Lucky Star

Lucky Star

have several friends who are quilters. Every so often, I will receive from them a bag full of quilting scraps. Some scraps are tiny, others are relatively large. One day, when I was sorting through a new bag of scraps I had received, I stumbled across some very interesting fabrics. My mind was jumping from idea to idea as the small pieces of fabric ignited my imagination, I ran across two large pieces of cotton fabrics with shamrocks patterns. One had small shamrocks in subdued shades of greens on a creamy background. The other fabric had shamrocks traced in bright emerald-green on a crisp white background. Two very different materials with a common theme, shamrocks.

The Luck of the Irish

As I was thinking of what to do with these shamrock fabrics, the phrase “the luck of the Irish” came to mind. Actually, this is not the best association to make, once you understand its origins. The phrase “the luck of the Irish” comes from the American Gold Rush years, when a large majority of the successful miners were Irish. Nevertheless, this connection, right or wrong, has been established throughout the years. So, it is not uncommon to hear this phrase around Saint Patrick’s Day or from Notre Dame football fans. My nephew, Carlos Federico, graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a major in fine arts, so I created the Lucky Star ornament in his honor.

Lucky Star Ornament Design Process

The design of the Lucky Star Ornament is a twist on the design of the Shooting Star ornament. It all came about simply because I found these cool shamrock fabrics.

The Lucky Stars that are made from the pastel color material are very similar to the Shooting Star ornaments. The only difference is the color palette. For this ornament, I kept the color palette to just cream and green tones.

Now, the Lucky Star ornaments that I made from the bright color fabric are quite different. Instead of pastel ribbons shooting from the body of the star, I added a set of rainbow-colored ribbons resembling a rainbow. These are the magical rainbows that if you follow them, you might run across a Leprechaun. And if you are lucky, you might find a pot full of gold too.

Specifications

Year Designed

2018

Size

Actual sizes may vary slightly, approximately 8.5” x 0.50” x 3.5”

Materials

Cotton material, lace, ribbons, glitter, beads

Note: Given the handmade nature of the ornament, all ornaments are different. The pictures depict just one sample of the ornament.