Starburst Quilt-A-Long - Cutting

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win one of the $75.00 Gift Certificate grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Once again, here is the schedule, but if you want to work ahead you can use the tutorial  just be sure to take pictures of your weekly assignments so you can link them up for weekly prizes :)


January 14 - Cutting Post
January 21 - Goose in the Corner and Half Square Triangles
January 28 - Flying Geese
February 4 - Building Blocks - At least 2
February 11 - Finish Blocks and Sashing
February 18 - Baste it, Quilt it, Bind It
March 4 - Starburst Parade and Grand Prizes

So here we are at January 14th and this weeks assignment is cutting your fabric!!   Now I was hoping to show you lots of fun pictures of my new fabric that I will be using, but there was a bit of a post office mishap and my fabric is a little stuck in transit.  (But I should be able to track it down today.)  So, for the mean time, I will just show you some fun random fabric pictures :)

THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT - CUTTING

Now, before you just jump on into cutting, you have to make some decisions.  This is going to determine the layout of your quilt.  So, I am going to show you the way I decide a layout.   With that said, there are a million ways to do your layout so don't feel like you need to do it this way, it is just a help in getting started :)   If you have already done this, feel free to skip down to the cutting directions :)

Start by laying your 12 fat quarters out so you can see all of those pretty fabrics.

Now I like to get an equal balance of tones so I like to separate my fabrics into 3 groups, that each have 4 prints and I separate them by lightest tones, medium tones, and darkest tones.

 Once your tones are separated, its time to look vertical.  Now you are making 4 groups of 3, but once again, I like to keep a dark, medium, and light in each group. Each vertical group of 3 represents a star, so you are moving prints around horizontally until you like each of the 3 groupings.  So for example, I didn't like the 2 pearl bracelets in the grouping 3 so I moved them.  When I did this I got two of the same prints in grouping 4 but liked that.  Just keep shuffling until you like all 4 groupings.

Lastly, you need to decide which fabric in each grouping will be for which part of the Starburst.  The Starburst consists of a Center Star, Star Surround  and Burst Points.  I find it easiest to label each and then take a photo to refer to when I start cutting everything up, if you don't like referring to photos, just write your groupings and fabric assignments down somewhere to refer to :)  For this fabric, I decided that I wanted my dark prints to all be the center star, so they really pop :)  Then I decided, I wanted the 2 medium grey's to be burst points, but I labeled them 1 and 4 so that they would be opposite each other in the quilt layout.  From there, I figured the other 2 burst points could be done in the lights to contrast.  Once you start making a few decisions  the rest just falls into place.  

So, now that you have your decisions all made, you are ready to cut :)  Now, I promise to add some more photos here soon, so if you are nervous about cutting from a chart, just wait a day or 2.  I just didn't want to cut into these fabrics as my intended fabrics are stuck at the post office ;)

EDIT - My fabrics finally arrived and these are my groupings ;)

Oh, and if you are having trouble seeing the chart, just click on it, and it will come up larger ;)

* Sew WOF strips together to create the desired length of sashing.

Cut your fabrics according to the chart above.  Remember to refer to the column of the size quilt you want to make :)   And remember, press your fabric before cutting to aid in accurate cutting.

EDIT - I just found out that the post office managed to send my fabric package back instead of holding onto it.  So I have gone ahead and made some cutting diagrams as I won't have my fabric until later this week.  The blue is the 24" blocks, the pink is the 32" blocks and the green is the 40" blocks.  I hope these help and if you have questions, please don't hesitate to email me!!

Start with cutting the four fat quarters that you have set aside for Burst Points.  From each of the 4 fat quarters cut according to the following diagrams.  With all of your cutting, the leftover scraps can be set aside for a scrappy binding or can but used for another project.

 Now you are ready to cut your four fat quarters that you have decided will be your Star Surround.  From each of the 4 fat quarters cut according to the following diagrams.

And now you can cut your last four fat quarters that will be your Star Centers.  From each of the 4 fat quarters cut according to the following diagrams.

And now, you have simply to cut your background yardage :)  Once again, you will need to refer to column of your size quilt to know what sizes you need to cut.  Be sure you cut the designated quantity for each line.

Once you have finished cutting your 12 fat quarters and your background yardage, Sort your fabrics into piles of similar descriptions. ie, CS for center star,  FG, for flying geese, HST for half square triangle, GC for goose in the corner,  B for background and S for sashing.  This will make it easier as you begin to put the pieces of the block together.  (This is why you wanted to label your groupings earlier, because you will be mixing them all up now :)

And now you are done!!!   Here's my fabrics all cut up :)  This weeks assignment wasn't to hard, right :)   And now the fun part, you can enter to win the weekly prize :)

The Weekly Prizes are sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop and a huge thanks goes to them for their support of the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks  prize is a Salt Water Charm Pack by Tula Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics

So what do you have to do for a chance to win this beautiful Charm Pack??  Simple . . . Just link up your fabrics all cut up at the end of this post :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by next Monday morning as I will be announcing a winner at the beginning of next weeks post :)

If you don't get your cutting done by next week you can still link it up :) (just not in time for the prize :)    The linky will remain open until the end of the Quilt-A-Long.  So if your out of town, or just had a busy week, no worries!!!  Just link up when you can :)

And Don't forget to add your beautiful cut up fabric to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!  I am so excited to see all of your beautiful groupings ;)

So let's get cutting!!!  And if you have questions, don't hesitate to email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com.  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!

Link up this weeks assignment before next weeks post (Every Monday) for a chance to win the weekly prize shown above!!  Happy Quilting!!!

1. Mary	2. Kate @katiemaequilts	3. Wobblybobbin	4. Bethany
5. ErikaB3	6. CJJ	7. erica	8. Jana
9. Jen S.	10. Sharon	11. Pam Biswas	12. Lori in PEI
13. Danielle B.	14. Jo	15. Chelsie	16. Lorraine
17. Kayla	18. Laurel: The Laura Quilt	19. Laurel: The Alyssa Quilt	20. Laurel: The Kelly Quilt
21. CathyK	22. Pinspot	23. Deb	24. Stacey @ Stacey in Stitches
25. Sharon McQuade	26. Debbie P	27. Carolyn @ Sweet Boater Chick	28. Mom's Quilt - with Carolyn @ Sweet Boater Chick
29. KimR	30. Denise C.	31. Melissa Clifford	32. tina_orlita
33. Barbie @ thequiltingmill	34. kimberlee	35. rosa	36. Lesley A
37. ratama	38. Jill	39. Pat V.	40. Alice Bengel
41. Izzy @ Dizzy Quilts	42. E Mishler	43. Mom C	44. t. anne
45. hafza	46. Jennifer Altman	47. Jennifer G	48. Kat H
49. Leah@L3Designs	50. Jamie Lee @ busybeequilts	51. Kerrie @ Pretty Lady Baby	52. Julie @ That's Sew Julie
53. Rachell @ claddaghsquiltsandstars	54. Lis North

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)