Inverted Stars

I’ve been working on some gender neutral baby quilts for a guild charity project and found a great pattern that I wanted to use.  The pattern is the Fence Rail Star by Missouri Star Quilt Company.  The star points are white in the pattern but I don’t play that way and had to invert the color selections.  Oh, and I don’t use white much so had to go with a grey background.  It is my favorite background color as many of you all already know.The background Rail Fence blocks are made from a jelly roll of Behind the Scenes by Jen Kingwell.  I made it a point to have a light, medium, and dark print in each Rail Fence section and flipped them around until I liked the layout for each star block.As previously mentioned, I adore a grey background and this jelly roll did not disappoint.  The colors do run a bit more beige-based than pure grey but the bright star points really shine.  I made two 36″ square quilt tops and had 4 jelly roll strips remaining.  I want to make myself a big girl quilt with this pattern so I may have to order a few more jelly rolls.  I love the pop of color against the subdued background of the grey.I’ve got enough super soft cuddle fabric for the back of both which will make these both doubly awesome!

I should use this new-to-me fat quarter bundle for the bright points in the big girl quilt – Architexture Crosshatch!  I adore it and it might just be perfect for a quilt I’m keeping for myself.  I think I’ll ponder that option for a bit….

Yoga Sling Strap

I also needed a bag or sling for my yoga mat and I found a tutorial online by Doodles and Stitches for a nice looking sling.  She had cut her strip four inches wide and folded in half then top stitched but I figured that I had enough leftover binding strips that I could just sew them together and get the same width for my strap.  I can’t be the only one with a pile of leftover binding strips.I love how colorful and fun the strap is!  It will make carrying my mat through the gym so easy and it won’t take up a lot of space along the studio wall while I’m using it during class.

Are there other great uses for leftover binding strips?  Let me hear ’em.

Happy sewing!