Jaybird Pattern Review – Night Sky

Sara Lawson asked me to review one of Julie Hermann’s patterns as part of the Jaybird’s Quilts Sew Along. 

Immediately I said, “Yes” and then asked to make the Night Sky Quilt with the Side Kick Ruler.

The lovely people at Robert Kaufman sent me the new metallics – Quilters Linen, and Tussah. Perfect for a project that needed some sparkle. The metallic highlights give the fabric a fabulous texture. They are a dream to piece with and quilt beautifully on the long arm. These fabrics should make their way into everyones stashes.

The pattern instructions are comprehensive and easy to follow. Julie has included 4 quilt sizes (King, Queen, Lap and Crib) based on a determined number of FQ cuts and backing/binding yardage. That makes it very easy when selecting fabrics to make your stars. I made the lap size (featured on the cover of the pattern).

As usual, I decided to stray away from FQ’s and use the fabric I had in my stash and the ½ yard cuts of the Metallic Quilters Linens / Tussah. I also wanted to fussy cut the Bee and Drift fabric to be the repeating design in each star. Using, Julie’s nifty Side Kick ruler and ¼” tape, I selected an area in the pattern repeat and cut 3 ½” diamonds.

To create the diamond with the bees, I had to get creative and cut 3 ½” equilateral diamonds with the ruler and join them to make the diamond. A breeze using the clear markings on the ruler.

Piecing the stars together and adding the borders is very straight forward. As always, be organised with your cutting and layout and read the instructions thoroughly before starting the project. The pattern is rich with step by step illustrations. However, do not try this with your 8 yo playing a drum solo while you layout and sew the pieces together. I finished the quilt, stood back and went, “Doh”. One small piece was around the wrong way. See if you can spot it.

There are no ‘Y’ seams in this pattern. The stars are made in halves and then joined in rows. I know that will excite many.

When adding the border pieces for the stars, I firstly measured the side of the half hexagon and made sure that all the pieces I added to the sides, started and finished at that exact same measurement for each one before trimming the excess. The edges are a bit stretchy as they are cut on the bias.

The irregular edge is another winner with this pattern. It really enhances the hexagon pattern throughout the quilt. Julie has supplied comprehensive instructions on how to bind the edges using bias binding. You will need the fabric cut on the bias to navigate around all the valley’s and peaks of the irregular border. I really wanted to use the dark gold metallic fabric but was restricted by the 16″ x WOF piece I had left. I cheated by moving the ruler slightly on an angle while cutting the strips so I would cut on the bias of the grain. I can hear quilters all around the world gasping in dismay but it worked and I could bind the whole quilt with 6 – 2 ½” flexible strips of fabric.

I loved making this quilt and it was such a fun process using the Side Kick ruler in combination with the excellent pattern instructions. Thank you Julie and Sara.

Visit all the other bloggers to see what they have made using the Jaybird rulers and patterns and don’t forget to enter the quilt-a-long for some great prizes.