starry skies sampler :: block no. 1

and here we go! with the first starry skies block pieced and pressed, sitting pretty on my sewing room table, i can feel the sampler excitement starting. i have chosen to use julia rothman's collection miscellany by cloud9 fabrics as my main focus - i am hoping that such a strong common thread between all of the stars will lead to a quilt that i feel is cohesive and not muddled. 

(if you didn't already know my enthusiasm for this fabric, see here and here.)

i found the tutorial for this 'sunshine star' from my fabric obsession and felt pretty confident that it would be easy enough to execute while still being something fresh and new to me. this is after a few failed attempts at scaling up a block from farmer's wife. psst, have you seen this awesome quilt along hosted by amanda and angela? i especially like this color scheme, these blocks, this and this and especially this.

i digress:

since this would be my first star on a long list of others, i chose to cut into my two favorite prints: 'petal pusher', a delicate pink and blue print, and 'nethercote' which turns out to be a dream for fussy-cutting! i added to that a dark grey solid from my stash (i honestly have no idea where that grey came from as i am its 'second home') and a solid white remnant from a sheet. cutting and piecing all of those little triangles turned out to be an easier task than i first thought it might be.

and now i have my first block of 'starry skies' completed! i'll be excited to see how this star looks accompanied with the other, sometimes bolder prints that are also part of this collection. 

and a note on blocks coming together, so to speak: i plan on making stars in various sizes. for instance, this star measures 12.5", but i will be making some stars from farmer's wife that only measure 6". i am hoping to find a way to make different size blocks work together - this is my challenge to myself.

see you next wednesday for block no. 2 - in the mean time, go make a sunrise star!