Troublesome Star

Here is a beautiful lone star quilt we admired at the 2022 Tucson Quilt Fiesta. The quilt's autumn hues reflect the beauty of the season; the border fabric reminds us of leaves swirling in gusts of wind.

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Troublesome Star by Christine Nelson, quilted by Lynn Simon

The border fabric was the inspiration for this wonderful quilt. The fabric choices and arrangement create a gradation that makes the star positively glow. The star was created using Quiltsmart's printed interfacing, which keeps the bias edges from stretching and helps with matching seams.  

Why was the quilt named "Troublesome Star"? Christine Nelson explains, "It took 5 years to find a background fabric I could tolerate." :-) 

In the closeup photo, below, you can see that Christine used the same border fabric in the very center of the star.  She fussy cut the diamonds to create a kaleidoscope effect.

 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2022 Tucson Quilters Guild show.
 

Highlights of the Utah quilt show (2)

 Each year, the Springville Museum of Art (Utah) has one of the best quilt shows in the country.  It features award-winning quilts from Utah, a state blessed with an abundance of accomplished quilters. Here are some highlights of this year's show!

Note: please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns and collectibles ! For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !

Lone Star by Chris Dodge (Salem, Utah)

Winner of a blue ribbon (Award of Excellence), Chris Dodge chose colors of the southwest for her beautiful Lone Star quilt.  Smaller, matching lone stars edge the outer border.  Her outstanding quilting can be seen in the open spaces.  The closeup photos highlight Chris' precise machine quilting designs.

My Kinda Town by Lynette Cummings (Springville, Utah)

My Kinda Town is a delightful paper pieced quilt featuring houses, stores, a church, and  various trees! (The My Kinda Town quilt pattern is by Laura Heine.) Lynette Cummings says, "This is the 5th quilt I have created, however this is the first time I have chosen my own fabric.  It has been so fun to see how it all comes together and I love it! My mom owns a long arm quilting machine and I used that machine to quilt free hand."

 DeVine Stars by Megan Cresap Legas (Provo, Utah)

This heirloom quilt won a blue ribbon for Best Solitare Hand Quilting. It combines pieced stars and appliqued vines. The expert hand quilting alone must have taken many months.  Megan Legas says, "My basket of 1 inch strips inspires a multitude of possibilities.  This quilt combines a few of them.  I play with the narrow strips to see what will happen, and am often surprised by the result." Megan's intricate hand quilting can be seen in the open spaces, below.

 Ukrainian Lone Star by Tami Johnson (Springville, Utah), quilted by Emmy Evans

Tami Johnson says that this was going to be a simple yellow Lone Star on a white background, but that changed with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  "The white became blue thus representing the colors of the Ukrainian flag. ...Typically I leave the setting squares and triangles around the Star empty as a canvas for the qulter to fill.  But I wanted to fill this quilt with hope, so I spent hours creating the sunflower appliques."  Ukrainian-style embroidery is represented in the borders, as shown above.

 San Francisco by Becca Barlow (Pleasant Grove, Utah), quilted by Abby Latimer

Becca Barlow created this fantastic modern design after a trip to San Francisco. She says, "I noticed an antique grate and loved the intricate design.  I took a picture and set about incorporating the design into a quilt." The overall quilting, done in spirals and swirls by Abby Latimer, softens the lines without detracting from the striking geometric design.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2022 Springville (Utah) quilt show.

The 2022 Tucson Quilters Guild Fiesta (2)

Can you believe it... an in-person quilt show! WOW! We hope you enjoy these fabulous creations from the talented quilters of the Tucson Quilters Guild.  As you can see, they have been quilting up a storm for the last two years.  Here is Part 2 of our photos.

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Waiting to Dance by Millie Burgheimer

Millie notes that her quilt shows Native American sisters waiting to dance at a tribal powwow in the city of Prescott, Arizona, a medium-size town in the mountains, about three hours north of Phoenix, Arizona. Millie used thread and beads as embellishment of three layers of fabrics. 

