My sister and I are originally from Michigan, which is where she still lives. She’s getting married in Ann Arbor over Labor Day Weekend. (If you’re wondering, she’s not on any social media and she’s allergic to the Internet, so I’m really doubting she’ll see this. Just don’t tell her, okay?)
My sister is really proud of our state. She shops locally, has worked for some of Michigan’s best businesses, and supports initiatives to bring the state back from economic hardship. People from Michigan have a lot of Michigan pride; it’s just sort of a thing. We often call our state “the Mitten,” and if you visit you’ll see the silhouette of Michigan on T-shirts, mugs, backpacks, etc. I even made a Michigan quilt several years ago; it’s hanging in my Michigan State basement in my Colorado house.
I knew that I wanted to make my sister and her fiancé a wedding quilt that tied in some aspect of Michigan, so I started hunting around and found that every state has its own quilt block. It’s true! And Michigan’s is called the Pontiac Star, which is a variation on a four-pointed star block. I found a paper-piecing template from Julie Hirt at 627 Handworks, but flipped the positive and negative space so that the star would be more prominent. Using primarily Carolyn Friedlander’s Botanics (with some other coordinating solids and low-volume grays mixed in), I pieced and pieced until I ran out of fabric/sanity. This got me to a 7×7 grid, or 490 pieces.
Then I added a white border and three wonky boxes in the lower right-hand corner, where I quilted their wedding date. I also quilted a wavy line across the background and used one of Karlee Porter’s longarm designs to accentuate the stars.
For the back of the quilt, I knew that they met at a classic Ann Arbor deli in an area of town that has cobblestone streets, so I did a little brick motif across the back.
Hurray! Just have to get it all bound and then it’s off to Michigan.
Anne
August 27, 2015 at 1:47 pm (5 years ago)Great job Lauren. Love the idea of the state block and the wedding date in the lower corner is so cool. Now I’m going to tell your sister . . . if only i knew her.