Star Pulse is a Finished Quilt!

Star Pulse started as a quilt-along and pattern by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl. The quilt-along ran from November 2023 until June of 2024. My quilt top was made in June 2024 with the intention of entering it into a challenge at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show, but it didn't get quilted in time to be entered. This year it was added to my list for the guild's UFO Challenge, and now I can present my finished Star Pulse quilt!

Star Pulse, 41.5" square

Yvonne's pattern makes a quilt that finishes at either 60" square or 60" x 72". The rules for the quilt challenge required that it finish at 30" x 40". For my original quilt top, I made the units in the quilt half the size of Yvonne's pattern and adjusted the rows at the top and bottom to get it to the right size.

Star Pulse quilt top 2024

30" x 40"

When I pulled this quilt top out for finishing earlier this summer, I decided that I would like it better if it were extended at the sides to complete the design. I'm so glad that I took the time to make that change because I'm much happier with the way it looks now.

Star Pulse quilt top before quilting

My quilting is very simple, and for the most part it barely shows. I would have stitched in the ditch next to the red, but that didn't work because my seams were all pressed open as suggested in the pattern. Instead, I quilted very close to the red bands, then added a triple star quilted in red at the center of the quilt. 

I had marked the center star with a blue wash-out marker, and it hasn't been washed away completely yet, just spritzed with a spray bottle. Unfortunately, spraying to remove the blue marks made the red dye run in a few spots. You can see traces of it in the music note fabric right next to the red. I'm very frustrated by that because I tested the fabrics before  making the quilting, and there wasn't any bleeding on the sample piece. I'll need to work on soaking that out later.

Backing fabric

That's one more finished project crossed off my UFO Challenge list. You can find more information about Yvonne's Star Pulse Quilt Along at her website, or go straight to her store to buy the pattern.

Linking up with:

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 8/3/2025

My stash report doesn't show any changes for the past week. Most of my quilting time was spent on quilt guild projects with fabric that did not come from my stash. I also worked on quilting a small quilt, but all of the fabric used in that project has already been reported.

July 2025, Temperature Quilt blocks

I did spend some time yesterday getting caught up on making blocks for my temperature quilt. When I put them up on the wall together, it was quite a surprise  to see how little variation there had been in temperatures for the month of July. The diamonds in the blocks indicate the high temperature for each day, and they varied from 86 degrees up to 99 just a few days ago. Each color represents a 3 degree range of temperature. 

The background in each block indicates the low temp for that day, and the lack of variety there is especially striking. Except for the one block in the top row with the greenish-yellow background, there are only two other fabrics for the lows. The yellow is for lows of 73-75 degrees, and the deep orange shows lows of 76-78 degrees. It was a very warm month, but we are now getting a dramatic change for the next several days, with forecasts for our high temps in the mid 70's. 

I'll add up the yardage used for these blocks at a later date, probably combining it with the temperature blocks from another month or two.

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                  0.0 yards

Used year to date:         46.125 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards

Added year to date:           56.5 yards

Net added in 2025:    10.375 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. Along with the temperature blocks, I machine quilted a small quilt plus enjoyed a guild sewing day working on a community service project. It was another 7-for-7 week!

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

7/27 - 8/2                7 of 7 days

2025 Total         213 of 214 days

Success rate                99.5 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA