Time to sprinkle a little Space Dust...

Phew, one handmade Christmas gift officially crossed off my list! My Space Dust quilt is 100% done, including a quilt label for once. I can't show you the label for now, but I think it's probably the first quilt all year that I remembered to put a label on. I definitely need to make a New Year's resolution to get better about labels!

I started this quilt back in October, after Sewing Summit, as part of the Tula Pink Sew Along hosted by Sara of Sew Sweetness. The Space Dust pattern was one of Tula's fall pattern releases, and I was positively smitten with it the first time I saw it in person at Quilt Market back in May. I wasn't sure how to interpret the pattern, though, without using the fabrics Tula used in her pattern, from her fab Birds & the Bees collection. I knew who I wanted to make the quilt for, and I knew those fabrics weren't right for that person, so I pulled together some colors that I thought might work together, using shades of orange, yellow, aqua, and brown..

Each block of this quilt is pieced differently, using a unique paper piecing pattern provided in the pattern. I worked from the PDF pattern, which was 53 pages long! Each pattern shows your stitching lines, but isn't terribly descriptive when it comes to what colored fabrics go where, so I spent a good bit of time with the Fabric Placement guide on page 8 of the pattern, trying to figure out how to place my fabrics for maximum pop. I would write down the color I wanted represented on each piece, much like I do with any other paper piecing project I tackle.

As I read through the pattern and got ready to create, I realized that I literally had my work cut out for me. Unlike most online tutorials and patterns for paper pieced projects that list cutting instructions for the block, because Space Dust is made up of 48 unique paper pieced blocks, there are no cutting instructions provided. After measuring quite a few of the pieces, trying to get an idea of how I could cut my fabrics, I ultimately decided the best way to cut and piece this quilt was to work one row at a time. Measure and cut the fabrics for one row of blocks, stack each pattern and pile of fabrics on top of one another, then piece the blocks. This method worked fairly well for me, and towards the last row or two, I was able to work from scraps rather than cutting for each individual block. 

I did not add the borders specified in the quilt pattern; rather I added 4" wide borders all the way around the quilt top. For the quilting, I wound up doing free-motioned continuous wavy lines across the globe in the center of the quilt, in white 50 wt Aurifil thread, traveling in the ditch along the edge of the globe to move from line to lime. For the white negative space, I went with a simple stipple to set the negative space apart. I chose an Anna Maria Horner print from Innocent Crush to bind it.

A lovely swan happened to horn in on my quilty photoshoot, which was positively unreal. I didn't even know that there are swans living in Florida! Fortunately, he (or she??) was a very nice, well-behaved swan, and he even posed for a picture.

I think this quilt is going to be a big hit with the person I intend to give it to over the holidays! I can't wait to give it to them :)

Quilt Stats

name: A Little Sprinkle of Space Dust

size: 59" x 63"

pattern: Space Dust by Tula Pink - available at Tula's shop

fabrics: So darned many from Flea Market Fancy, Modern Meadow, Happy Mochi Yum Yum, Oval Elements, Heirloom, and many more

quilting: free-motioned continuous wavy lines and a stipple in Aurifil 50 wt white thread (color #2024)

binding: Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush Mixed Signals in Seafoam