Hey everyone! Welcome to the beginning of my latest quilt-along, Twilight Stars! As most of you know I based Twilight Stars on my recent Rustic Gatherings fabric line combined with Jackie MacDonald’s Halloween-themed collection, Spellbound. Both lines feature color palettes with rusty oranges and rich blacks, along with some nice grey selections from Rustic that go together beautifully. If your taste doesn’t include this particular color palette, that’s ok. This will be a year-long project with plenty of time to shop for alternative fabrics that will also work beautifully for this quilt.

You can find the supply list, block info sheets, fabric requirements, released blocks, finishing options and more for Twilight Stars on the Twilight Stars Info Page by clicking the button below (the Info page can also be located at lisabongean.com under the Quilt-Alongs/Twilight Stars tab). The finished quilt is based on blocks from my book Triangle Gatherings, which you can also get on the Info Page.

I know half-square triangles can be intimidating for a lot of quilters and there are a heck of a lot of them in this quilt – but don’t let that scare you away! This is the perfect opportunity for you to grab the half-square triangle bull by the horns and put your fears to bed. Plus, if you’ve never used it before, it’s great way to introduce you to the magic quilting hack known as Primitive Gatherings Triangle Paper. I’m often asked for advice on how to master half-square triangles and for me, the answer is a no-brainer – by using my custom designed Primitive Gatherings Triangle Paper, of course! If you’re new to using them or never have before, I highly recommend following my list of tips and tricks to help you get the triangle paper ball rolling for you…

I will be releasing two Twilight Stars blocks every week on Friday for 52 weeks total – and since you all know how I love a little bit of mystery involved in a project, I will be releasing blocks in random order. Today’s block releases are #1 and #48, and can be found in my Triangle Gatherings book which is one of the required QAL supplies available on the Twilight Stars Info Page and our website. Blocks will be posted both here on my blog and also on the Info Page each week, along with an update on my progress. I’m really happy with how my blocks turned out this week and I can tell from just the first two that the finished quilt will be stunning. I already love it! What do you think?

Still on the fence about joining this QAL? One of the things I love most about it is that it’s not going to take a ton of time to complete the blocks each week, so even if you don’t have a lot of spare time this project is still very doable. You can find a full explanation of how the Twilight Stars QAL works on the Twilight Stars Info Page by clicking the button above. I also covered the details top to bottom in a previous blog post that you can read by clicking HERE. More of a video person? If you’d rather have a visual walk-through, click the STITCH button below to watch the replay.

Alright stitchers, now that you have your assignments for the week I expect to see a lot of photos of your completed work being posted all over social media! Remember, as a little added incentive to say thank you for participating in this exciting quilt-along I will be giving prizes away each week to one lucky person who posts a photo of their finished blocks alongside the required triangle paper and Triangle Gatherings book. Please post your photos on either our STITCH with Lisa Bongean Facebook page or Instagram using the hashtag #TwilightStarsQuiltAlong (please be sure to include both the book and triangle paper in the photo or you will not qualify for a prize!). If we also see you posting on our regular facebook page or any other social media outlet in addition to the STITCH page and/or Instagram, you’ll be considered for a prize even that much more. Why not take a video of you making you blocks and post it to YouTube??? I would LOVE that! It might be just what triggers me to say YES – they get a PRIZE! Worth a shot, right? I will be doing this each week for at least 50 more, which means you have 50 more chances to win which are pretty great odds if you ask me… Either way, you can’t win if you don’t play!

Speaking of prizes, it’s getting to be that time of the week where I give a couple way just to say thanks for taking the time to comment on my blog. This time around I’m happy to say that Linda B. and Amy C. will be receiving a little something nice from Heidi’s famous prize bin to show our gratitude. Congratulations, and thanks again (as you know, I do not post last names or email addresses for your privacy, so if you think you’re one of the lucky winners I just mentioned, please be sure to check your email to claim your prize! You can also contact Heidi at heidin@primitivegatherings.us if you have not already received a prize confirmation letter from her. If you think you are a winner but have not received a prize confirmation email, be sure to check your spam folder – it’s not often but our emails will sometimes end up there)!!!

Well gang, I hope you all have a great weekend. The weather here in WI is supposed to be sunny and warm over the next few days so I’m going to do my best to get outside and soak up some of that free vitamin D while I can. I will see you all back here on my blog bright eyed and bushy tailed next week! Just a heads up, the girls and I will be out of town Monday and the first half of Tuesday shooting photos on location in Door County, WI for the upcoming Lakeside Gatherings Project Book. We plan to visit a bunch of light houses and other beautiful architecture, along with a couple of white sandy beaches and other natural areas. …and I’m sure we’ll manage to find the time to fit a winery or two into the mix as well. I’m really looking forward to it! We’ve been working so hard on all this new technology that I thought it would be really nice to get away from the computers for a minute and do something fun. Plus, we’re going to get some fabulous photos out of it – I can’t wait! That being said, since we won’t be back in time to make our usual time slot of 10:00 a.m., our next round of CommentSold will be this Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. CST to give us a chance to get back into town and ready to roll. See you soon everyone! ~Lisa