May Pattern of the Month: Mighty Stars

May 1, 2024

Is it just me or do you also associate May with the start of the "red, white, and blue" months? Maybe it's because we are a military family and Memorial Day is at the end of May. Or maybe it's because May is basically the beginning of summer and the colors red, white, and blue always feel like the typical summer color palette. Either way, May is such a fun time of year! I wanted to highlight a quilt pattern this month that feels like the epitome of May summer quilt. Throw in a red, white, and blue color palette and it's basically summer in a quilt!

Meet May's Pattern of the Month - Mighty Stars!

Mighty Stars quilt pattern is a fun and modern take on a classic block, the friendship star, that is fat-quarter friendly with minimal waste. I wanted to create a pattern to remind my best friend of the love and support she has, even on the darkest of days. This a fun mix and match block-based quilt and you can use the large center squares to highlight your favorite prints.

Mighty Stars is on sale through the entire month of May 2024! You can shop the quilt pattern plus a new quilt kit all month long. Find the full Pattern of the Month collection at the end of this blog post.

So about the Mighty Stars quilt pattern...

This pattern actually took several months to finalize and release. It might have even taken up to 7 months, but it is only because I couldn't settle on the perfect design for the very first iteration of this quilt for a friend. A huge shout-out to Pinterest for pushing the traditional Friendship Star block to me that one day, because that experience grew into the Mighty Stars quilt pattern that I love today.

I decided to opt for a no sashing look because I loved how the negative space really shows the inner star design. I also loved how the stars seemed to be pulled together the way all great friendships are!

The Original Mighty Stars

The original version of Mighty Stars really highlighted the inner stars. I used Kona cotton fabrics in the colors Pool, Windsor, and Jade Green to coordinate with the Cloud 9 yarn fabric (Wound Up). I did some classic straight-line quilting to finish it off and then sent it to its new home with my friend.

You can read more about this version of Mighty Stars on my blog.

The Cover Mighty Stars

Of course I couldn't make just one version of this quilt! My cover quilt for Mighty Stars features lots of fun, bright colors. I paired this dynamic color palette with a white stripe and a gray background to create this mighty sample! I did some more classic straight-line quilting and finished it off with a navy binding. This cover quilt makes me so happy - I'm falling in love with these colors all over again as I type this out!

You can read more about this version of Mighty Stars, as well as see the awesome tester versions too, on my blog.

The Sonata Mighty Stars

In contrast to the cover, the second version of Mighty Stars that I made was using one of my favorite fabric collections - Sonata by Amy Sinibaldi. Her designs are so light and soft and delicate and just make my heart sing. I knew pairing Amy's fabrics with the bold, sharp lines of Mighty Stars would be a perfect match. I arranged the fabrics in a gradient layout (shocker from me, huh?) and used a mix of Eidelweiss Ode and 1812 for the background - I love how the subtle blues blended together here.

You can read more about this version of Mighty Stars on my blog.

The Ribbons Mighty Stars

This final version is one made for an organization that is very near and dear to me and my family. Being the wife of a retired Army veteran, I was completely honored to have had Modern Service Quilts reach out to me asking if I wanted to collaborate. They came up with a layout that I'm now kicking myself for not thinking of sooner! The colorful stripes surrounding the stars was a surprising (and beautiful) choice for this quilt. And because I want to make about 50 more version just like this and because you might want to as well, I've turned this into a new expansion to Mighty Stars! I'm calling this the Ribbons Extension and it's available now.

You can read more about this version of Mighty Stars and grab the Ribbon Extension on my blog.

I will forever continue to brag on my friend Alexis of Stitched by Alexis. I've been sending her all of my Pattern of the Month quilts (check out the full line-up here) to have some pretty new pictures taken. I know I say this every time but oh my goodness - they are just so dang pretty! Thank you, Alexis, for always taking good care of my quilts and making them shine!

I've actually teamed up with Alexis to bring you some awesome longarm quilting discounts each month! You can enjoy 15% off edge-to-edge (E2E) quilting on all Mighty Stars quilts sent to her by June 15th. Just use the code MIGHTYSTARS15 on the Stitched by Alexis longarm quilting order form.