Kokomo (Stars Upon Stars) Hand Quilting

And now to Part D of my posts on Kokomo (Stars Upon Stars)

D. Hand Quilting

I always knew that I would hand quilt my Kokomo. I wanted to say that it was entirely made by me. 

However, with so many tiny pieces in this quilt there are a lot of seam allowances to quilt through. 

I used Aurifil 24wt because it's fine and strong and perfect for hand quilting.  I didn't want the quilting to stand out, so I used colours that blended into the fabrics.   

You can read more about how I hand quilt on this page on my blog, but I always use a hoop and I always choose wool batting because it's the easiest to quilt through and gives a lovely soft result. 

I quilted three lines across the diamonds in the central stars which you can see on the photo below.  One at row 3, one at row 5, and one at row 7.  I needed to do some quilting withing the diamonds and this worked best for me.  

I tried multiple methods of quilting the sashing strips in straight lines, but all of them looked like I was rushing it and just wanted it finished, so I bit the bullet and quilted the sashing strips in the ditch.  And I'm very pleased that I did.  I like the finished look. 

I really enjoyed hand quilting Kokomo and revisiting all of my fabric choices.  

Kokomo (Stars Upon Star) Assembly

And now to Part C of my posts on Kokomo (Stars Upon Stars)

C. Assembly

I chose to hand piece my quilt because I knew it would give the me level of accuracy and finishing that I was after.  And I won an award for "Best Piecing" in our guild's exhibition so it worked!

I English Paper Pieced my La Passacaglia quilt, but now I much prefer hand piecing with no papers because it's easier on my hands.  

I was fortunate to stumble across a rubber stamp set for hand piecing Stars Upon Stars made by Jeanneke.  The stamps result in each piece being slightly bigger that in Laundry Basket Quilt's pattern, but the finished look is the same.  

EDIT: the stamps are back in stock in Jeanneke’s Etsy shop 🎉🎉🎉🎉

There's a lot of Y seams in this quilt so it's perfect for hand piecing.  I do find that I have much more control when I hand piece. There's no lost points on my stars when I'm hand piecing. 

I made a few videos about how I hand piece the 8 pointed stars here on my YouTube channel. 

I use Aurifil 50wt in a neutral grey and a very fine milliners needle.   

If you've got time and just want to enjoy the process I really do recommend hand piecing or English Paper Piecing to get a high level of accuracy with this gorgeous quilt. 

As I chose the fabrics for each block I bagged them up and they became a very portable travel project for quilt a few years.  

When hand piecing the diamonds I started on one side and worked down the vertical rows.  It helped to layout the pieces so I didn't accidentally pick up the wrong one.  

Once the diamonds were finished I turned them over and pressed them carefully so they would sit flat and nest nicely into the next piece. I used Flatter to help the blocks sit flat. 

I experimented with each set of diamonds to see which way up I preferred them.  And then I tested out my outside stars to see which colour would work best with the centre star.  

auditioning the external stars for each block

Once I had made a complete block I set it aside and didn't join any of them up until I could lay out the whole quilt and check the colour placement. 

Considering how they're going to work together

Back in December 2016 I tried Edyta Sitar's (Laundry Basket Quilts) method in her Stars Upon Stars pattern . Even following the directions closely, and using all of the available tips online, I still couldn't get the seams to meet nicely, so hand piecing was the perfect solution for me. 

These were the test fabrics only

Kokomo (Stars Upon Satrs) Planning the colours

This is Part B of a series of posts explaining how I make my version of Stars Upon Stars.  

B. Planning the colours

 1. External stars in the blocks. 

A key design feature of the original Stars Upon Stars quilt is that each block is unique.  I decided replicate that idea by using different fabrics and colours for the external stars of each block. I opted for tone on tone fabrics in most cases, and tried to use every colour within my limited colour range - blue, aqua, green, pink, orange and yellow.  If I repeated a colour I used a different fabric which was always slightly darker or lighter than the previous block.

Sometimes I made the external stars before I had even selected the fabrics for the main stars. 

2. Sashing strips.

I decided to limit my sashing strips to blues and aquas.  I wanted variety in my sashings, but I didn't want them to be the first thing people saw when they looked at my quilt.  They needed to blend into the background and quietly emphasise the tropical lagoon look of my quilt.

3. Sashing stars.

I knew that I wanted my sashing stars to all to be the same colour, but I couldn't decide whether to make them green or navy.  I made up some green stars before I settled on navy. I like the navy because it makes the sashing stars the darkest element in the quilt, and they are very crisp against the white background. 

4. Background.

You'll be able to see from these close up photos that I didn't just use white for the background.  I used a wide range of low volume fabrics.  The background fabric is consistent throughout each block or sashing strip, and each of the sashing stars have the same background too. 