 Millie quilted this very artistic work herself. Her work is known for its soft colors, texture, subtle depictions of light and shadow, and a very realistic depth of field.

Old Pueblo Stories by Cindi Huff

Second place winner for one person, machine quilted, applique quilts, Cindi writes, "This quilt depicts historically relevant places here in Tucson, including the University of Arizona and St. Augustine's Cathedral. Cindi took a class from artist Catherine Skow,  who supplied the pattern. Cindi's creation is a fascinating look at diverse architectural details found in this city.
 

In this close-up of the cathedral, you can see Cindi's careful attention to detail. Cindi quilted this work herself and says that she learned a lot about Tucson from Tucson native and quilt teacher Catherine Skow.
 

 Wait For Me by Jo Brickwell

First Place winner for Art Pictorial Quilts, Jo notes, "[This] original design was created in Ricky Tims' "Gridified Art Quilts" class. We see many quail families in our yard, and there is always a straggler trying to catch up with the group. So I am calling this "Wait for Me."

Jo quilted her amazing work herself and chose the perfect subject matter by portraying these cute birds against the backdrop of the desert, mountains, and sky. 

Alaska Rainbow by Meg Silvern, quilted by Linda Powell

Meg comments that during the Covid quarantine, she and her sister each made this quilt during an online quilting class. The pattern is by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts.  Meg made the quilt from a kit, which included all the top fabrics.

Vibrant cottons,  saturated with color, arranged in designs resembling snowflakes and stars,  make this quilt a real eye-catcher. We like the geometric lines of the blocks and the cheery bright fabrics. 

Jane's Wedding Ring by Jane Smith

 Here's the dynamic Diamond Wedding Ring pattern  designed by Judy Niemeyer from Quiltworx. Jane made a great choice when deciding to include this elegant pattern in the Tucson show. Jane explains, "I like paper piecing, batiks, and wedding ring quilts, so this pattern seemed like a good choice for me. "

Jane adds, " I don't like to do applique, so I simply left the applique off my quilt. I quilted it on a Gammel longarm machine using the Creative Studio Software.

Sea Side Sunset by Malcolm Neifeld, quilted by Kris Neifeld

Malcolm remarks, "On a Lone Star kick with my mother, I decided to make my first ever. Skimming through Helen Frost's  Lone Star book, I saw the design and had an idea to make it on my own. "

 Malcolm adds, "I really enjoyed sunset colors, and I thought my first Lone Star would fit the look."

This beautiful scheme of warm and cool hues with soft monochromatic shading, provides a lovely watercolor effect. Malcolm's work really sparkles against the dark background.

Image credits: Photos were taken at the 2022 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Starry Night

The summer solstice is less than a month away, and brilliant stars are on the horizon. Join us as we admire a brilliant star quilt from last year's Road to California show. ~ p.s. Check out our eBay shop for great bargains on books, magazines, and collectible items. For free quilt inspiration, please visit us on Twitter.

Starry Night by Susan Scholfield (Canton, Michigan) 

Susan Scholfield's Starry Night quilt was inspired by the Not So Lone Star quilt made by Liza Prior Lucy with Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  That quilt was featured in the 2010 book called Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts.  

Susan Scholfield received permission to exhibit her quilt inspired by Liza's design. Free motion feathers abound in the dark background of the quilt to enhance the colorful diamond shapes within the Lone Star pattern.

This Lone Star quilt is a study in color and quilt design, with free motion quilting within the diamonds enhancing the geometric shapes.  We love the choice of fabrics, patterns, and colors in this beautifully-made quilt.  Susan Scholfield has won many quilting awards, including Best Home Sewing Machine Quilted at the 2019 Sauder Village Quilt show.

Image credits:  Photos were taken at the 2020 Road to California quilt show.

Quilts from the Springville Museum of Art (part 2)

Each year, the Springville Museum of Art (Utah) has one of the best quilt shows around.  It features award-winning quilts from Utah, a state blessed with an abundance of accomplished quilters. Here are some highlights of this year's show!

