“The Ties that Bind” by Lisa Foslien

“The Ties that Bind” by Lisa Foslien for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

The larger star represents Lisa's mother and the two smaller stars represent Lisa and her sister.  Love and history binds them together.

“Scattered” by Anna Gordy Montgomery

“Scattered” by Anna Gordy Montgomery

"Scattered" as a Navy spouse and Intern Pastor, my friends are scattered throughout the world!

“Friends thru quilting” by Vicky Anda

"Friends thru quilting" by Vicky Anda for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

.....my goal for this challenge is to not buy more fabric, to do techniques new to me in a quilt. Embroidered hair, crayon buttons, beads .... Whew... 4.5 hours to spare

"Shining Stars and Friends" by Gail Oliver

"Shining Stars and Friends" by Gail Oliver for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

Sixty-one purple and orange friendship stars represent friends. Some shine brighter than others, like the purple stars. To be surrounded by friends is a gift to cherish.

 

 

Essay on Friendship by Diana Vilas

Here's my version of the Friendship Star. I call it "Essay on Friendship" because designing, sewing and finishing this little quilt gave me ample opportunity to reflect on my friends and the nature of friendship in general. In our modern world we make friends, we part from friends, we move away or they do, some friends pass on, yet due to the miracle of Internet, we are part of a communication web that connects the entire world. 

The two main stars in this quilt represent me and my best friend, my husband. Disappearing at the periphery are dear friends we have left behind, in the lower left-hand corner is the heartbreak of my close friend who is moving away. I quilted the background to represent the Worldwide web and occasionally indicated "ghost" friends from my past who still haunt my mind and heart.

‘Our Sparkling Friendship’ by Leana McCutcheon

Our Sparkling Friendship
Created by M. Leana McCutcheon
June 30, 2015

In memory of my dear friend, I'm creating a series of labyrinth quilts for the Focus Through the Prism challenge.

Carol and I had a lot of fun experiences traveling to walk labyrinths including multiple trips to Chartres Cathedral France.  I chose to make the second quilt in this series in Orange because it is the color of the second path of a classic labyrinth.  Orange is also the color of the Sacral chakra.

 

‘Friendship Star Flower’ by Sandy Huovinen

Friendship Star Flower by Sandy Huovinen for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

I like to link friendships and flowers together.  Kind of reminds me of the "loves me, loves me not" rhyme, but of course it's always " loves me"!

"Twisted friends" by Marsha Friou

"Twisted friends" by Marsha Friou for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

This is my June quilt.  Have a great time doing these challenges.  They a really stretching my skills.  Love the idea of making quilt that are outside the block but for me it takes some work.  I'm a work in progress.

“Always Have an Escape Plan” by Nancy LaPorte

"Always Have an Escape Plan" by Nancy LaPorte for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

I knew I wanted a big ol’ yellow Cherrywood moon in one of my quilts so decided this was the month.  The stars were perfect to go inside the moon, since we only see it because of the reflected light from our star, the sun. As far as these being "friendship" stars, the only thing I can say is this looks like the kind of trouble my friends and I would have gotten into when I was a teenager. The runner-up title for this was "Feet Don't Fail Me Now!"

‘Soul Sisters’ by Sharon Scott

‘Soul Sisters’ by Sharon Scott for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

This is my June entry called Soul Sisters.  I am fortunate to have a blood Sister and Soul Sisters in my life.  I wanted to combine a traditional Friendship Star with more non-traditional piecing and quilting.  I used a red embroidery thread with a nice sheen to it for the quilting.  For fabrics I chose to add some Cherrywood Scrap Bag fabrics as well as a polka dot gradated fabrics and a watercolor print.

 

“Stars Abound in Hollywood” by Roxy Pike

“Stars Abound in Hollywood” by Roxy Pike for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

In the mid-90's, a California quilting buddy showed me the sights of Hollywood that she had known first-hand for many years and shared what it was like growing up in "Tinsel Town".  Her words were enlightening because she spoke with a hometown viewpoint, ..... the good and the not so good.  I lived in Texas at the time and had never before seen the iconic images in person. ...Grauman's Chinese Theater, "Hollywood and Vine", and of course, the famous Hollywood sign. Those letters are HUGE.  Using the Friendship Star block to show stars in the sky and bouncing around under the famous sign seem appropriate for a Hollywood visual.

‘I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends’ by Laurel Hewitt

 

‘I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends’ by Laurel Hewitt for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

Here's my 'I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends'.  I was organizing my husband's 60th birthday party-it had a Rock n Rock theme so I was using some of my Beatle fabric when this month's block was posted.  What a great fabric to incorporate into the challenge with the orange piece.  We love the Beatles and my husband is very excited about this piece.

‘Mr Owl … My Night time Friend’ by Liz Mandelkow

Mr Owl … My Night time Friend

Made by Liz Mandelkow from Buhl Idaho

When the June challenge was posted, that night a great horned owl spent most of the night hunting from our roof top.  He has been back frequently and keeps the mice and rabbit population in check around our yard.  Many nights I lie in bed and listen to him “talking” to the other horned owl across the river from us.  I have enjoyed his late night company.

This challenge reminds me of the late night sky and "our" Mr Owl that sits on our roof top.  I tried to capture the changing light in the sky and the light filtering through the tree branches.  This has been a fun challenge.

The friendship star blocks are subtle and hidden in the background.  The hard part was blending the colors.  At some point I had to just stop and start sewing blocks together. Otherwise I would still be at the design wall shifting blocks around.

