You're a Star in Coffee Chalk

I love the smell of coffee, but I can't stand the taste at all. Paul, on the other hand, loves, loves, loves his coffee. I tease him that he's a coffee snob because he orders his coffee beans from independent roasters and only buys a coffee from a chain coffee shop if we're on the road (since they're nowhere near as good as what he makes at home). When I saw the Coffee Chalk fabric line by J. Wecker Frisch for Riley Blake Designs, I immediately wanted to make something for him.

The big question then was...what should I make? Eventually I settled on making him a You're a Star mini quilt. You're a Star is a free pattern, go here to get your copy!

I love the big, bold star in this pattern. It's the perfect place to highlight a couple of fun fabrics. I definitely had to use the coffee bean print in his quilt. When he opens a new bag of coffee he always comments on how the beans look and gives it a good smell, rather like how we quilters have to pet new fabric 😊 And I'm a sucker for a swirl fabric, so that was the perfect choice for the accent fabric.

I generally don't use large scale prints (though I seem to remember typing that a few times now, so maybe it's changing), but the text and coffee themed images made me want this fun fabric for the background. I was a little worried it would be too busy, but the tone on tone colours keep it in the background, even with the busy-ness of the print. I don't fussy cut often, either, but the words 'Jitter Mugs' were a perfect fit for the center of the star. They were actually part of a larger motif that said, "Today's special...Jitter Mugs," but that wouldn't all fit. And I'm amused by the notion of coffee as a jitter mug.

I used Aurifil 50 wt in 2360 (brown), 2270 (red) and 2600 (grey) for the quilting and kept the quilting fairly simple. I was super impressed with myself for making the stipple in the background much larger than my usual tiny stipple and actually maintaining that size for the whole thing. Sure, it's still smaller than a lot of people do, but it was big for me!

I usually prefer solid backing fabrics, so the quilting really shows up, but this time I couldn't resist this text print all about growing and selling coffee beans. Paul thinks it's a shame no one will see it, since we plan to hang the quilt. You can still see the quilting a little, especially where I used the red thread.

You're a Star is a quick sew (gotta love mini quilts!), so I was able to cut all the pieces for the top and stitch the top together in one afternoon. The quilting didn't take long, either. I may have spent more time trying to decide on quilting than I actually did doing the quilting, lol. And then the red fabric was the perfect choice for the binding. I love how it frames the quilt on both the front and the back.

Don't forget to go here to get your copy of the free You're a Star pattern! I hope you'll tag me on social media when you make one so I can see it!

Thank you to Riley Blake Designs for providing the fabric for this mini quilt. I loved working with it and I love Paul's new quilt 😊 Now to get it hung on the wall!

I'm linking with TGIFF, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, NTT, Finished (or not) Friday and Beauties Pageant.