Holly's Feathered Star Quilt

Feathered Star Block-of-the-Month by Hoop Sisters

This is another one of my my mother's unfinished quilts.  I found the box last summer ...

It's the Feathered Star Embroidered Block-of-the-Month Quilt by The Hoop Sisters, from 2013 or so.  She'd taken a class about 8-9 years ago, and purchased a new and pricey embroidery machine to boot.   One with an extra large hoop.  I thought about finishing this project and learning to use the embroidery machine.  After a thorough search for said embroidery machine and the thumb drive containing the files, I have since decided that this is not the route I want to go with my sewing and quilting endeavors.  In truth, I don't have room for such a big machine at my house, nor all the extra stuff that goes with it.

Instead of finishing the remaining blocks as I originally considered, I have concluded that it's entirely appropriate to fill those spaces with the unfinished blocks, as that's a truer reflection of how far she got with it.  

I've been looking for a photo showing the back.  It's sort of a quilt-as-you-go with a special ruler to trim the front and back of the blocks so that they sew together with just the right amount of seam allowance, and then cover the seams on the back. 

The thing is: These blocks are very stiff.  It's embroidered / quilted so densely that the resulting quilt blocks are very stiff.  I'm not sure washing would help that.   It's not something I'd want to sleep under.  Probably better-suited to being a wall hanging.

Sigh!

I'll have to think about this a bit more ...  What to do next.   Maybe just put it back in the box to let it simmer a while longer ...

My friend Sheila asked a question in the comments about the piecing of this kind of embroidered quilt, so I'm adding a few more pictures to explain:

 

This is one of the in between / filler blocks.   The light and dark halves of the block are pieces in the embroidery hoop before the stitching is added on top.  

 

Here's a block unit that makes up one of the stars.  There is some fabric that is pieced onto the base block, but the actual teeth of the star are embroidered, not pieced as it would be in a traditional feathered star.

 

4 smaller blocks come together in quadrants to make up the full star block.  So in that respect, you are just piecing squares -- but it's tricky because it's bulky -- You are quilting as you go (QAYG).  You can see in this one, the seams don't line up exactly.  I tried one, and didn't do any better ...

 

Here's the back side, where you can see how the embroidered blocks come together.  

Basically, you trim the backing fabric very close, and stitch the top fabric together with only the top layers in the seam (no batting and no backing).

 

I'll have to figure out how to cover all those seams.

For reference, here are the videos and supporting material I could find on The Embroidered Feathered Star Quilt:

Hoop Sisters Feathered Star - Digital Download  [$189 - Yikes!  My mom already had the files from taking the class, so at least I didn't need to purchase it all over again.  It's more that I don't have the will or the interest to learn how, nor a ready and available teacher.  Even if I did, it would be a royal hassle to move the machine and all the supplies to a class, knowing I'd inevitability forget something important.  Then there's the amateur factor -- I don't want to go back to square one, making beginner mistakes.]

Hoop Sisters Feathered Star Videos - 

       * There are only a couple videos here. Not enough to really know what to do.

Hoop Sisters Feathered Star [Google search results]

Feathered Star Whole Cloth Wall Hanging - I Quilt Scarlet & Gray Blog

 

Apple chose to feature this photo of my mom on the calendar / sneak peak.  So in a sense, she was literally watching over my shoulder in the sewing room this afternoon.

Thanks, Ma!