Expanding Stars Quilt-a-Long - laruedefleurs.com

This week my quilt world is abuzz with fabrics for playing along with the Emily Dennis/ Quilty Love Expanding Stars Quilt A Long.

I pulled four bundles as possible choices to make a baby sized quilt for the QAL. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have voted for which fabrics I should use to complete the challenge. Thank you, that was a really fun day for me as the votes and excitement poured in! The winner ended up being the bundle I named “Earthy Woodland.” The winning combination consisted of Monaluna Cottage Garden as the center fabric, Cotton and Steel Sprinkle in Summer Camp, Art Gallery Scattered Seeds in TigerLily and Gust of Leaves in Silver. I chose a solid medium gray with a brown undertone from my stash as the background to set off the feature fabrics.

The Expanding Star quilt is made from primarily half-square triangles and square blocks. Using the eight at a time half square triangle method as outlined in the pattern, the overall quilt comes together quite quickly. I would say the slowest part is definitely trimming up all of the HSTs!

I chose to make the baby size version of the quilt which finishes as a 40 inch square. My preferred measurements for a baby quilt is a little bit longer and slightly wider, so I added a brown cross hatch print border around the entire center star panel. In addition, I added a little bit more of the background gray to the top and bottom edges to bring my quilt up to 43 by 53 inches. This is my standard size for kids quilts. A little big for baby maybe, but I feel it gives the quilt more longevity to be used throughout childhood at the larger size. Later, the quilt could even be used as a striking coverlet to dress up a twin or queen bed.

Of course, the Earthy Woodland Expanding Star quilt had to be photographed in the wild. I love all of the trees that surround our property and took the quilt just into the forest for some shots amongst the pines. Dappled light looks so beautiful across the fabrics! Green grass and leaves were the perfect background for this nature themed quilt. My daughter was happy to model the quilt as well!

Overall, I love how the Earthy Woodland Expanding Star Toddler quilt turned out. The rich, warm tones were so fun to work with. I would envision this quilt as the perfect starting point upon which to build an entire forest or woodland themed boy’s nursery. With the size being larger, I could also see the quilt being perfect for a toddler transitioning to his first “big boy” room. The rich blues, deep green, and pop of orange set in the neutral gray background make it easy to find additional décor pieces to highlight the woodland style. For more ideas and inspiration on building a woodland themed baby or kid’s room, check out my Pinterest board “Kid Space: Woodland and Wild.”

As I mentioned in the expanding stars QAL prep post, I have enjoyed making this pattern in the past and was looking forward to making another one along with many other talented quilters on Instagram. Check out some of the beautiful quilts made with the pattern at the Expanding Star hashtag. I would encourage you to join a sew along or quilt along in the future if you are new to sewing for the support, accountability and inspiration it provides. A large majority of independent designers host quilt along or sew along quiet regularly as a way to build community and of course promote their patterns. Often you will be entered to win a weekly prize throughout the process. By the end of the quilt along you will have a beautiful quilt, sense of community, ideas for future projects, and perhaps new followers or even a prize!

I have a few more fabrics cut and started sewing some more HSTs from the other fabric pulls voted on in Instagram, so look for more versions of this fun quilt soon! And I’m seeing from the one’s I’ve made so far I should do a softer or more feminine version next. You can purchase the Earthy Woodland Expanding Star Quilt and the blue January Expanding Star Burst Quilt by visiting my Etsy shop.

If you have additional comments or questions about the Expanding Stars quilt pattern by Emily Dennis, please leave a comment below or share a by tagging me on social media @laruedefleurs. All written work and photographs are original content and are copyright protected; kindly give due credit by linking back to my website if you use or share.