Sunday, January 22, 2006

Reach for the Stars

Reach for the Stars is another quilt with the wonky hearts. This is another of my post-9/11 gonna get happy and positive quilts. Lots of pink and purple made just for me.

By the way, you can see the wonky hearts how-to (as well as the free-pieced letters tutorial and more) over at Bonnie's superfantastic Quiltville.

The words read as follows:
  • reach for the stars
  • Believe the Impossible
  • Be true to yourself
  • follow your dreams
  • Listen to your heart

I pieced the quilt top in 14 days. Before I started, I planned to have these words as well as stars, hearts and asterisks (my name for the little * blocks that look like fireworks, snow, or stars depending on the context). I sewed the words, the hearts and the asterisks, but used sections of star fabric instead of piecing those. I really like how using big sections of fabric works in this quilt.

I sewed little rectangles onto strips, cut even, over and over again to get the border. So it wasn't strip pieced and I didn't use a foundation. I ended up with different widths of border and that's okay (altho the pic doesn't do the border justice at all. Sorry about that - this is one of my quilts that's in storage right now). I quilted free-hand fans in black perle cotton.

11 comments:

Lucy said...

Oh my.... this is great . again a real tonya quilt !!

Finn said...

Another gorgeous quilt!! I love how you play..and how you work through "things". Interesting the larger pieces of fabric added. Kind of stops your head,makes you pause and think about it, and then keep looking.

I've only done a little of the fill in the blank spaces. Gotta think about this some more..*S*
Love the border...both controlled and liberated..fun!!

Thanks for the suggestion about a foundation..I think that's the piece of information that I needed. Hadn't considered that..*G*

Quilts And Pieces said...

Tonya - I LOVE the words and just general format of this quilt and love the piano keys border! This one sings to me - even if it is pink and purple - lol!

YankeeQuilter said...

This is one of my favorites! I've been collecting sayings for when I get the nerve to start one!

Siobhan

Cher said...

another wonderful quilt..love the large pieces of fabric..always inspiring to see your quilts! thanks for putting this up and giving some detail on the construction...this direction is the same path I am finding myself drawn to when I think of doing personal work...

Trish said...

Wonderful quilt--you might even make a convert of me over this quilt--you see I 'm not so found of lettering on quilts. But this one is a happy blending of letters (great sayings) and fabric (always the #1 priority in my quilts.) It is great! And it is pink and purple (That I like most all the time!)

trish
www.randomthreads.com

Granny said...

Tonya, that is amazing! I love it.

Judy L.

antique quilter said...

Tonya,
I love this quilt, this would be a great wallhanging in my daughters room or actually in between my two daughters room....what inspirational words/phrases you chose.
After seeing your word quilts and the instructions on how to do this, I am going to just have to try it!
Thanks for sharing all your quilts with us and instructions to do the letters....
Kathie

Duyvken said...

Another beautiful quilt! I love it.

Laura said...

Tonya- I love this quilt! The fabrics you used are perfect. You are such a talent!!!!

Darcie said...

"Reach for the Stars" is so terrific, Tonya! What a great way to work though 9/11.