Meet the Maker
Hi there, my name is Breanna Gaudaur and I am an avid quilter, pattern tester, tech editor and long arm quilter based in Ontario, Canada. I’ve been quilting since I was six years old, and it is still my favorite way to spend time. My favourite soundtrack while quilting is a toss up between my latest audiobook or whichever Taylor Swift era fits my mood in the moment.
You can follow along with what I'm up to over on Instagram - @roseivyquilts!
About The Quilt
I adore star quilts. Especially when they’re used in a way that combines traditional piecing with a bit of modern flare. And let’s be real for a second. Is trimming Flying Geese units my favorite quilt-related activity? Absolutely not. But it’s totally worth it if beautiful blocks like the ones in Fran’s new Star Struck pattern are the end result.
I’ve had a couple of fat quarter bundles of Kona Solids on my fabric shelf for a while, and when this project rolled around I knew it would be a great opportunity to put them to use. I ended up using fabrics from both bundles and then swapped out a few of the fat quarters for other fabrics from my shelf so that I could end up with a light and dark fabric for each block.
I have a lot of Kona White on hand and was planning to use that for my background, but it felt a little too bright. Luckily I still had some Ruby Star Society Starry in Multi Unbleached in my stash and I really liked how it worked with the solids I had already chosen.
I thought that trimming my Flying Geese and Half Square Triangles was going to take a while, but I was surprised with how quickly it went. I know there are plenty of tools and rulers out there designed to make trimming easier, but I usually stick with my trusty 6.5-inch square ruler. Let me know, do you have a favourite trimming tool that is worth the hype?
I don’t have a design wall or a lot of open floor space where I can lay out quilt blocks, so I had to get a little creative when it came to choosing my Star Struck layout. Instead of using my blocks, I used a scrap of the fat quarter I used for Fabric 1 in each block and moved those around instead. Obviously this doesn’t give a complete picture of what the finished quilt top will look like, but it allowed me to play around with the color layout before I started sewing them all together.
The blocks are nice and big, so once I had those assembled it really didn’t take long to get the whole quilt top assembled. Especially since a friend of mine has recently been encouraging me to embrace pin-free sewing. I still ended up using a pin here and there to ensure some of the trickier points lined up well, but overall I’m proud of myself for learning to let go a little bit. And I was honestly surprised by how well most of my points turned out all things considered.
Now I just need to find my backing and binding fabric and figure out which pantograph I want to use to quilt this project. Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions.
Quilt Top Fabric:
Robert Kaufman’s Kona Solids in Teal Blue, Storm, Aloe, Caribbean, Black, Iron, Creamsicle, Carrot, Melon, Primrose, Ochre, Banana, Salmon, Peach, Grellow and Caramel
Ruby Star Society Starry in Multi Unbleached
