Out Of This World

Boy this was a head scratcher!  As soon as I saw the view of the Earth standing on the Moon I knew this was for my oldest grandson…or so I hoped.  At the time he was all about stars, and planets.  Learning the names and asking a lot of questions that I couldn’t answer.  Before I even got the material in from Fabric.com I had picked out the coordinating square that I wanted to use.  Prism dust was its name.  Ugh… NOT A GOOD CHOICE!!  I wasted so much material on this square that I was now worried that I wouldn’t have enough for his quilt.  After the fourth or fifth try I was like “enough”.  I went back to my books and looked, and looked, and looked.  Finally I found it.  Block #13: Empire Star.  No I didn’t pick it for its name, in fact I almost didn’t use it because of its number.  Yes, I am superstitious that way and anyone who knows me knows that.  I go to the extent to not use the color 666 in my cross stitches because I am not going to put that bad juju on the things I make for my loved ones.  EVER!  But I convinced myself it wasn’t about the number, that wasn’t the name of the block, it was just the sequence.  Kind of like staying on the 13th floor of a hotel, unavoidable .  Even if they skip the #13, it is still the 13th floor.  I did love the shape and I knew the colors I had chosen would make it pop! The next step was to decide how big to make and how much material I had left. I actually went back to Fabric.com to see if they had more of the fabric that is in all the stars.  I intended there to be two rows of red to begin with but Fabric.com no longer had that fabric.  Sold out!  So, one row it is.  Had my daughter give me the measurements of his bed to make sure it would be big enough, plenty, and I moved on.   I did a simple ,but I believe, effective quilting technique.  Just simply going around the square 4 times to make stand out.  I didn’t quilt the panel too much.  I liked how it stood out on its own.  I did put a Red X on the state of Florida to mark where he lives.  I didn’t tell him hoping he will notice someday.  Hopefully he will tell me so I know he noticed.  When I finished sewing the pieces I was hoping I would have enough for the backing I was going to use the second panel that I had to purchase.  The more I thought about it the more I really wanted him to have a pillowcase with the moon on one side and the earth on the other.  I used material used on the 4 corners of the star to tie it all together.  The label I made and placed on the back with iron on so the quilting would sew it on rather than having extra stitches and making it too messy.  I then whipstitched around what was not tacked down.  He thought the stars glowed at first but realized it was just the light shining through.  I don’t know about him, but I was disappointed then that they did not glow…  He’s so creative, intelligent ( like my husband)He amazes me everyday with the questions he has and the observations that he makes.    I hope this really gives him incredible ideas someday.  That was the intention anyway.