The applique was a new process for me.  I used some fabric and some felt and used a zigzag stitch to applique the owl.

‘Traditional or Modern, Friendship Stays the Same’ by Stacye Richardson

 

‘Traditional or Modern, Friendship Stays the Same’ by Stacye Richardson for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

My quilt is called 'Traditional or Modern, friendship stays the same'.
I saw a technique for splitting a block to give it a more modern look and thought it might be fun to try for the challenge.

‘Blue Starry Night’ by Zeeda Magnuson

‘Blue Starry Night’ by Zeeda Magnuson for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

Blue Starry Night is inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” painting utilizing the blue Cherrywood challenge fabric as the background of the night sky.  The golden “Friendship Stars” are appliquéd along with the various shades of Cherrywood blues and my own hand dyed blues to show the movement of the wind.  I kept the theme of the “blue” block by adding an appliqued backdrop of light blue behind the crescent moon.  This continues to be a fun challenge, I look forward to seeing the third block of the series.

Zeeda Magnuson

“Arches in Orange” by Nancy Hutchison

“Arches in Orange” by Nancy Hutchison for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

"Arches in Orange"  was inspired by  a photo taken by by son Josiah Hutchison while camping at Arches National Park. The top arch shading is my favorite; I enjoy free form cutting and piecing curves, but struggled for a cohesive feel with the stars, and to have the quilt the required 20" square.  Although he lives in  Colorado now, the pics he sends make him seem right  beside me, smiling and talking.

‘Orange Friendship Star Flower’ by Sherri Moening

‘Orange Friendship star flower’ by Sherri Moening for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

Last month I made the blue monkey wrench flower and the monkey wrench was very subtle. This month I put the friendship block right up front and center.   I did some curved piecing, and the five stars in the center are painted and embellished with a tack.

‘A Star is Born’ by Wendy Blanton

‘A Star is Born’ by Wendy Blanton

for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

A Star Is Born…

The Friendship Star is the focus block for our June project. The star is incircled by ½ square triangles which reminds me of our universe as seen through the eye of the Hubble Telescope.

“Paddle Star Galactica” by Audrey Manning

Here's "Paddle Star Galactica" by Audrey Manning for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

I knew I needed to do something easy since we got a puppy at the end of May. Looking through a book of symmetry images I found one that used what they called a paddle shape with a quarter turn in each quadrant. I knew I wouldn't have time to quilt it so Marcia Wachuta did it for me and I love it!

Audrey

 

 

‘Red, White and Blue’ by Pat Dubois

‘Red, White and Blue’ by Pat Dubois for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

I wanted to go patriotic this time and finished just in time for the Fourth of July!  I used four different Cherrywood reds and added wool appliqué to my Blue.  I'm calling it simply "Red, White and Blue"

‘Friendship Star in Indigo’ by Linda Syverson Guild

‘Friendship Star in Indigo’ by Linda Syverson Guild for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

Counting Friends Among the Stars

This piece holds to the Indigo theme this month, using vintage indigo fabrics found lining an old obi combined with Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics.

The center star is the basis for the concentric stars that continue beyond the limits of this quilt. Four more stars float in the corners of the quilt, within the grid that the concentric stars define.

To reduce the flat appearance of the quilt, glass seed beads have been scattered over the surface to suggest stars in the heavens.

‘Yellow Friendship Stars …’ by Nancy Kazlauckas

Yellow friendship stars... Floating in the dark sky.
By Nancy Kazlauckas

for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

‘Disappearing Stars at Sunrise’ by Linda Kowalski

‘Disappearing Stars at Sunrise’ by Linda Kowalski

for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

the story ... Just started with Van Gough ' s Starry Night and progressed from there...

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Craftsy is offering up to 70% off physical goods from 6/19 - 6/21 @11:59pm MT.

This includes cake & baking supplies, art supplies, paper supplies, yarn and fabric!

Don’t miss out on these great deals!  There’s nothing better than a relaxing summer day spent doing what you love! With Craftsy’s Summer Steals event, it’s easy to find the supplies you need to fill your days with inspired creations – at incredible prices! Offer ends Sunday. Discover your next project now!!!

“Wonky” Friends by Evelyn Larrison

"Wonky" Friends by Evelyn Larrison for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge. 

Designed in EQ.  I like the diagonal bicolored binding.

 

Friendship Tribute by Sue Johnson

Friendship Tribute by Sue Johnson for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

 

Each friendship star depicts an interest or activity I share with friends. The tatted Y embellishment is for my tatting friends and for the yellow in ROYGBIV.

 

 

Friends ARE the Stars by Karen Golden

‘Friends ARE the Stars by Karen Golden’ for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

For 20 years 7 friends have met twice monthly at my home-- originally to do quilting projects and be inspired by each other. Our friendships have blossomed into bonds that are so special.  They are truly the stars in my life.    Karen Golden

‘Stars Fell on Alabama’ by Leslie Carmichael

‘Stars Fell on Alabama’ by Leslie Carmichael for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.

I live in Alabama and my son plays the Saxaphone. The stars just seemed to call for the song title.

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“Monkey See …” by Susan Kerr

Things happen and quilts don’t always get submitted by the deadline … but we still want to see them!  Here is Susan Kerr’s Quilt for the May ‘Monkey Wrench’ Focus through the Prism Challenge.

My daughter took the picture of my monkey wrench project. It's called "Monkey see..."

Don't know if you can still post it. [always!  It just may not count for prizes]

Thanks. This is so much fun. My friend in North Carolina is doing the challenge also. It's like we are quilting together. 

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