Rainbow over the Seven Sisters

After several years in my UFO pile, my rainbow star project is finished.  The official name is Rainbow over the Seven Sisters since the center of the medallion is the seven sisters block.  I've blogged about it before, but a short recap-  the center is all hand pieced, and the border is machine pieced.  The quilting is all 100 wt. silk thread, and I resisted the urge to quilt-to-death.  The quilting features secondary star rays extending into the background, and I was sort of sorry that the quilting in the darker colors (red/blue/purple) didn't show up as well on the background as I'd hoped.  Also, most unfortunately, the red fabrics bled, so there are a bunch of red stains on the white fabrics. Seeing the stains irritates me every time I see them, but I guess it's my own fault.  I should know by now to pre-wash, especially dark intense hand-dyes.  It's 20" square, and I'm pleased it's finished!

Rainbow over the Seven Sisters, 2014, 20 x 20, Shannon Conley

Linking up with Nina-Marie and Richard and Tanya and Quilt Story!

Update on the Stars

I've been working along on my large project- so far it's going slowly and without much success, but I'm persevering.  Last weekend I finished up the part I wanted to get done before leaving on my trip this weekend, so in the last few days I've pulled out a project that's been ongoing for several years now.   On Friday I'm leaving to go to Empty Spools Seminars with my mom and I'm super excited.  We're both taking a class with Jane Sassaman who I've wanted to take a class from ever since my first time at Asilomar.

Anyway, I started this project a few months after our first trip to Asilomar in 2009.  I only know that because that's where I first got hooked on EPP. I've been working on it since then off and on, mostly it was a hand piecing project to work on while traveling.  I finished the center hand pieced medallion a full year ago (ack!) and it's been pinned to my wall ever since.  The whole thing will finish around 18" square, so it's pretty small.

In the last few days I've made the floating piano key border and corner blocks which are machine pieced. I'm not really a good precision piecer, and the piano keys are 1/4" each so the variability is pretty obvious up close sometimes, but for the most part I think it turned out fine.  I love the look of the border with the center part and now all I have to do is quilt it!