lot, but settled on the saturation gradient so the stars look like they are rising.

Ombre Stars, star and quilting detail.

 I quilted fancy pebbles around the stars using Aurifil Silver Fox (4670), a grey variegated thread.  I really wanted contrasting texture to the stars, but didn't want the quilting to disappear completely into the background fabric (Cotton Couture grey, maybe Fog?).  In the large open grey spaces I quilted airy swirls with Aurifil Maragesh (3817), which is a variegated yellow-teal-navy-pink, then did echo quilting with Aurifil Grey (2605).

Ombre Star swirl quilting detail.

I quilted the stars with matching (or near matching) Aurifil, and kept the quilting really simple so they would pop out.

Ombre Stars rainbow thread selection for the stars quilting.

The backing is a pieced Alison Glass Handcrafted print, and the binding is some Koi voile I've been hoarding.  The colors are perfect with the ombre stars though, so it demanded to be used!

Ombre Stars back.

Here is our grouping of swap quilts together:

Blue Moon Quilters ombre swap quilts!  Made by (left to right): me, Sara, Yvonne and Afton.  I received the quilt made by Yvonne, and my quilt went to Afton.

To read more about the other quilts:
Sara's cubes
Yvonne's Double Goosed
Afton's Cocklebur