Firework Stars Quilting Tutorial

I wanted to do a separate blog post on how to FINISH your quilt "Firework Stars"

Not everyone is able to quilt their own quilts, but if you are a beginner or would like to learn, this is actually a great starter pattern.  

I want to share with you TWO things:  1.  A one-line quilting motif for the pieced area of this quilt.  and 2.  a free-motion border motif for your quilt called "firework feathers."  

First of all I LOVE piecing patchwork like this.  Especially sawtooth stars. Noone likes a bunch of thread knots on the back of your quilt. . so one-line quilting designs are WONDERFUL.  If you follow do the pattern the way I'm going to show you, then  you can do the whole  patchwork area of your quilt with only ONE line. . . . meaning, if you were to only use one thread color for the whole quilt, you would only have ONE entry point, and one exit point. . . no multiple starting/stopping points.  

The easiest way to do this would be free-motion with a darning foot, but if you are not yet comfortable with a darning foot, then you certainly can use your walking foot and let your machine guide your stitches. This method requires more quilt-turning, but that's okay, you do whatever you are most comfortable with.  I'm going to show you how to do this ONE-LINE quilting motif throughout this quilt, and I hope you try it!   

Looking at the photo below,  My needle is down in the center where 4 blocks meet.  This is where you will begin your quilt motif.  It is helpful to try to work clockwise so you don't lose your place.  

For the one-line quilting motif, you are basically OUTLINE quilting, except more of a curved, flower-like motion.  For this design, we will be outline stitching inside every piece of each block.  This style of quilting accentuates your piecing, is very secure, and looks lovely in your finished piece!

 To start the quilting, just follow along the yellow drawn line.  This example is using just the red thread in the red areas.  

and this next example is quilting the NEUTRAL areas.  Start quilting in the center of one of the 4 blocks, and follow the yellow line.
 1.  Outer Tips of Stars.  2.  Inner pieced 4 patch.  3.  Inner Tips of Stars 4.  Enter next block and do outer edge.  5.  Go back and finish block by doing the inner portion.  (I try to remember to go CLOCKWISE, Outer edges first, and then Inner edges.  Enter the next block at the FIRST available entry point so you don't forget)  6.  Going clockwise, enter next block, but only for one piece of patchwork.  This is just a gateway to the NEXT block we are going to do.  Quilt the Outer tips of stars 7.  Then do the INNER tips of stars.  8.  Inner 4 patch  9.  Finish block, continue on through "gateway" block, and on to the entry way to the next block.  Outer portion of block, and then onto the next block to also do the outer portion.  10.  Inner 4 patch  11.  Inner tips of stars, and on to complete outer portion of previous block 12.  Complete block by doing inner portion and then on to the final block  13.  Outer portion of final block.  14.  Inner portion of final block

Sorry this is so hard to see.  If the photo is any larger it gets cut off my by side bar =c(   You can click on the photo and zoom in if you need to see more closely 

 Once you start quilting and get the hang of it it's not so difficult.  If it helps, you could print off one of the PAINT graphs and practice doing your one-line quilt pattern with a pencil.  Just remember it's not the end of the world if you DO end up having to stop, lock your stitches, and go to another area.  This is just an option for you to try if you like.

 Here is what the back of the quilt will look like once you have finished all of the quilting in the patchwork area.  

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Next I would like to share with you the border design called "Firework Feathers"

Start by quilting just the base line or SPINE of your feathers around the middle of the border.  You are going to treat your pieced border as one large border.  You can just free-style stitch a wavy line down the center of your border with neutral-color thread.  However, if you feel more comfortable, you can first draw the line with chalk or a water-soluble marker.  

Next, you will start quilting your feathers on the RIGHT side first.  If your outer border is RED, use RED thread.  If your outer border is BLUE, use BLUE thread.  

Here is a short video clip of me doing the RIGHT side of the quilting design:

After you finish the RIGHT side, you will then do the LEFT side of your feather design.  Here I have included a video of me explaining the quilting design a little bit.  Please forgive me this is my first video tutorial ....... .ever.   ;c)

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Once all the quilting is complete.  I highly recommend that you press your whole quilt with a steam iron.
This is especially important since we are using STRAIGHT GRAIN binding(made from our 2.5" scrappy strips or jelly roll!)

 Trim the backing and batting from the quilt, making sure that your corners are an exact 90-degree angle.

Finish your quilt by attaching the binding that you already made!

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