Dawn Star

I was walking through QuiltCon a few years ago when I wandered into the booth of Jennifer Sampou. She had Dawn Star displayed in her booth, and I fell in love with that quilt. I bought the pattern and fabric right then and there.

But it took me a few years to actually make the quilt because I was scared. Despite it being a "kit", because of the ombre nature of the fabric, there's a level of improvisation in the piecing, something that has always scared me.

But what doesn't scare me is the quilting process, as I had the idea of how I was going to quilt it before I even finished piecing it. Dawn Star had some fully complete double stars but also quite a few "incomplete" blocks, which is what makes it fun and surprising. I quilted it as if every star is complete, creating the ghost block outlines where necessary.

The quilting is mostly straight lines, geometric designs that emphasize the stars, with just a few patches of spaces where I couldn't resist but add a few swirls.

By a stroke of good luck, I figured out an efficient quilt path early on, making this a quick and fun quilting experience. The piecing was very stressful because of my tendency to cast doubts on my fabric choices at every turn, but the quilting was so enjoyable and relaxing!