My First Sunrise Star Quilt

The Sunrise Star Quilt Pattern is my modern quilt pattern with a sawtooth star in the middle of each block. This pattern comes with two variations and four sizes! It is also fat quarter friendly... who doesn't love a good fat quarter quilt pattern? Today I am talking all about my first version and the inspiration behind the pattern.

You can find a copy of the Sunrise Star Quilt Pattern here.

First off the Sunrise Star Quilt Pattern is a modern, block based quilt pattern.  Each block has the same design. But, put them together and like magic a secondary design pops out. I love it when patterns do this!

This quilt has five fabrics (four accent fabrics) and all of the blocks are exactly the same. I like this classic and simple look.

When I designed the pattern I used these coral/salmon colors, so I wanted to create a version similar to the one in my brain and on my computer. You can see the original design below.

I was in India when I ordered the fabrics for this quilt. I ordered the fabric ahead of when I visited the states so they would be waiting for me.

One thing to know about ordering fabrics online is that the colors on your computer or phone don't match exactly with the actual fabrics. The colors are close, but there is always a slight difference.

I am colorblind so I already have a hard time with colors. Ordering fabrics online is easy, and for me is much less overwhelming than going into a quilt shop. I struggle with in store shopping, especially for solids because I get overwhelmed by the colors.

However, if you don't struggle with colors, shopping in person in a store is important to match the correct color or to make sure a fabric has the correct design you are looking for. I also think it's important to support your local quilt shop.

In this case I couldn't go to a local quilt shop to get my fabrics, so I pulled out my Pure Solids color card by Art Gallery Fabrics. This allowed me to choose my fabrics from the exact color I would be getting. It also narrows the choices to one brand which is less overwhelming to me.

If you love a certain brand of solid fabrics I suggest getting a color card. It gives ideas of colors you can work with or fabrics that are available. I have a color card for Kona solids and Pure Solids.

Since I live in India, why don't I use the fabrics there? Well, for one I live in a very small city without a great fabric market. Also, the quality of fabrics I have access to differs depending on what the store currently has available. One time I bought some white fabric and every 3/4 yard had a permanent stamp in the middle of the fabric. I ran out because obviously a lot of the fabric wasn't usable. When I went back they had no way of matching what I had or sourcing it. For this reason I buy a lot of fabrics from reliable sources and bring them back with me to India.

For this quilt I used the following colors from the Pure Solids collection by Art Gallery Fabrics (see pattern to reference where each fabric is in the block):

• Blushing (Fabric A)

• Grapefruit (Fabric B)

• Coral Reef (Fabric C)

• Aero Blue (Fabric D)

 This Sunrise Star Quilt is a large baby size measuring 42 in. x 42 in.

About this pattern

Sunrise Star is for the advanced beginner quilter. Each block has a good bit of piecing, but none of the piecing is anything hard. If you know how to sew half square triangles and flying geese then you should be good to go. I would not suggest this pattern for anyone's first quilt.

This modern quilt pattern has four sizes:

• Baby 42 in. x 42 in.

• Throw 56 in. x 70 in.

• Twin 70 in. x 84 in.

• Queen 98 in. x 112 in.

The pattern is written with two variations. The first option is shown here, where all the blocks are the same fabrics. But, I also included a fat quarter option (I love a good fat quarter quilt pattern) which is scrappier looking version. With the fat quarter version each block is different.



You can read about the fat quarter version of the Sunrise Star here.

Inspiration for the Design

Inspiration for my quilt pattern designs come from all different places. Many times they come from the cultures and countries I visit. However, this time the inspiration came from a holiday which is important to me.

The inspiration came from Easter. I loved the idea of including a cross with a star hidden hidden inside. Both of these symbols play large parts in the Christmas and Easter stories.

The star has the illusion of expanding or glowing in each block. The color choice really helps with this. In this quilt I wanted the star to the be darkest of the peach colors and then the colors lightened as they go outward. This helps drawn your eye inward to the star while also bringing out each design of the block.

The Fabric D (outer triangles in each block) creates a secondary design as each block meets. I love when quilts have this. It creates almost two different blocks.

Finishing the Quilt

When I am in India I quilt all my own quilts. Right now I am in the states and enjoying sending all my quilts to have someone do the basting and quilting for me. It's heavenly and I feel so spoiled!

I have only ever sent my quilts to one person to quilt, that is Kaitlyn from Knot and Thread Design. She does excellent work and usually has a quick turn around time.

She is also great at helping choose a panto with indecisive customers like me. For this quilt we chose the Modern Tile panto. It turned out perfect.

I used left over fabric from the accent fabrics to sew on a binding. If you make the fat quarter verion save your scraps because there should be enough to make a scrappy binding to go around the edge.

Quick details on the quilt:
Pattern: Sunrise Star
Fabric: Art Gallery Pure Solids
Quilting by: Knot and Thread Design
Panto: Modern Tile

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