Monday, July 07, 2008

star quilt along, week 11

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! You guys are the best. We had a safe and fun filled weekend. I hope you did, too. For those of you who asked, my sister and I are not twins, she is 2 years older than me.

I am going to do a retrospective giveaway (I love the idea, so I am totally copying Jodie). I picked a random commenter from my birthday post and the winner is Tina. I'll be sending her a stacked flower pincushion (as shown in this post-scroll down).
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Welcome to week 11 of the quilt along. Today I am going to give you instructions for making our star of the week and the measurements for the sashing and borders. We are almost done-can you believe it?

For the star:

cut 4 rectangles 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" from the background fabric
cut 1 square 4 1/2" from the background fabric

cut 8 squares 2 7/8" from the background fabric

cut only 4 of the squares in half on the diagonal once to make 8 half square triangles

for the remaining 4 squares, draw a diagonal line in pencil from one corner to the opposite corner

cut one square 5 1/4" from a dark fabric

cut in half on the diagonal twice to make 4 quarter square triangles

cut 8 squares 2 1/2" from a dark fabric

cut 4 squares 2 7/8" from a dark fabric

take 4 background and 4 dark squares that measure 2 7/8", layer together and pin

sew a line a 1/4" on both sides of the pencil line, cut apart and press

to make a total of 8 squares

layout as shown

(please excuse the huge chunks missing from my cutting mat)



Sew together and square up to 12.5".

Isn't it so pretty? I just love it.

For the sashing:

Cut 36 squares 2 1/2" from a print fabric-use the same fabric as the setting blocks.

Cut 60 rectangles 2 1/2" x 12 1/2" from the background fabric.

The border strips are cut 6 1/2" wide.


Any questions, I'll attempt to answer them in the comments.

17 comments:

Jane said...

Amanda,
Sorry to be late in wishing you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Thanks again for this wonderful tutorial!
~jane

Anonymous said...

I like this block!
I am a little lost with the "sashing". I looked at your quilt, but I can't tell where this sashing is going to go. I think I get where the 60 background rectangles are going to go, but what about the 36 sashing-coloured squares? I had forgotten that you had the star blocks kind of floating. I am glad I went back to look. Can you also tell me the dimensions of your finished quilt?
I am starting to panic at the thought of putting it all together.

Tina said...

Super fun amandajean! Thanks so much for having a retrospective giveaway and chosing me! The pincushion is so cute and I am thrilled that I was chosen to receive it! Thank you! I love that you are doing a star quilt along and that you have so many people playing along!

Amanda Jean said...

alotalot,

I just gave the measurements for the sashing now so that if people want to cut them out ahead of time they can. I will show how to construct all the pieces later. Don't panic. :) the sashing comes together really easily. it's just a bit of an optical illusion.

the finished quilt is about 85" square.

amandajean

Julie said...

Hi, each Monday I look forward to the new block instructions. I have neglected to thank you for doing this. Thank you very much. As an aside, I don't think I have enought cloth for the sashing - to match the setting blocks, that is. I have enough background cloth. Any suggestions?

Jodie said...

hurray for the retrospective giveaway...its so much easier.

Nikki Kimboko said...

oh my gosh, i'm so behind!!!!!!
i can't even believe 12 weeks have almost past!!!
I hope to finish this quilt one day!!!

Happy Belated Birthday, thank you for always being such a great inspiration to me!!!!!

xoxoox,
nikki

Amanda Jean said...

julie,

you could just try to find a fabric that is close to your setting blocks and that would blend as much as possible.

Karen said...

Amandajean...This is a beautiful block! I must admit though, that before taking part in your QAL's I would have been cringing at the sight of SO many pieces. But, now, NOT a problem. Now, I need to chose which of my lavender/purple fabrics for this one!

Karen said...

Sounds like you had a great b-day. I love the retrospective giveaway idea. Congrats to Tina. I too look forward to Mondays because of the new block that will be available for us. Thanks a ton for sharing with us. You ought to write a quilt pattern book. I know it would be fab!

yvette said...

Hi Amandajean, happy belated birthday! ;>

I've been bad... I'm now very much behind in this QAL right now, but I hope to catch up with this very soon!

I am using slightly different background fabrics for my setting blocks. So, for the rectangles (sashing), do you recommend that I use the ones for the setting blocks or the star blocks?

Thanks again for doing this QAL. :>

June said...

I already started putting my blocks together, but I didn't use any sashing. I'm running low on background fabric and wanted to be sure I had enough for the outer border. I think mine looks ok without the sashing! Looking forward to the one next week. This has been fun. Thanks. Belated Happy Birthday!!

Amanda Jean said...

yvette,

I would say to use which ever fabric looks the best to you. It's hard for me to make that call without seeing the fabrics.

you are welcome for the QAL. :)

aj

Ruth said...

Thankyou for this quiltalong, I haven't made it but you have really helped me understand how the pieceing part works :D

www.cooplet.blogspot.com

Rebekah said...

so pretty! I love the fabric that you used :)

Val said...

I am so excited that we are getting close. I need to get busy. I am still behind but excited about finishing up. I have not done any setting blocks either. Looking forward to catching up.

Alice Grace said...

Just finished block 10 and I love it! The only thing I am behind on are the setting blocks. Thanks so much, and I agree that you should publish a quilt book!