Valentines Day stars

The Joann near me put up their Valentines Day stuff on December 23rd. It was absurd.

But here I am making a Valentines item. Not for me; my boyfriend and I do not particularly do that holiday. He normally cooks for me, and it's normally a steak, but that's about as far as the day goes.

My Valentines item is because I volunteered to make something for a participant in the Savvy Seasons Swap that didn't get her item because her partner basically fell off the face of the earth. I think that's about the saddest thing that can happen during a swap. I know I'd be devastated. And, oddly enough, the person that I had in the swap had the person who dropped out. Anyways.

If you will recall, I had pulled pinks and purples and reds. Certainly not the strongest section of my small stash. [But I am loooving that Secret Garden print on the far right. I also have it in blue, green, and gray, but this might be my favorite colorway]

I was having a really hard time thinking of a design. First off, there was no mosaic in the Flickr pool, so I browsed the person's favorites and her photostream, and visited her blog, but was having a tough time narrowing in on something. Hopefully she likes these interlocking stars, which is the design I finally settled on, thinking that most people enjoy stars, and this way I got to use the majority of the fabrics I had pulled.

I didn't want to make any more stars, because I didn't have any other fabrics that would match, but I didn't feel this was quite big enough for either a table topper or a wall hanging [which was what she stated she wanted in her questionnaire]. So I added some Essex linen borders. I love Essex linen. The Natural color specifically, which is what is used here.

This is the finished product! And I totally love it. I find I'm often ambivalent towards a project as I make it, enjoying the process more than the actual item, and then when it's all said and done I love it. I didn't want to bind this for a few reasons...the main ones being that I couldn't decide on a binding, I hate making binding, and I wanted to get this in the mail as quick as possible. So I put the front and back right sides together, with some batting in there, stitched around the edge, and then turned it inside out. 

You can see in the photo of the back that the quilting was very simple, just diagonal lines. I really really couldn't decide on what quilting would look good on the front and back, because I planned this to be reversible. The print in the triangles that you can't see very well is the pinks and oranges plus print in the Kate Spain Terrain line.

This button detail might be my favorite part. As you can sort of see in the pictures above, there are 2 buttons sewn on each side. I then tied this pink ribbon around the buttons, in a simple bow for travel. But in my note to the recipient, I explained that I wasn't sure of the size/shape of her table, so I wanted this to be able to be used as both a table topper and a wall hanging. The ribbon can be removed for this to be set on the table, on either side [which is why hanging tabs or sleeves wouldn't have worked], or the ribbon can be tied on either side of buttons, letting it drape down a bit, and hung over pushpins, nails, etc.

I really hope that _________ enjoys this, and forgets that she ever had a bad experience in a swap. I also sent along a matching apron/potholder set in red, pink, and aqua, for any Valentines baking that might be done, and some various pieces of fabric. She should receive it all on Tuesday!

Now start your week off right and go visit Megan for some more modern finishes :)