5.  Main stars

Each main star requires nine different fabrics.  I decided the overall colour of the star before I started pulling fabrics.  If I wanted a green star I would ask myself, "Green and what?".  I didn't think there would be enough variety within a star if I just used nine shade of green.  So, green and yellow? green and pink? green and orange? 

I tended to start my planning by deciding rows 4, 5 and 6 first.  These are the rows with the most diamonds and therefore the rows we see the most of.  I didn't want the 5th row to be the most dominant in all blocks so sometimes I moved the stronger fabrics to rows 3, 4 or 6.  

Sometimes I put similar colours next to each other to show a progression within the block. 

I deliberately avoided using the fabric of the external stars in the main star because that would have instantly made it the most dominant fabric in the block.  The external stars are designed to elevate the main star.  

Once I'd chosen my fabrics for a block I would leave them on my table for a day or two until I was really happy with them and ready to cut. 

  

The lime green in row 3 is the most dominant here, closely followed by the hot pink in row 4.

The dusky pink in row 4 is the most dominant here.

The lime green in row 3 and green stripe in row 6 are dominant in this block.

6. Block assembly

Once I had finished sewing each of the 8 diamond shaped star points, I tested out both layout options for the external stars before I sewed the star together. (with row 1 in the centre of with row 9 in the centre). It's amazing how different fabrics become dominant depending on what else is surrounding them.  

The diamonds are reversable and can change the whole look of a block.

7. Binding

My final fabric decision was the binding.  I knew I wanted it to just merge into the quilt and not stand out.  I considered using one of the aqua prints already in the quilt, but I had to be sure that none of the blocks touching the binding and that fabric in them.  

In the end I used something similar, but not already in my quilt - Tula Pink's True Colors Tiny Dot in Peacock.  How appropriate for me!!

Kokomo (Stars Upon Stars) Fabric Selection

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Kokomo quilt.  As promised I'm going to explain more about how I made it - both for anyone thinking about making one themselves, and for my personal record, because after all, that's what blogs are for.

A. Fabric selection

I loved Tula Pink's Zuma range as soon as I saw it and I knew I wanted to use it for something special so I decided to use it for my version of Stars Upon Stars - Kokomo.  As soon as the block started coming together I knew I had made the right decision for me.

Most people who make Stars Upon Stars quilts use traditional colourways.  The pattern is inspired by an antique quilt from the collection at the Grand Rapids Public Museum in USA so it's not surprising many people recreate that look with traditional fabrics.

But traditional colours have never appealed to me, and I could picture Stars Upon Stars in modern colours.  So I decided to go with blues and greens with accents of pink, orange and yellow.  

When I work on long term quilts like this I select a range of fabrics that match my vision for the quilt and move them into a different storage container. Then I just pull from that curated range as I select the fabrics for each block.  I find that this method stops me straying too far from my original vision. 

When I'm working from a limited range of fabrics I become very aware of the subtle colour differences between the fabrics.  My greens merged into teals and then into blues.  But that's fine because I love them all.  

If I needed more of a particular colour I would take some of my fabrics to the shop with me to ensure I didn't drift too far away from my colour scheme. 

In the end it's all worked out well and there's not a single block that I would change.  

Kokomo (Stars Upon Stars)

Where do I even begin to describe my happiness with how this quilt has turned out?

I'm thrilled with it and I'm not going to let it out of my sight.  I've even considered sewing an Apple AirTag into it so if it goes missing I can track it down! I've spent so many hours making this quilt but I've enjoyed them all. 

I started this quilt back in January 2020.  I've spent four years working on it in the background.  I haven't once put it on social media or even shown my friends.  I knew it was going to take a long time and I just wanted to enjoy the process and take my time with it. 

There's so much to say about my Kokomo that I am going to break it down into a series of blog posts and then link to them all from a new tab at the top of the page. I will cover:

- my fabric selections (Tula Pink Zuma range mainly)

- planning the colours

- assembly - I hand pieced it all

- hand quilting - and then I hand quilted it all. 

But firstly, the name. 

I've called my quilt Kokomo because it reminds me of that fictional place in the song by the Beach Boys (made famous in the movie "Cocktail", starring Tom Cruise).  

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego
Baby, why don't we go?
Jamaica
Off the Florida Keys
There's a place called Kokomo
That's where you wanna go
To get away from it all

Back in 1988 when the movie "Cocktail" was released, and "Kokomo" was racing up the charts in New Zealand, I went on a four week work trip to the Cook Islands.  The cruisy songs from "Cocktail" were on the radio everywhere we went in Rarotonga.  We even thought that "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was a Cook Island song and were surprised to hear it on the radio in New Zealand when we got back.  That movie soundtrack was always playing in the background as we swam in the pool and Muri lagoon each day after work.

The sea glass colours in my quilt remind me of the sparkling waters of tropical lagoons and beaches.

I'll be back in coming weeks to explain more about how I made my quilt and all the thinking that went in to achieving my super special quilt. 

I'm so happy to finally be able to talk about it and share it with everyone.