Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long - Center Stars

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win one of 4 of the $75.00 Gift Certificate grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread and Fat Quarter Shop ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Here is the schedule


Feb 19 - Building Block Centers
Feb 26 - Building Block Sides
Mar 5 - Building Block Corners
Mar 12 - Piecing Top and Grand Prize Linky
April 2- Star Light Star Bright Parade and Grand Prize Winners


Before we get to this weeks assignment, we need to pick a winner for the Half Square Triangle Assignment.   And great job to everyone on finishing that assignment, I know it is a ton of sewing and trimming, especially trimming.  And  I am sorry that some of you found the directions confusing.  I try so hard to write clear directions with plenty of pictures but when we are doing so many layouts and sizes I think that it can get a little crazy.  I hope you were all able to muddle your way through and that we didn't lose any of you.  If you are still lost, just email me, we will work through it :)

Okay, so let's get back to a winner.  The cutting  assignment winner who will receive 2 charm packs from The Scarlet Tread Quilt Co. is . . .                #52 - Cindy1959!!! - Congrats :)

  

So now, onto this weeks assignment ;)  If you are just finding this QAL, it's never to late to join in the fun :)  You don't have to sign up or anything, just start following along with the weekly assignments ;)

THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT - BUILDING THE STAR CENTERS

Yippee, I am so excited!!  We are finished with making units and now we are going to start making blocks!!  I can't wait to see how everyone's comes together ;)

Alright, to start go to your pile of HST's for your first (or only) block.  You should have 32 HST's.  For today's assignment you will only need the 8 HST's in the black box.  Those are the (4) Star 1 Fabric/Background HST's and the (4) Star 2 Fabric/Background HST's.  The other 24 HST's put aside back in those zip-loc baggies keeping them grouped as a block.


To those 8 HST's you will be adding some squares.  These are coming from your piles of squares that you haven't touched yet and they will be the same size as your trimmed HST's  :)  You will add 4 Background squares and 2 of each of the two Star Print Fabrics from your HST's for a total of 16 ;)


Now with your 16 squares you are ready to layout your Center Star.  Layout the Star as shown below.  You can sew these together in rows, or columns, but my favorite way is to sew 4 quadrants (4 blocks in a square make up each quadrant)  so that is how I will be showing it, but if you like doing it a different way go right ahead :)


Quick Note before we start sewing -When I sew stars after each seam I sew I lay my block back out into the star.  I find this keeps me from making mistakes in my layout :)  Oh, and for those doing multiple blocks, If you want to assembly line piece all of your star centers I find the easiest way is to layout the pieces on top of one another so that you are only ever looking at one star on top, and it has layers of stars beneath it.  Just take care when clipping your threads to always stack your pieces back up in the same order so that the same star always ends up on top ;)  

Okay, lets get to sewing.  Think of the layout as 4 sets of 4 blocks instead of all 16.  Place the right hand squares onto the left with right sides together and aligning raw edges.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the edges, chain stitching the 8 sets.  Press the seams towards the squares.  You will now have quadrants that are 2 rows.


Now you are ready to turn your 2 rows into quadrants.  Place the top rows onto the bottom rows with right sides together.  Nest the center seams and pin them in place.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edges.   Press the seams open.  And now you have 4 quadrants :)


Be sure that you layout your 4 quadrants so the prints are opposite each other in the layout as shown.


Place the right hand side quadrants onto the left with right sides together.  Nest the center seams and pin them in place.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edges,  *see next picture for sewing note.  Press the seams open.


When sewing the 1/4" seam you have a little guide in your seam allowance that will ensure you a perfect point.  The background fabric will make a little V in the seam allowance, sew your seam directly along the bottom of that V and it will give you that nice perfect point.  And yes, if that means I have to make a slightly larger or smaller seam in that area I will so that I can get pretty points ;)


So now your Star is in two halves.  Almost there!!


Just place the top onto the bottom with right sides together.  Once again, align your three seams and pin them in place.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge and again, **see the next picture for another little sewing note.  Press the seam open.


On the two side seams, you once again have a sewing guide but this time you will see it in the thread as the seam is pressed over.  So look at your seam and find the V made from the thread.  Sew directly along the bottom of that V again to get those pretty points ;)


And now enjoy your beautiful Center Star.  Aren't they just so pretty!!!   If you are doing multiple blocks and were assembly line piecing, enjoy all your Center Stars.  If you were doing one star at a time, just repeat the process for however many blocks you have in your project :)


And that's it!!    And now you can enter to win the weekly prize :)

The Weekly Prize is sponsored by Southern Fabric and a huge thanks goes out to them for their support of the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks prize is a $25.00 Gift Certificate to Southern Fabric.  Oh, nothing like a little shopping spree!!


    
So what do you have to do for a chance to win the charm packs?  Simple . . . Just link up your beautiful Center Stars :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by next Wednesday morning as I will be announcing a winner in next weeks post :)

If you don't get your Center Stars 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 Stars to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!  I can't wait to see them all, this is where it really starts to get fun!!!

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


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6 comments:

  1. Yeah - so happy to sew the block centers this week! I did order a HST Bloc Loc ruler so can't wait for it to arrive!

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  2. After griping about last week, I must tell you how fun this week was. I so enjoyed putting my 9 puzzles together to make my star centers. Can't wait to get the blocks finished and thanks for the project.

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  3. Melissa, I want to thank your crystal clear tutorial. It is so appreciated when the instructions are so well explained. Thank you, thank you. My star points look so beautiful!!

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  4. Melissa, the blocks were so easy to put together, I forgot all about posting them. My bad!

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  5. Finally home! I just posted my picture of the Center Stars. Woohoo! :)

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Thank you so much for your sweet comments. I just love hearing from you!!
Have a Happy Quilting Day :)

Melissa