Note: please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns and collectibles ! For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !

Exuberance by Helen Butler

Winner of an Award of Excellence, this stunning heirloom quilt was a decade in the making. Helen Butler says, "Having started this quilt 10 years ago, this is the feeling I had upon its completion.  The mere size created a degree of difficulty on my home machine to quilt. Thus the feeling of exuberance entered my soul when I was able to pronounce it done!"

It is a reproduction of an antique quilt on display at the Henry Ford Museum (in Dearborn, Michigan). Helen Butler created this masterpiece using needle turn applique, trapunto, thread painting, and piping add to the dimension of this quilt.  All of the quilting designs are original.

Beauty All Around by Myrt Gehring, quilted by Carole Lifferth

Myrt Gehring says,  "I really enjoyed working with wool.  This is my second wool quilt but [it] was a challenge for me and stretched me to learn new concepts.  I loved all the colors and felt they blended well.  All Jewel tones that I love. This quilt took me over a year to complete and most of the time was very enjoyable!"  (Note: The design is by Joyce Weeks at Geoff's Mom Pattern Company.)

Teal Unstopped by Toni Sharp, quilted by Cindy Williams

Teal Unstopped was begun in a class, and each month the class focused on a different lone star design.  Toni Sharp says, "The teal fabrics tied the stars together, and Cindy Williams' custom quilting further enhanced the stars." We loved the interesting fabric choices and colors, and admired Toni's perfect piecing technique!  Here are two closeup photos.

Seminole - Southwest by Marian Murdock

This quilt is all Seminole strip pieced, using both traditional and non-traditional Seminole designs in a large scale.  Winner of Honorable Mention at the show, Marian Murdock says, "I chose colors of the desert Southwest, but my design inspiration came from the Seminole Native Americans of South Florida.  The Seminoles are known for their brightly colored intricate pieced bands used in their traditional clothing."

Marian explains, "The most challenging part of designing it was figuring out the size of the strips so the pieced bands did not cut off in an odd place. I wanted to keep the focus on the piecing, so I kept the quilting simple, mostly in-the-ditch, which I did on a home machine."

Love Groves by Jennifer Gunnell, quilted by Lisa White

There is a bevy of colorful trees in this eye-catching quilt! Love Groves is made from thousands of diamond shapes, using hundreds of batik fabrics, and each tree has a unique quilted pattern.  Jennifer Gunnel says, "I have a tradition of making wedding quilts for my daughters.  This one was made for my youngest daugther whose nickname is "Tree". Our family tree is forever growing in Groves of Love."

Each tree canopy is made from four equilateral triangle sections, made from diamond-shaped patches in a manner similar to a Bethlehem star quilt.The source of the design was not listed on the quilt description, but it reminds us of the blocks in "From Little Things, Big Things Grow" by Sarah Fielke for Lecien Fabrics (see the free PDF download here.)

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the Springville Museum of Art.

Free pattern day! Star Quilts (part 3)

Here are more free patterns for STAR quilts!  There are Sawtooth Stars, Ohio Stars, LeMoyne Stars, Lone Stars, Mariner's Compass Stars, Friendship Stars, Feathered Stars, and Bursting Star quilts (and more!)  To go to a pattern: Scroll down the page until you see the quilt you like, then click on the words "PDF download" (or the hyperlinked website name) in the title above the quilt. 

(For Part 1 of this series, click here! For Part 2 of this series, click here!)

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great deals on quilt patterns and vintage collectibles ! For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !

