Ohio Star at Home

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Difficulty:

Category: Quilting

Type of item: Home Decor

For: Home

Style: Traditional

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Materials

cotton fabric; cotton thread; mono-filament thread

What was your inspiration?

I received a package of Thangles as a gift and was looking for a pattern that would let me use the 4" squares as well as some fabric from my stash. I found the Ohio Star design in a book and since the person who gave me the Thangles is from Ohio, it seemed just like the right pattern. I had no idea as to size. I just started making blocks practicing points without paper piecing other than using the Thangles for the two triangle squares. I kept adding fabric from my stash so I could keep practicing and finally had a lap size quilt.
At the same time I began taking the Machine Quilting class offered by Wendy Butler Berns and that greatly influenced my choice of threads and patterns. I used the mono-filament thread in the bobbin for the first time for the quilt in the ditch around the stars and some of the squares while using variegated cotton thread for the spirals on the borders. And even though I have always machine quilted, I really like the reinforcement that I received from Wendy Butler Berns. She provided some great tips that turned out well such as using a metal bobbin for the mono-filament thread.

What are you most proud of?

My points are still not consistently perfect, but they are getting much better. I like how the color selection turned out especially since it was from existing fabric. And my free hand machine quilting stitches is getting more uniform. Yes - practice, practice, practice.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Unless you want to practice points without paper piecing, use paper to make things easier and to make points that are more uniformly perfect. Just have fun with it. Remember you can make it any size you want just be adding blocks.