Sunday, February 2, 2020

Split Sunburst

If you've been around for a while, you may remember the Sunburst quilt pattern I created for McCall's Quilting Magazine many years ago. It was also published in the book Best Wall Quilts and you can see it here.

It's actually an old design that I found in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Quilt Blocks, and right next to the original is a version where all of the diamonds are split. I've had in the back of my mind that I would love to try that some day - but wow - it cannot be strip pieced and there are tons of points to match and try not to chop off!

A few months ago, I decided to give it a try when I spotted Ruby Star Society's Speckled fabric at my local quilt shop. I knew I had the perfect fabric for the design and also that it would be either a big win or a big fail!

And it turned into a win in my book!

An interesting note: my original plan was to use a white background (instead of the navy) and have the half diamonds "float" on the quilt {which is actually very pretty}. But as I was coloring the binding in EQ8, I accidentally clicked on the background and turned it navy. I texted my friend, Cheryl, to get a second opinion and we both liked the navy better.


It was a lot of points to match! But, I took my time and most of them turned out pretty well :)


For the quilting, I decided to do a spiral, using the width of my walking foot for spacing...


I'm so glad I gave it a go!


15 comments:

  1. This came out very striking and love the navy background...perfect! Really like how it pops the points and makes them stand out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's stunning, Cindy. I do love the dark background and how the piecing pops off of it and can be truly appreciated. The spiral is a nice finishing touch. Will this become a wall hanging in your home?

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is fabulous Cindy. I think the navy background really does the piecing magic. I've been wanting to try spiral quilting, but have had issues with the center quilting on my practice pieces. Yours looks beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, this is impressive! And I think your navy accident was a perfect choice. It loos gorgeous this way. Enjoy your beautiful quilt xo Melanie

    ReplyDelete
  5. Like Melanie said, very impressive! It looks like tons of work but the result is so striking and unusual. Any chance of a tutorial on how you "split" the diamonds?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, Cindy! Your mind seems to be forever in "design mode" and you never fail to execute those ideas so expertly and beautifully.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! Gorgeous quilt!! Love the colors!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful quilt! Love the design.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's a beautiful piece. The colors are great, and navy was a wonderful choice!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a stunning quilt! The colors, the design, the everything, is just beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful quilt. I've been trying to draw a Sunburst type quilt in Electric Quilt. Did you draw this as one large block or did you use a star layout? I couldn't find a way to make a Starburst/Sunburst quilt where blocks go to the edges of the quilt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can use Polydraw in EQ8 to draw each of the patches using an 8-point star grid or color a Lone Star block from the block library. Don't color the patches in the outer portion of the star. If you remove the patch lines you'll get a Sunburst. It will appear to float on the background (not go to the edges of the quilt), but you can get an idea of color placement.

      Delete
  12. Thanks for the reply. If I understand correctly, the Polydraw drawing (or the Lone Star block in Easydraw) would still be oriented like a traditional lone star quilt i.e. with the tips of the diamond patches on the 45 degree angle not like your quilt where the tips of the diamond patches are oriented on the vertical axis, correct?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that's correct. I used EQ8 just to get the color placement I wanted and after piecing you can orient the star either way. It's squared up with triangles in the corners.

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.