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:

Favorite Finish for August 2025 at Quilting Jetgirl

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

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 6/30/2024

My stash report for the past week shows plenty of outgoing fabric that was used in a variety of projects. Some of these were actually done in previous weeks, but weren't shared on the blog until the past few days.

My most recent finish, the Orange Peel Rainbow quilt, used 2.75 yards for the border, backing, binding and hanging sleeve. All of the fabrics in the top had been previously counted.

The Star Pulse quilt took 3 yards of fabric for the quilt top and the back. I'm counting the backing fabric as used even though the quilt is not finished because the layers are already spray basted together, just waiting to be quilted. Here's the fabric I used for the back.

The other usage for the week was .75 yards for two Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, the Hen & Chicks sampler and the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts. You can see my blocks in yesterday's post.

Altogether, my usage for the week comes to 6.5 yards. No new fabric was added to the stash this week.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                     6.50 yards

Used year to date:                 45.0 yards

Added last week:                     0.0 yards

Added year to date:               32.0 yards

Net used in 2024:              13.0 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. I pieced the two sets of sampler blocks this week, plus prepped the Star Pulse quilt for quilting. Unfortunately, progress on that came to a screeching halt when the tension assembly on my machine fell to pieces. I'm waiting, not so patiently, for a new part to arrive.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

6/23 - 6/29               7 of 7 days

2024 Total          178 of 181 days

Success rate                 98.3 %   

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

Star Pulse QAL

Ever since last November when Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl announced her plans to host a quilt-along for her new Star Pulse pattern, I was intrigued by the design and trying to figure out a color palette that I wanted to use. Yvonne shared plenty of color options for inspiration, but I was hoping to work from my stash, and nothing really spoke to me for this project...until a couple of weeks ago.

Star Pulse quilt pattern, Quilting Jetgirl

The quilt-along started in December, and I followed along with Yvonne's instructions each month, still dreaming about making this quilt. Then inspiration hit when I read about a challenge hosted by the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show. This year's challenge theme is "Black & White Plus One," and the rules are to make a quilt that measures 30" wide by 40" high using only fabrics in black, white, and one additional color. Now that was a color scheme I could make work! I made several passes through my fabric stash, finally settling on this grouping of black and white prints (although I ended up changing the darkest fabric.) My "plus one" fabric is a nearly solid red batik.

The next challenge was adapting the Star Pulse pattern to fit the size requirements. Yvonne's pattern makes a 60" wide quilt that finishes at either 60" or 72" long. Making my units half that size worked perfectly for a 30" wide quilt, and I just had to adjust a little at the top and bottom to get the right length. Once I'd figured out my fabric choices, I was able to piece my mini version of Star Pulse in a weekend. Here's my finished top, followed by a closer look at some of the piecing.

Star Pulse quilt top, 30" x 40"

I had hoped to get my Star Pulse quilt finished by the end of the month and submit it for the quilt show challenge. Unfortunately, the tension assembly on the machine I use for quilting totally came apart and that machine is unusable until I receive the new part. For now I will have to settle for joining the Star Pulse final link-up at Quilting Jetgirl. Thanks so much to Yvonne for her wonderful pattern and a fun quilt-along.

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

Star Pulse QAL Final Linkup at Quilting Jetgirl

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA