Stars in the Dark

Lessons learned are only helpful if we remember them.  And this is a lesson I know well: For quilting to show on a quilt, it needs to be done on a light or medium colored fabric, or done in a contrasting thread.  On this project, however, I totally let that knowledge escape me when I planned the quilting.

The top is an old pattern called Rail Fence, and it was pieced by one of the lovely ladies in my quilt group.  I thought she did a great job, and was happy to do the quilting on it. 

The block consists of three rectangles that are placed alternately vertically and horizontally in the quilt, forming a zig-zag similar to the old wooden rail fences.  Since the fabrics were patriotic themed, I planned to do wavy lines on the two outside "rails" and a line of stars on the inside one--a stars and stripes idea.  Once I got started with the quilting, which is the point of no return, I realized that using a navy thread on navy fabric meant the stars weren't going to show at all.  In fact, I had a hard time seeing to quilt them, making it a challenge to be sure I was in fact creating stars and not some abstract, pointy shape.  It was a relief to get to the borders where I could actually see what I was doing.  

Introducing Stars in the Dark:

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