Stargazer quilt, ~44 x 60", free pattern by Jane Sassaman for Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Starry Night quilt, 62 x 76”, free pattern by Janice Zeller Ryan for Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Syncopation quilt, 64 x 80", free pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Starburst Dragon Fruit quilt, free pattern at Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Checkmate quilt, 62.5" square, free pattern by Jean Impey for Hoffman California Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Starburst Mango quilt, 87" square, free pattern at Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Starry Dreams quilt, 55 x 66", free pattern at Windham Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Fruit Salad quilt, 60" square, free pattern by Tula Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Summer Stars quilt, free pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Shining Stars quilt, 66 x 84", free pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Plum Turnover quilt, 69 x 87", free pattern by Wendy Sheppard for Anthology Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Moon Glow quilt, 86” square, free pattern by Jinny Beyer (CLICK for PDF download)

Star Frost quilt, 60” square, free pattern by Marsha Evans Moore for Michael Miller Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

 

Jelly Roll Strip Starburst quilt, 70" square, free pattern by Kimberly Einmo for Fairfield World (CLICK for PDF download)

Pointing The Way quilt, 56 x 56”, free pattern by Martha Ethridge for NQA (CLICK for PDF download)

Starry Night Square Dance quilt, 75” square, free pattern by Wendy Sheppard for RJR Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Stars and Stripes Forever, 80” square, free pattern by Sue Beevers for RJR Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Stars at Dusk quilt, 66 x 66”, free pattern at Quilters Newsletter (CLICK for PDF download)

Happy Bird Blue quilt, 53" square, free pattern by Heidi Pridemore for Michael Miller Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Natural Wonders Diamond quilt, 60 x 70”, free pattern by Sue Falkowski for Studio E Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Nature Walk quilt, 60 x 72”, free pattern by Heidi Pridemore for Michael Miller Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Pop Stars quilt, ~63 x 77”, free pattern by Nancy Mahoney for Timeless Treasures (CLICK for PDF download)

Corsica quilt, 90” square, free pattern by Jinny Beyer (CLICK for PDF download)

Tulip Time quilt, 96”square, free pattern by Christine Stainbrook for RJR Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Star Tracks quilt, 94” square, free pattern at Anthology Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Star Twists quilt, ~53 x 63", free pattern by A.E. Nathan (CLICK for PDF download)

Star Weave quilt, ~57 x 69", free pattern by Nancy Mahoney (CLICK for PDF download)

Star Borealis quilt, 57 x 67”, Wendy Sheppard, Anthology Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Stardust quilt, 75 x 93”, free pattern by Wendy Sheppard for Benartex (CLICK for PDF download)

Stars quilt, ~44 x 58”, free pattern by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Venetian Stars quilt, 94 x 98”, free pattern by Lee Chappell Monroe for Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Shimmering Constellation quilt, 71 x 89", free pattern by Wendy Sheppard at Ivory Spring (CLICK for PDF download)

Let’s Dance quilt, 63 x 75”, free pattern at Windham Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Virginia Star quilt, 52 x 67”, free pattern by Michelle Marvig for Leutenegger (CLICK for PDF download)

Wall of Fame quilt, 60 x 72”, free pattern by Stacey Day and Tula Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)
 

Blue when Skies Are Gray, 48 x 56”, free pattern by Simple Simon and Company for Riley Blake Designs (CLICK for PDF download)

Midnight Star quilt, 60 x 60”, free pattern by Jean Katherine Smith for Windham Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Big Star wall quilt, ~33 x 36”, free pattern at APQS (CLICK for PDF download)

Bethlehem Star quilt, 72 x 90”, free pattern by Marinda Stewart for Windham Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Aurora Stars quilt, 60 x 60”, free pattern by Shelley Swanland for RJR Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Stratosphere quilt, 51 x 51", free pattern by Jinny Beyer for RJR Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

North Star quilt, ~33” square, free pattern by Osie Lebowitz for Timeless Treasures Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Image credits: This post was updated on April 3, 2026. Individual images are copyrighted by their owners. Please respect their generosity in sharing their free patterns, and the restrictions they have placed on the use of these designs; complete information can be found at the designers' websites provided in the links. The photo montage shown on this page is a derivative work that is the property of Quilt Inspiration. If any links are broken, we'd love to know so we can fix it. Please email us at QuiltInspiration {at} gmail {dot} com.