The products and fabrics shown in this post were given to me by Island Batik.

The Island Batik Ambassador’s challenge for May is to “Make It Modern”!  The Modern Quilt Guild defines ‘modern” as use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space and alternative grid work.  I think I did pretty good.

I decided to make Lemoyne Stars.  Deb Tucker’s Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star tool was the very first Studio 180 Design tool I used and is one of my favorites!  This tool makes Lemoyne stars in 10 sizes from 3″ to 12″ blocks.

I went to my EQ8 and began to design.  The drawing above on the left shows the layout for the Lemoyne stars.  The drawing on the right with blue indicates the background I had to fill in.  I chose to use the “Add a Plain Block” option.  This allows me make a block the same size as the quilt center, color it, and move it to the back, behind the stars to fill in the blank spaces.  I also could have used the “Paintbrush” option to color in the background.   However, this does not give me the fabric sizes to cut.

I made my 10 different lemoyne stars and went to the design wall.  I worked on the right side first.  I measured and added a background rectangle to the left and above the green 11″ star.  I then added a rectangle to the blue 10″ star so it was the width as the 11″ star above it.

I continued on, adjusting and measuring, adding background fabric, piecing, tying it all together.

Somehow I couldn’t quite maintain the smooth circle.

I guess my stars are ricocheting instead of swirling!

I decided to quilt using a tight meander around the stars and then stitch in the ditch through the seams of the stars so they have a 3D effect.  I used the Hobbs Tuscany Cotton Wool Blend to give the stitches great definition.

AND then I liked it better turned upside down, so I flipped it!  Lemoynes Lost in Space measures 40″ x 50″.

The background of my quilt is a black batik from Island Batik, it really makes the colors pop!

Happy Spring!  As always my quilts are pieced with Aurifil thread.  If you want your stars to shine use Island Batik fabrics and your quilt colors will sing!

#islandbatik #Aurifilthread #Hobbsbatting #HobbsTuscanyCottonWoolBlend #DebTucker #studio180design #RapidFireLemoyneStar