Charming Stars

     I made this quilt for my beautiful mother-in-law.  She is a vibrant, energetic woman who is always on the go.  It is a joy when she slows down a bit and comes for a visit.

     My mother-in-law often wears white.  It amazes me how anyone can wear white as I'm not able to.  I've tried.  I wore a white shirt once and came back home looking like a leopard.  My mother-in-law, however, has some kind of unusual ability that prevents her whites from ever showing dirt.  I was driving by her house one day on my way to town and saw her on the riding mower.  It was a dry, dusty day and the dirt was flying in a cloud all around her.  She was wearing white shorts and a white tank top.  She works in white clothing!  Yet, her whites are always bright, never dingy.  Did she have some sort of force field emanating from the mower?

     She also has white carpet that has been on the floors of her house for over twenty years.  It still looks brand new.  Her favorite pastime is cleaning and she keeps an impeccable home.  I envy her housekeeping skills.  I'd like to add that while her house is near perfect, you would never feel ill at ease there.  She is always very welcoming.

     My mother-in-law likes the color green, but her absolute favorite color is. . . can you guess?  Yup, white.  What I find interesting is that my father-in-law's favorite color was black, and my husband's favorite color is silver.  Nothin' important really, just one of those things that makes you go, "Hmmm."

The Wrap Up
Name:  Charming Stars
Size:  70" x 70"
Top:  241 pieces
Batting:  100% cotton
Finished:  May 2011

     I found the pattern for that quilt at the Moda Bake Shop years ago and it was super easy to follow.  It was called Charming Stars by Stefanie Roman.  It can no longer be found on that site, however, I did some searching and found that Quilting Digest has a copy.  So, you can still get this great pattern.  Yeeaaaaay!

      I made a second quilt from the same pattern.  It was a gift for a fellow mom in the trenches and blue and yellow were her favorite colors.  For the longest time, I couldn't find any pictures of this quilt, nor could I remember taking any.  But I was recently going through some old photos and found these:

     I wrapped the backing fabric around to the front for the binding on this.  I usually make a separate binding for my quilts because I like to play with leftover fabrics or add contrast.  But I had a ton of extra fabric on the back, so I gave the wrap-around binding a try -- and it was perfect!
  

The Wrap Up
Name:  Charming Stars #2
Size:  77" x 77"
Top:  303 pieces
Batting:  100% cotton
Finished:  November 2011