Swoon complete

My first finish of 2012 is the "Exploding Stars" quilt I made from my son.  Of course, this is actually Swoon, but I took the liberty of renaming it to make it a little more palatable to a 4-year-old Star Wars fanatic who actually wanted a "space-battleship" quilt.

I used some of the leftover half-square triangles to piece a zigzag for the back, and used the rest in a pillow-cover that I have every intention of completing.  Someday.

This was the first bed-sized quilt (albeit only a twin) that I have ever attempted, and quilting it on my home machine was a bit of a struggle, involving much swearing and sending my husband to the local bike store for these.  (They work quite nicely, by the way).  I chose to use a pattern of straight lines about 2 inches apart in a pattern similar to the one I used on this quilt.   Each of the four corner blocks is quilted with straight lines in an outward-oriented L-shape, while the middle two blocks are quilted in a rectangular "U."  This makes a sort of a plus-shape at the intersection of each block.  

The binding is made from a large-scale zig-zag from Half Moon Modern for Moda.  I don't really like working with bias binding, so  I thought using the zig-zag print would be a good way to get the diagonal orientation while still cutting the binding on the grain.  It probably definitely wasn't the easiest way to achieve this result, but it worked out in the end.

The recipient was pleased, and even cooperated (marginally) for a photo shoot.

This measures about 59 by 88" -- a narrow twin.  I increased the width of the sashing by 1/2" on the interiors and by 1" on the outer border to achieve a slightly wider quilt.  The white is Kona, the grey on the back is Heath, and the blocks are a huge variety of fabrics including Kei Honeycomb, Alexander Henry Pirate Grid, Lecian Stripe, and some others I've forgotten.