You did it!

Congratulations on completing your Shattered Star quilt from the Shattered Star Quilt Along.

You pressed, you cut, you stitched, you trimmed, you pieced, you nested, you basted and quilted then you bound your quilt like a quilty Rockstar and have the photos to prove it – ha!

Doesn’t it feel so good to stand back and reflect on your quilt journey and realize just how much you accomplished? I’m applauding your achievement all the way from Montreal 😊

It’s been so much fun getting to stitch together and see new quilty friendships established. The support and encouragement you shared was so heartwarming to see.

I just adore our community and feel so fortunate that you trusted me to take you on this quilting journey!

We can’t have a quilt along without sharing our finished quilts, right?!

So, here’s mine!

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. 

QUILT TECHNIQUES LEARNED DURING THE QUILT ALONG

You’re probably wondering why I’m rounding up the lessons you learned during the Shattered Star quilt along. I mean you already tackled them, right?

BUT one of the best things you can do after a big project is to stand back and reflect on what you not only accomplished, but what new techniques and insights you picked up along the way. And if you didn’t have the chance to participate in the sew along, fear not as you can explore all the quilting tips, tricks and techniques I’ve shared throughout the quilt along:

• A list of the essential tools and notions you’ll need. 
• How to pick fabric and consider their colour values.
• How to press your fabric so they’re nice and flat and wrinkle free.
• How to cut your fabric  accurately and maximize your yardage.
• How to make half square triangles using the 8-at-a-time method.
• How to trim your HSTs using a regular and specialty HST ruler.
• How to tackle small piecing and the beauty of Leaders & Enders. 
• How to nest your seams. 
• How to stitch your quilt blocks & rows together. 
• How to baste a quilt.
• How to square up a quilt.
• How to make binding and attach it to your quilt.

Find more tutorials here.

MATERIALS FEATURED

Here’s a round-up of all the materials and notions I used to create the Holiday Shattered Star quilt:

• Shattered Star Quilt Pattern + the Pattern Extension from the Shattered Star Quilt Along.
• Fabric including:
  • Little Town fat quarter bundle (*this bundle would make a great substitute)
  • *Flamingo
  • *Smooth Pebble
  • *Icy Mint
  • *Spruce 
  • *Zambia Stone
• *Backing 
• *Batting by Quilters Dream 
• *Sewing machine – I sew on a Juki TL-2010Q and use a 2.0 stitch length when piecing. 
• *Thread for piecing
• Thread for quilting 
• *Thread for binding 

STORY BEHIND THE HOLIDAY SHATTERED STAR QUILT

When I was originally designing the Shattered Star Quilt pattern, I kept having visions of a modern holiday version. Not your traditional star quilt, but one that offered lots of opportunity for fabric play. Cause we do love playing with fabric, right?!

I’ll let you in on a secret – I designed no less than 5 different versions of the holiday Shattered Star quilt and no matter what fabric collection I featured; the quilts looked awesome.

That just confirmed what a perfect modern Christmas quilt pattern she is! You can go bold and bright, or softer and more delicate and the intricacies of the Shattered Star design really shine.

Which is why I was so excited to share the free pattern extension with you for our sew along, so that you too could grab some fat quarters some solids and have some quilty fun!

Each block in the Holiday Shattered Star quilt is unique and features a different combination of the prints from the Little Town fat quarter bundle and AGF Pure Solids.

It makes for such a fun sewing experience – you can’t get bored! Each time you piece some fabric together it’s a new pairing to admire.

And admire you will if you’re using Amy Sinibaldi’s whimsical and adorable fabric collection. While Little Town has lots of traditional notes to it, there is definitely a modern feel, especially with the colours used.

Since Little Town has so many low volume prints in the collection, I opted to balance that out with some vibrant solids from Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Solids collection.

*Flamingo – that bright raspberry/coral combo (it’s such a beautiful colour) is my fave and love how it really adds a pop and vibrancy to the final quilt.

The ombre greenie turquoises that I included really hold their own against the Flamingo and highlight some of these colours captured in Amy’s prints.

The *greish/taupe was a first for me and definitely not a last. It added a warmth to the quilt that I think without it would have read too cool and icy.

QUILTING

When it came time to quilt her up, I didn’t hesitate for long. In fact, I knew even before I had the quilt top pieced that she was going to get the organic wavy line quilting treatment!!

There’s something super appealing and fitting about this quilting design. It reminds me of gusts of wind and snowsqualls blowing around my quilt blocks! I used it on my Irish Vortex Home for the Holidays quilt and loved the effect. Not only does it look good, but it feels amazing! 

In the Irish Vortex quilt, I went with 50wt Aurifil Thread, here I opted to go with 40wt in the colour 2425. I adore this colour! I have it in all the thread weights! You can see the 12wt in action on this Shattered Star lumbar pillow.

Both the 50wt and 40wt offer scrummalicious results, I just tend to love the 40wt a touch more for the more prominent stitch it creates. Now I just need to try it with 28wt!

Bonus – this quilt motif is super quick to stitch. Plus, you don’t need to mark anything in advance which is a definite win in my quilty books!

BINDING

I got some strong reactions when I asked what your favourite step in the quilt journey is. Mine is binding (on par with piecing and fabric pulls!) and it seems you either love it or hate it. There’s no in between!!

Here’s the thing – I totally get not enjoying binding your quilts. When I first started quilting it felt like I was a tug boat who had run out of steam by the time I got to binding. It was just so intense! And binding, especially hand binding, is not a quick step. I get wanting to just be done with your quilt.

Over time, I’ve come to view binding in a new light: it’s a magical moment in the quilt making journey where you get to add another design feature (or not) that completes your quilt masterpiece! It’s the finishing touch that really brings all your hard work into a final presentable package. It’s glorious!

Which is why I now see it as a key step in the quilt making journey.

And why I don’t hesitate to spend extra time adding in quilting details such as big stitch hand binding.

This time around, I opted for 12wt Aurifil Thread in white. It’s not a design element that really pops, it’s a more subtle textural addition that you have to be up close to really appreciate.

A benefit of whoever gets to snuggle with her!

For more on quilting binding, check out this 4-part series:

• Quilt Binding Tutorial Part 1: How to make quilt binding 
• Quilt Binding Tutorial Part 2: How to attach binding using a blind stitch
• Quilt Binding Tutorial Part 3: How to big stitch quilt your binding
• Quilt Binding Tutorial Part 4: How to make bias binding

HOLIDAY SHATTERED QUILT IN THE WILD

I only had my quilt holder for a short time and mother nature was being anything but cooperative.

I’m hoping to capture her in the snowy wild over the holiday period and I will be sure to share the quilt in the wild pictures with you too! 

A special thank you to the Shattered Star Quilt Along Sponsors without who the sew along just wouldn’t have been the same. The fabulous and practical quilty prizes Art Gallery Fabrics, Aurifil Thread, Clover USA, Cottoneer Fabrics, Craft de Ville, Finely Fabric, Fabricstork, Martelli Notions, Oliso, Pen and Paper Patterns, Quilters Dream Batting, Soak Wash, Stacked Fabric Company, The Felt Store, Wild Phil Quilting generously offered were great incentive to keep pace with the weekly quilting tasks! 

Thank YOU for taking this quilty journey with me. It’s been such an honour to get to quilt with you, see your progress, see the quilty friendships made and the encouragement shared. This has been the most fun and I hope we get to do it again soon! 

Happy quilting!

xo,

Shannon

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