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Jen Explores the Double Star Quilt Pattern

@jennifer.coombes 

Size Made: Baby Quilt
Frond of You (we no longer carry this one at this time) 
A few years ago I started something. When all of my friends and family started having babies, I made a blanket and some matching burp clothes for each new arrival. It is now the point of no return as it is sort of just anticipated at this point. New baby = new blanket. I guess it is a good thing I love to sew!
I love a good baby blanket project. It will sound sentimental but what I love about a baby blanket is the hope and intention that goes into thinking about this new life as well as the parents who will shepherd that child into adulthood. 
When I found out a new blanket would be needed, I decided to try out Amber's Fancy Tiger Crafts Double Star Quilt pattern because I loved the mixture of modern and traditional that the quilt design included. Although I have made several blankets before, I am still a beginner to intermediate quilter so this pattern was perfect for me. I loved that the pattern guided me through light and dark selections to best compliment the design. I also appreciated that the skills and techniques needed to make this blanket were very easy and achievable. I still struggle with selecting complimentary fabrics, placement of those fabrics and hacks that allow quilters to work faster and smarter. I also often struggle to get my seams to all match up beautifully, which challenges my inner perfectionist! Needless to say, my weaknesses were just the right amount of challenged for this project. 
One thing I will encourage everyone to take advantage of is the expert eyes and hands that we have on staff at Fancy Tiger Crafts. We have some magical sewists and artists here! I was able to ask Marta, who has an elevated eye for color, and Kim, who is an expert and skilled quilter, to assist me in selecting the right fabric combinations. We had so much fun pulling bolt after bolt off the shelves until we had a pile of contenders that we could mix and match to perfection! 
I knew from the outset that I wanted my quilt backing and binding to be my favorite color (Dijon) from our Pyper Linen Viscose collection. This fabric is light and soft, just perfect for a baby. The texture is an added element and I loved that it sort of reminded me of double gauze fabric. 
As for my blocks, I selected a healthy mixture of fabrics from the Ruby Star Society Warp and Weft Heirloom collection as well as many others from a variety of collections. My favorite fabrics were the Alphabet Bird's Egg Wishbones Mustard, and Artisan Cotton Yellow/Copper. I loved the unique alphabet selections, such as inch worm for the letter "I." The Artisan Yellow in particular is a favorite because it has undertones of a red/orange woven into it and is just beautiful. All of these fabrics were soft and perfect for a baby.
When I pieced this together it went pretty fast. I am one of those people that really kinda hates cutting out the pieces but loves putting them together. If I could bribe someone to cut out my quilts for me I would get a lot more done! 
In the end, I ran a bit short on time and chose to only hand stitch the darker blocks. If I had more time I may have done a bit more but I actually really liked how the hand stitching came out. On the back the stars really stood out in the middle of the blanket. I followed our Fancy Tiger Crafts tutorial on quilt binding and found that it was SO helpful. I have tried a few different ways to do binding and this was by far the best and easiest binding I have ever done. You can find the tutorial here. I highly recommend watching it and having your phone nearby when you get started. I hand stitched the binding onto the back. It did take more time that I would have liked, but it looked very good when it was done. 
Now that I have tried this pattern, I may return back to it and make a bigger size blanket. It was fast, fun and an easy win for someone that often feels out of her element when quilting. 

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