Monday, May 05, 2008

star quilt along, week 2

Welcome to week 2 of the star quilt along.

Several of you have made the block for week 1 and it ended up measuring less than 12.5". If that happened to you, here are a few things to try.


First, sew a seam and measure it with a ruler. (double click on the image to see it larger.) It should measure exactly 1/4". If the seam is larger, your block will end up too small. Also, you will end up losing the points of your triangles. It does take some practice. When there are so many seams in one block, accuracy really becomes important. (Don't think that I have this perfected, I still have missing points in a few of my stars.)

If your seams are accurate, the next thing to check is your cutting accuracy.

There is an alternative to this. If you really don't want to worry about the accuracy, you can add white borders around your blocks to make them a uniform size and choose to set the block differently than in this particular star quilt. (Something along the lines of this quilt, do you see how the blocks float in the white?) That is one way around it. But I would encourage you to keep trying for the accurately sized block. It does get better with practice.

OK, so on to block 2...

cut one square 6 1/2" from a medium print fabric

cut one square 7 1/4" from the background fabric

cut it on the diagonal (twice) to make 4 quarter square triangles

cut 4 squares 3 1/2" from the background fabric

cut 4 squares 3 7/8" from a darker printed fabric (the contrast is important for the design of the star to stand out)

cut each of those squares in half on the diagonal to make 8 half square triangles

layout as shown



Sew together and square it up so it measures 12.5".

Once you are done, you can add your photos to the flickr group here.

If you have questions, I will attempt to answer them in the comments.

31 comments:

Rebekah said...

thanks for the tips on triangle piecing! I always have trouble with those.

~*Sarah*~ said...

Thanks so much! I checked a couple seams quickly and they "seam" ok (har har har...sorry) but I think I'm going to try a second and see how it turns out. :)

No One Home said...

Thanks for the tips. I admit that I have been quilting ahead and I think get better with every block. This is a great learning quilt for me. I used to avoid points and now I like them.

Jane said...

I'm not sure how to upload my square to the flickr group. I joined the group and then clicked upload but the photo is only on my flickr page. Can anyone tell me how to get it onto the Quilt Along page?
Thanks again AJ for this great tutorial!
~jane

Amanda Jean said...

jane,

first, join the quilt along group. then, when you are looking at the photo of your quilt block on your page (you need to have clicked on it, so you are only working with that one photo) there is a series of buttons right above the photo, and one should say add to group. select the quilt along group and it should add it to the pool. hope that helps.

amandajean

Anina said...

Uh oh! And I haven't even made the first one yet! I'm having fabric selection issues.

Kacy said...

Thanks for the measurement tips. Also, thanks for included things like "medium size print fabric" and "darker fabric" to suggest the types of fabrics for us to use. Great information!

*Also, what should we do if our first block came out smaller than 12.5"?? Should we just leave it and then trim all our new blocks to the smaller size, or should we re-do the first one? Thanks!

Michelle Payne said...

How do I join the flickr group? I have joined the Quilt along. I don't see a link for the flickr site.

QuiltedSimple said...

I'm on a roll - both blocks are done and I'm off to join the Flickr group. Thanks for such a great quilt along!!
Kris

Gretchen said...

Yea! My second one is done!

Thanks for the tips. I was hesitant at first - I'd never done triangles before - but now I'm really excited about it.

driftwoodthimble.com said...

I think my colours are going to get a little funky in this quilt! But I am enjoying doing it very much! thanks for the clear instructions!

http://bubbachic.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/quilt-along-blo.html

Dee
x

Jane said...

Thanks for the flickr directions!
It worked perfectly.
~jane

~*Sarah*~ said...

woohoo! #2 is done! :)

still came out short (wtheck??) but not by much (12.75, trimmed it down to 12, I'll figure out how to make up for the half inch later)

and re-did my first, and my points are MUCH nicer!! not perfect, but man what a difference! :)

Post them to flickr in a bit, thanks!!

Elizabeth said...

My fabric came in the mail today!! Can't wait to start. I think tomorrow night I'll set out to do the first 2 blocks!!!

Anonymous said...

I have finished the first block and am on to the second. Question: Some people in the flicker group have already posted pictures of the "X" squares. Did I miss the instructions for that? or are they just actual quilter who can figure it out on their own unlike me, a fake quilter?

Mamaperreca said...

You can add me to this quilt along. I am doing americana fabrics. Clique I know but its for my Cowboy brother. :)

Thriftin and Craftin said...

Hi Amandajean!

Read my latest post. I posted the scrap quilt I made after you gave me some tips. I'm super proud of it, and I wanted to thank you SO MUCH for helping me with the "jump start." Click on the photos to see them big. I left them big so you can see the details. Thanks again!

Carla

Dj said...

Square two done today.

http://jacksonfour.com/?p=785

Frieda said...

Hi Amandajean I have finished thie second block. I will upload to flickr later today. This is so much fun. Thank you for all your hard work on this. Frieda

sulu-design said...

It's your precision that I love!

Renee said...

I finally finished this weeks star block. See photo on my blog. This is a really good way to use up stash. Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

I'm having a great time doing these blocks. Thanks so much :o)

Shannon said...

Yay for the second block! And I have a question, are you going to save directions for the X blocks till last? Or show us sooner so we can make them as we go along? I too saw some completed ones on the group and now I am getting worried! LOL! Thank you so much for doing this, it is so fun, and I have been looking so forward to you posting this second block and I made mine right away!

Anonymous said...

Ok...finished with blocks 1 and 2! I am loving it so far.

I posted a picture here:
http://alotalot.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/two-birdsone-feeder/

It is part of a longer post. The pictures are at the bottom. :)

Amanda Jean said...

shannon,

I'm not sure when to post the X blocks. I will try to do it soon, so you can get going on them. I'd be anxious, too.

amandajean

yvette said...

Thanks Amandajean. Great that you included the comments about medium/darker print, and for the star to stand out... obvious, I know, but it gives pause for people like me to LOOK carefully because I cut! :> Found a light yellow TOT fabric that I thought I'd never use and it worked!

I'm done with the 2nd block too and yes, please post the X block soon, so we can work on them in between blocks :>

Amanda Jean said...

lisac,

i believe the square blocks you are seeing on the flickr group are from the previous quilt along. some people are working on 2 squares a week, one from this quilt along, one from the last quilt along. you didn't miss anything yet, and you are not a fake quilter, either. :)

amandajean

Amy said...

Hi, I've finally started on the blocks. I'm having trouble with signing up to flickr. Can someone possibly send me some tips on it?

SewAmy said...

I finished my 2nd block, I'll post it on my blog tommorrow. I love these blocks. They are so sweet.

Michelle Payne said...

Being a new quilter, I'm wondering what or if there is an actual name for this star block?

Amanda Jean said...

michelle payne,

I've seen it called a sawtooth star, but not consistently. and if you look up sawtooth star on google, for example, some versions vary from this one.

amandajean