Happy Monday, everyone!
Today is my day to share the project that I made for the Wake Up to Kona blog hop, and I’m so excited! I’d like to give a big thanks to Madame Samm, our wonderful hostess and supporter of all things quilty and our great cheerleader, Carol, who inspires us all.
We have great sponsors for this blog hop – Amanda Murphy (author of Quilt Essentials), Robert Kaufman (all those delicious Kona solids), and Aurifil threads that keep us in stitches!
For my project, I started with Kona black as my background color and added this delicious grouping of colors:
Beautiful Kona solids!
The colors are: #110 Peony, #141 Carnation, #1062 Candy Pink, #1066 Cerise, #24 Petunia, #1484 Lupine, #1383 Violet, #188 Hibiscus, #1005 Aqua, #1009 Azure, #442 Capri, and #1064 Caribbean.
Next, I selected the Night Sky pattern by Jaybird Quilts for its striking beauty! This quilt uses her sidekick ruler to create the triangle and diamond shapes that are used in the construction of the quilt. Each starbust (or starfish?) has 4 different shades of a color group.
I pieced the entire quilt top using Aurifil threads, 50 wt (#2000 light sand color and #2692 black color).
I used Superior Threads So Fine #50 in Genoa Gray because I really wanted the quilting to stand out against the black background.
We took the finished quilt to the beautiful Oregon Coast this weekend to take some photographs. I had my hubby and son be my scouting location/photography assistants, and I think they did a wonderful job.
Since my cats aren’t too keen on traveling, my dog (and best hiking buddy) became my cat quilt inspector stunt-double. (Yes, he earned extra dog cookies for his hard work!).
Here are some pictures of my finished Night Sky quilt using Kona cotton solids:
Me and Hubby Holding Night Sky (dog legs too)
Night Sky with My Dog (cat quilt inspector stunt-double)
Me holding the quilt in the wind!
Night Sky Quilt – starbursts resemble starfish!
Night Sky Quilt – backside
These last two pictures show the free-motion quilting that I did using the Genoa Gray thread. The quilting alone took me 12 hours! I did a swirly pattern in the black background and did some straight-edge echo quilting in the colored starbursts.
While I was doing the quilting, I ran out of thread – yikes! I called local quilt stores within an hour of my house, but no one had the same thread in stock. Fortunately, I was able to order the thread from Superior Threads directly via 2-day shipping and completed it in time.
I really love how the free-motion swirls accent the Night Sky stars:
Night Sky Quilting Detail
Closeup of the quilting
I hope you enjoyed my project and please check out the other bloggers on the last 2 days of the hop!
January 20th
More Stars in Comanche
Buzzing and Bumbling
Quilting Quietly
Grammie Q’s
The Quilted Cat (you are here!)
The Quilting Queen Online
Lauraluvsloons
Sew Incredibly Crazy
January 21st
Just Sew Sue
Pigtales and Quilts
Miss Priss Quilts
Charlottes Creation
Childlike Fascination
Renee Luvs Quilting
Cherry Blossoms
Sew We Quilt
I am giving away 4 Kona cotton solid fat quarters! Just leave me a comment to enter. If you follow my blog, let me know how you follow for a second entry. I will ship internationally.
Wake Up to Kona Giveaway
Happy quilting!
~Jennifer
NW Quilted Cat 
Awesome job on the quilting!
Great photography. Your cat stand-in is very adept. I like the way your quilting makes the quilt go from lovely to exciting.
Stunning quilt! And great scenery! Love it!!
Your quilt is beautiful! I love that pattern.
Stunning!!!
Beyond gorgeous, very, very pretty, Thanks.
Jennifer, your quilt is beautiful!!! I think I stood in that same spot when I went to Oregon to visit my son! Breathtaking location for a breathtaking quilt!
beautiful
I follow your blog!
This quilt is awesome! Love how the black background really makes those colors pop!
Wow. What can a person say about that. It is beautiful and the pictures are something else. Thanks for sharing and having a great give away.
WOW. I love this pattern and what a great choice of colors – they really pop. Terrific FMQ job too.
Awesome quilt. Love the colors and the effect of the black background.
Oh wow….I love it!! You did such a wonderful job on this quilt
Wow! Lovely quilt and wonderful photo shoot. And the quilting is gorgeous! Your Night Sky quilt is stunning!
Fabulous quilt, and quilting and wonderful pictures!
I follow you on Blog Shelf, an IPAD app.
Very nice quilt, and your picture setting is beautiful,too!
Wow, that is beautiful! The piecing and the quilting are both fabulous. And the solids really pop against the black.
Wow! The colors are striking and the quilting is wonderful….just amazing! blessings, marlene
Beautiful quilt! (Wish I was at the beach!) thanks for the giveaway.
Stunning quilt! The quilting is fantastic, and your color choices are perfect. I love the dog legs in the photo too lol.
I follow you on bloglovin!
Love that pattern. The colors you chose are gorgeous!!
That is a beautiful quilt. I have seen the pattern before and I love it. I love the colors you used and I have to say, for me, the best part is the quilting. What a fabulous idea to put swirls between the stars. Great job!!
Your quilt is awesome. It is so bright and has put a smile on my face. Thanks for sharing.
I love your quilt. Using a black background really makes the stars shine out and your quilting is just wonderful.
Oh, and I’m following you by email.
Wow…eye candy! Beautiful quilting, love the colours, and the assistants aren’t half bad as well LOL Lovely scenery for showing off this amazing quilt! Sew glad I’m not a judge for this hop today!
Love this pattern and setting your colors on black just make this pop! Your quilting is just stunning.
I love the colours, they really pop against the black. Thanks for a great giveaway too.
What a beautiful quilt and the quilting is awesome!
Sterne, so viele schöne Sterne und diese brillanten Farben ein echter Hinkucker. Sorry can Not describe it so Good in english but i love it.
Schöne Grüße aus Good Old Germany
Will Link you up on my side
That is an incredible quilt! The back is beautiful in itself!
Bloglovin follower: Nicole Sender
Stunning quilt with gorgeous colors!
a beautiful quilt 🙂
I follow via email 🙂
Love your quilt…your quilting is amazing!!! Pictures on the Oregon coast are great (hubby and I visited there last year and loved it!!) Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love that pattern and your colors do it justice. Nice job
Fantastic quilt, gorgeous quilting and wonderful pictures! Can I say more?
Love your quilt
Your quilt is lovely. Love your beach photos.
What a lovely quilt and fantastic quilting! Thank you for sharing.
Jennifer your quilt is stunning, and I absolutely love your photos !
Gorgeous! What a wonderful job! I especially love the quilting. I bet you wanted to wrap yourself up in that quilt when you were on the coast taking photos! Looks like it was cold!
Your quilt is just stunning and I love all the photos…the scenery is almost as beautiful as the quilt! You did a great job quilting it, too. Thanks for hopping with us and sharing your creation.
Oh, and I follow on WordPress and by email! pbstrand@msn.com
Great quilt! One of these days, we’ll have to meet for coffee in real time! lol Beth @ Words & Stitches. pbstrand@msn.com
Wow, that’s a beautiful quilt, and a lot of work, with all that piecing! Nice job with the quilting too!