Burlap Brights in action!

Would you believe that this quilt is a one-block wonder? Wendy Sheppard used a rainbow's worth of our Burlap Brights prints to create this eye-catching design. The quilt, named Sherry's Stars (read why below), is featured in the October-November issue of Quilter's Newsletter. A clever piecing method means making these blocks is easier than you'd think! Wendy talks about the technique, the group effort in making this quilt, and her color choices below.

Sherry's Stars designed by Wendy Sheppard;
pieced by Sherry McConnell and machine quilted by Darlene Szabo;
featured in Quilter's Newsletter Oct/Nov 2015 

What do you like about the Burlap Brights?

I love the bright colors, first of all. But then, I think the Burlap texture on the bright colors is such a different concept! And the quilt as a result has a really nice textured look to it.

How did you pick your palette?

When I work with fabrics that are more along the "basic" line and not print or theme specific, my instinct is to incorporate as many colors as possible. That's why you see the different colors being used in the final design.

With the bright colors in the larger patches, I need a bit of contrast. So, I played around and came up with the gray/black/brown accents to provide the contrast, and draw the eye's attention from all the brights to focus on the stars made with the gray, black and brown!

You mention there are no Y-seams in here. Any hints on how it’s made?  The units that make up the stars are strip pieced, and then cut at an angle.  The magazine spread has precise instructions and diagrams showing how to make the units without Y-seams.

What do you like best about this quilt?

I like seeing all the colors, and the Hunter Stars!

Can you tell us about the quilting motifs? They show up so well on the tonal fabrics.

I quilt 95% of my quilts. In this case, longarm quilter Darlene Szabo had free rein to quilt whatever she felt like, and she came up with the perfect quilting motif for the quilt. The motif is shown in the quilt diagram in the magazine for those who want to duplicate the motif exactly as quilted on my Sherry's Stars.

Tell us about the collaborative effort on this quilt.

While I try to make my own magazine quilt samples, everyone now and then, I run into really tight spot when trying to meet all the different deadlines. That's when I beg my quilting angels (Sherry McConnell of Indiana and Darlene Szabo of Arkansas) to save my life. And they ALWAYS do.  Sherry was actually the one who came up with the idea of not using Y-seams for the block construction (and I named the quilt after her as a thank you!). Sherry, my quilting angel #1, pieced the quilt top, and Darlene, my quilting angel #2, quilted the quilt. Without these dear friends, this quilt wouldn't have happened, and I am deeply grateful!

Click here to see the entire Burlap Brights collection.
Click here to read more about Wendy's quilt.
Click here to find the kit for this quilt.
Click here to find Quilter's Newsletter magazine.