#33 Milky Way

#33: Milky Way
Finished: 8/19/12
Techniques: Paper piecing, Appliqué
Size: 16" x 12"

Description: Years ago, I made a quilt for my niece utilizing a dozen or more of paper-pieced stars similar to these. I had also used a polka dot batik to simulate the galaxy. I still had some of that fabric left over and decided to re-create that quilt on a smaller scale. Using Carol Doak's designs from her book, 365 Foundation Quilt Blocks, I paper-pieced 5 different stars in different colors and used the polka dot batik for part of the background.

But I didn't use enough of the polka dot in the construction of the red/pink star. When I sewed the pieces together the red/pink star stood out too much. It looked disjointed. At that point, I could have taken out the odd star, made a new one and inserted it, but that seemed like too much work. So what I did instead was to apply Steam-A-Seam to the back of the fabric, cut out some dots and appliqué them to strategic places to minimize the contrast. It actually adds a bit of interest to the mini-quilt.