Welcome to week 5 of the Solstice Stars Series! This is our last star and I really hope everyone has enjoyed the series. Don’t forget you can catch up on all the previous tutorials by clicking on the Solstice Stars Series tab at the top of the page. Later this week I plan on posting some ideas for quilt tops, just to get those creative juices flowing.

Today we will be making the Two Colors Star. This star is from Barbara Brackman’s book The Encyclopedia Of Pieced Quilt Patterns,page 454 and the original source of the design is Comfort, a periodical from Augusta, Maine that was published from the late 1800′s to the mid 1900′s.

I had several thoughts when deciding how to make this star. In the end, I wanted this block to be accessible to all skill levels of quilter, so I opted for half square triangles (HSTs) and squares. I know this adds more seams, but again, I think this was the best method to reach everyone out there, including beginners. Let’s get started!

Step 1. Cut your fabric. When cutting fabric for paper piecing, you will be cutting rectangles that will be larger than needed.

Step 2. Take your white/background half square triangles (HSTs) and your print HSTs and sew them together into squares.

Step 3. Trim your HSTs to 2.5″ squares. Tip: Use the diagonal line on your quilting ruler as a guide down your seam. This ensures an equal trim on all sides of your square.

Trim first two sides:

Turn and trim other two sides:

Step 4. Layout your star as below:

Step 5. We will now assemble the tiny squares into larger squares, creating a nine patch square. Sew the sets of four, 2.5″ x 2.5″ squares together. This will create 4.5″ x 4.5″ squares as seen below.

Step 6. Sew your blocks together into rows.

Step 7. Sew your rows together. You’re done!

Be sure to post your block photos as well as any questions in the Flickr group.

Really quick…if you didn’t catch my post over the weekend, this afternoon I am going to be on Pat Sloan’s American Patchwork and Quilting radio show! Read Saturday’s post to see the details – I hope you all will tune in!

So, yeaaaa! I finally finished my Echo quilt! I loved Lotta Jansdotter’s Echo fabric from the moment I saw it. It matches my family room perfectly and I knew I wanted to make something with most of the line. I decided on log cabin blocks, set on point.

I took the quilt to my favorite local barn for pictures, isn’t it pretty?

I quilted this in a meandering free motion style and it measures 58″ x 68″. For the back, I used some blocks of white, Kona Ash, and one of the larger scale Echo prints.

And now for the reason this quilt took me longer to post…I developed a new pattern for it!

The pattern includes lots of detail – cutting diagrams, assembly diagrams, quilt top assembly diagrams. If you’ve never put quilt blocks on point, there are directions that you can use with any blocks. I hope you will check it out! It is available for instant download in my quilt pattern shop. It’s also available in my Etsy store and Craftsy pattern shop.

We are in the second to last month of the Twice Around the Block Virtual Quilting Bee, and this month Sarah asked us to make star blocks. She sent fabric from an out of print Anna Maria Horner collection called Bohemian. I decided to use the same layout I used this summer in my Wonky Little Star Quilt, only this time I made Friendship Stars. I’ve heard this layout now referred to as “interlocking stars” and I think that’s a great description. I’ve really enjoyed seeing them pop up all over.

I had a lot of questions after that quilt regarding how to layout the fabric squares to achieve the look. I created a little diagram…

It’s the same layout as a Plus Quilt, where you start with the blocks in the middle and work your way out to the edges.

Next month is my turn to send out fabrics for the bee, so I am hoping to come up with a final plan over the next two days. If only there were more hours in the day!

Despite my continued “Multitasking“, I finished a quilt this week! I mentioned this quilt top last week. It has been in process (ahem, on the design wall) for maybe six months? I had initially planned for it to be as big as my original Off Centered Innocence quilt but I decided to face reality and time constraints and finish this one up as toddler sized. The pattern for this quilt is my Off Centered Squares pattern.

This quilt uses a variety of Moda cross weaves, combined with Kona white and a tan Essex linen. I have now quilted with a lot of different types of fabrics – cotton, linen, voile, double gauze, shot cottons, home dec, flannel…cross weaves have been my biggest challenge. They really like to stretch and shift. However, the end result was worth the stress. This is one very soft quilt.

The back of the quilt was made with left over cross weaves as well as some white and tan Kona cottons. I quilted it using a meandering free motion style and the binding is also a cross weave. It measures 36″ x 48″ and is listed in my shop!