Finally Finished Flying Stars!

Well, I finally finished Lucy's Flying Friends and Wonky Stars baby quilt!  It wasn't the scale of the quilt or the difficulty, but simply my schedule which made this such a drawn-out project.  Also, USPS said it should get to it's three-year-old recipient by today, so I think it's safe to post pics of my newest finish.

The idea was to do a wonky stars baby quilt with some of the charm squares I got from recent I Spy charm swaps, mostly some "flying objects" prints, like birds, butterflies, dragonflies, bees, etc. 

As for the stars themselves, I used 5 different versions of the wonky star block.  A smaller, 4" charm square (like the upper right blue butterfly block below), the larger 5" charm square (like the orange and pink duck star in the top row center left), an off-center star with 4" charm (dragonfly in top row), one block with two small stars (seen in the second row), and a 2.5 or 3" charm (I can't remember off hand) square (just right of the red owls in the middle).  The fabrics used for the points of each star were close color matches (though not perfect) from my stash. 

The finished blocks are 13", so the quilt is 65" x 52" with no border. Lucy's mom said this quilt was going to live on Lucy's bedroom wall, so it didn't have to be "bed-sized".  Original plans were to make it square and a bit smaller, but I just couldn't bring myself to make a quilt that couldn't be a bed quilt if needed, so I made it long enough to work as a little girl's bed quilt. 

I am really happy with how it came out, and have a few favorites, including the dragonfly, the pink fairies, and the green monkey.  The colors are fairly gender-neutral, but enough pink and purple to give it a bit of a girlie touch.

For the back, I decided on a giant "reverse wonky star", using the background tan solid from the front as the star fabric, and constructing the background for the star with pieced fabrics from similar color groups. I then framed the giant block in the tan solid, and then finished it off with scraps.  Kinda wish I had made a bigger star, but that's OK, I still love it :)

Last weekend, mom, baby and I took a little trip to an apple orchard outside of Syracuse, NY (where my wife and I are currently preparing for Tosca with Syracuse Opera (come and see us this weekend if you're in the neighborhood).  Baby girl was scared of the ponies at the pony rides, but oddly fascinated by them (mostly interested in how they ... um... pooped).  We mostly ate apple cider donuts, picked apples, and tried to keep warm in the blustery 40 degree weather.  On the way home we stopped by a roadside pumpkin and gourd stand.  It was on the honor system, which meant no one was around, so I could plop my quilt up on the stand and get some very non-Manhattan scenery for this quilt-shoot!

The leaves are just past their prime, and though it was cold, everywhere you looked was so gorgeous, with inspiring deep oranges, fiery yellows and rich reds and browns.  By now, most of the big pumpkins were gone, but we picked up two tiny ones for little baby to play with and decorate.