Twinkling Stars Finish and NTT

Welcome to Needle and Thread Thursday, my friends!  I am delighted to share my finished Twinkling Stars quilt with you today!

The more I worked with this color palette, the more I loved it.  I feel like it is just perfect for this time of year.  With the addition of aqua and navy, the colors are definitely summery, but the orange, teal, and purples allow the quilt to lean into autumn just enough.  Our high temp here yesterday was only 76 degrees, so I feel like this quilt is a great representation of art reflecting nature.

I quilted this one with an allover swirl motif, and it adds just enough movement and texture to the stars.  

I think I'm most excited to share the back with you.  I used 25 total prints in this quilt, which is way more than I really needed, but y'all know I love a scrappy look, AND a pieced quilt back.  I had a mix of fat quarters, long quarters, third-yard cuts, and half-yard cuts, which means that my leftovers were a variety of sizes.  I chose to make the Chunky quilt back from my book, Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs, because it works well with a pile of mixed-size scraps.  

I didn't have to go purchase a large quantity of a single backing fabric, and using all my leftovers means that the back is a perfect compliment for the front of the quilt.  Best of all, this back is a little surprise when the quilt is turned over!  

After being released in late June, Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs is already in its second printing!  If you've been on the fence about it, now is the time to get your copy.  I promise you'll love all the fresh ideas for adding a little wow factor to the backs of your quilts.  It will help you use up those scraps and leftovers so they don't get tossed into your scrap bin!  

You can get it everywhere you usually buy books, or get a signed copy from my Etsy shop HERE.

For the binding, my initial plan was to use Kona Berry.  It's one of the fabrics in the blocks, and as the darkest fabric in the quilt, I thought it would frame everything nicely...except when I went to cut my binding strips, I found that I didn't have quite enough.  In the name of stash busting, I went through my solid stash to find something else that would work, and came across this Kona Cerise.  It's not quite as deep as the Berry, but it definitely picks up plenty of the magenta-purples in the quilt, and I had juuuust enough of it.  

I've named this one Twinkling Stars, because the larger four-point star in the secondary pattern creates the fun twinkling effect.  I'm currently working on the pattern for this one, so stay tuned!

Y'all shared so many great projects at last week's party!  This beauty is from Rita at Quiltpiecer-

And check out this lovely finish from Linda at kokaquilts-

Gretchen's Little Corner did it again with another pretty holiday quilt.

I love this one by Sew Preeti Quilts-

Deb at A Scrappy Quilter shared this scrappy finish-

And finally, this striking quilt is from Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl-

Can you tell I had a really tough time choosing highlights this week?  There was so much inspiration!

With that, it's time to show what you've been working on this week.  Let's do it!

1. You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

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5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)