daydreams and 'shott{ing} stars

For anyone feeling a twinge of déjà vu, it's probably because you've already seen the other half of this quilt...

Or maybe it's because I staged a similarly-sashed quilt on the same split-rail fence.  ...Either way, it might be familiar :) 

This double-sided design is based on a traditional quilt block (BB #3713) named for the fourth brightest star in the sky:  Arcturus.  When I first saw the thumbnail in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia, it was love at first sight.  So I tabbed the page and added it to my ever-increasing wishlist of all things quilty.  (And let's not forget the INDEX list!)

(...No joke about the tabs.  I mean c'mon, how else would I remember all of this INDEX-worthy material?)

Somewhere between then and now, I became fixated on this idea of a day+night design honoring this magical block.  So naturally when I saw that Lynne of Lily's Quilts was calling for proposals for the "midnight" or "dusk" oakshott packs as part of her monthly Made With Oakshott feature, I knew just what to pitch.  Of course at the time I assumed I'd use the 'shott cottons as either the "day" or "night" sky, depending upon which one showed up on my doorstep.  But once I had them in hand, I knew they were destined for more than just the background.

Rather fortuitously, I managed to get my hands of some elusive "twinkle twinkle" while the special delivery—courtesy of Michael Oakshott himself—was en route.  Imagine my delight when the oakshott bundle {shot with blues} turned out to be a near-perfect match to the starry hues in the Constellations print...

Shall we say the stars aligned?  I think so ;)  So I turned to my newly acquired copy of EQ7 and started drawing twinkling midnight skies (no doubt inspired by this lovely spread). 

When the time came to pick fabrics for the daytime sky, I kept going back to this lofty idea of daydreaming, which—to me—involves lots of sketching and thinking and writing and traveling (...and tea).  So text-y, map-y, teatime fabrics it would be!

As for quilting, I opted for closely-spaced diagonal lines that shoot across the stars.  (Because I tilted the blocks on the "nighttime" side, I knew the quilting pattern would match up no matter which side I quilted).

P.S.  A big shout out to everyone who chimed in on the thread color for the nighttime top (let's just say when pretty much all your quilty friends tell you to use grey thread, use grey thread!  Done and done.)

Interesting enough, I just stumbled upon Alison Glass's new "Color Plus" pattern, which incorporates similar skinny sashing with bursts of graded color. The bigger coincidence? Both designs hit the interwebs the same day. I'd say something about great minds..., but I'm not sure I can compare to the creative genius behind the sun print phenomenon :)

And that's that :)  Oh, and I wrote my (drum roll please!) first ever tutorial, which Lynne has kindly posted for everyone to see.  (And judge.  But hey, who's worrying about that? {me!})

Now if you haven't already, head on over to Lynne's for everything you need to know (and more!) about how to sew your own Arcturus-filled firmament :)

...Couldn't help myself ;)  Besides, ever since my order of Lizzy House's twinkle twinkle came in the other month, I've been saving these matching pants for this very occasion.  Because who wouldn't?  :D

Thanks for stopping by!  If you too love traditional designs, be sure to visit the INDEX tab and keep your eyes peeled for lots {and lots!} of "new" (read:  very old) pattern (re)releases over the coming months :)  (And always feel free to drop me a line with potential INDEX candidates if you know of a block that doesn't already have an online pattern;  I'll be more than happy to look into it and see what we can come up with!)