She wanted it king size, so after I recovered from my panic we agreed that I would piece the top and then it would be sent to a longarm quilter for quilting. My little Janome just can't handle a quilt that size, and I didn't want the pressure of perfect quilting in all that negative space. Marcy and I worked out some details, and she went shopping for fabric at High Prairie Quilts in Parker, CO. This is what came in the mail a short time later, along with a cream and gold map print for the backing:
Cutting into all these fabrics made me nervous, so I decided to do a practice run with my own fabrics first. I was most concerned with the proper width of the strips and the overall finished size of the star. Thankfully I have an old quilting book with a Lone Star pattern in it that includes a king size option, so I wasn't totally without instructions or guidance. But still, I wanted to practice first. Here's what I came up with:
With strips cut at 3.5", the star came out bigger than I wanted -- and that's why I'm glad I practiced first. Plus, some day I'll finish this up and keep it for myself. I love the fabric combo.
Back to Marcy's quilt -- I cut strips 3" wide, pieced them together in sets of 6, and then cut them on a 45-degree angle to form the large points of the star.
The star is 79" tall and I expect it to be around 42" wide, with a straight edge on the left where it's only partially pieced. The negative space will be filled with dark red solid, which I have to tackle next.