For Mom’s birthday

I made this duvet cover for my mom a while back:

She picked out the fabric, and it looked great in her room (I don’t have a picture of it there, unfortunately) so I ordered a fat quarter of the whole fabric line – Jardin de Provence – to surprise her with a wall hanging to go above the bed.

I chose to follow the Star Light, Star Bright pattern directions found here on the Moda Bake Shop website.

I didn’t have quite the right ruler, but some painters tape took care of that.  My triangles were 7 1/4″ high, making the diamonds 14 1/2″.

The only pattern issue I had was with the measurements of the diamonds.  The directions told which 45 degree triangle ruler she used, but didn’t make it clear the exact size of the diamonds.  Since I don’t have that ruler, I had to guess a bit based on the width of the fold that she suggested.  I obviously didn’t guess quite right because the squares that I cut for the corners ended up an inch too small, so I had to search out more white and cut new, bigger squares.  Avoidable if the diamond measurements had been given!

I sewed the pieces together in a slightly different order than the pattern called for.  After doing the 8 diamond wedges, I added in the Y seam triangles before sewing more sections together.  It probably didn’t make a difference, but I figured I’d be manuevering less fabric volume that way.

If you look closely at these three in progress pictures, you’ll see that some of the diamonds moved around.  I didn’t always get the right edges sewn together, or notice in time to fix it.  So much for my careful arranging when I started!

I didn’t do a perfect job on all the Y seams. But they are pretty good, and I’m quite proud of my center points.

Four hours from start to finish – my handy assistants helped me get the final picture, despite the wind and can’t-set-down-the-popsicle obstacles.

Tomorrow I hope to start quilting, but I probably won’t get it quite finished by her birthday on Thursday.  But it will be far enough for her to see what it will be, and Mom isn’t picking about things like exact dates.