Gorgeous Stargate Quilt by From the Blue Chair

Kati from The Blue Chair is not only a momma to three little ones, but a very talented quilter!  You must spend a few minutes browsing through her finished quilts...I just spent at least 10 minutes!  I am amazed by these Subway Quilts, hers is lovely.  Her Stargate Quilt we're featuring today, I am smitten by.  Really truly.  And her backing???  It's like two quilts.  So beautiful.  Thanks Kati!

This quilt began when Lynne over at Lily's Quilts asked me to participate in her quilt-along and put my own twist on her Dresden design.  I decided to strip piece the individaul petals of the Dresdens.  I originally planned to make this quilt square with four Dresden blocks, but felt the design wasn't working as I hoped.  I decided to use only one Dresden on the front.  I then used the remaining Dresden petals on the back in a design inspired by Oh Frannson's New Wave Pattern.

 I debated quite a bit on the final design for the quilt front.  I had about 300 half square triangle blocks pieced and ready.  After trying out various designs, I ultimately went with the pattern I first saw from Red Pepper Quilts.  I love how the focus is on the Dresden circle, yet the arrangement of the HSTs creates an interesting secondary design.  A bit of trial and error went into piecing this correctly with the block set on point. 

I machine quilted it using my standard loopy quilting style, except the Dresden center which is quilted with pebble quilting.  The fabrics are a scrappy assortment, all from my stash.  The grey is Kona Coal, and the white is Kona White.  The binding is from the Sherbet Pips line.  The finished size is approximately 60"x70".

My finished quilt looks much different than my original plans.  I love the process of designing a quilt.  I tend to arrange and rearrange the quilt components multiple times.  My design wall (which is simply a large piece of felt tacked to the wall) is critical during this process.  The final result is a quilt that is uniquely mine while using others ideas and patterns as a springboard for my design.

I call this the Stargate Quilt, named after the 90's movie which I hadn't seen since high school.  A few weeks ago the hubs and I sat down and watched Stargate again.  The name seems even more appropriate now after rewatching the movie.  It's such a great geeky movie and was fun to relive the old days--cuddled in my quilt of course.