Edited to add: You can click on the picture below and follow the link or click here to see the video.
Oh wow! I love stars and I LOVE big stars even more. I was intrigued by the way she makes half-square triangles I've never done them this way. And before you know it I got my butt out of bed and was down in my sewing room cutting fabric. Here's what I got done....
I spent a ton of time trying to decide what fabrics to use. The video uses a layer cake and I have a bunch of layer cakes but none talked to me. However my Debbie Mumm fabrics were quite chatty and I grabbed some. I decided on a "theme" of using of my busy background fabrics since I have a bunch of these and they aren't always easy to work into other designs. Now these blocks are BIG BIG BIG.... they finish 24".
Can you see the 6" ruler on this block? and how it fills my cutting mat?
Here's another close-up of the fabrics - a busy background paired with other busy fabrics. Its going to be a busy quilt and you know I LOVE busy - LOL! I plan to sash the blocks with other busy backgrounds and use the snowball technique to create shoo-fly blocks in between the stars.
Now this method of making HST is pretty quick but I have a few thoughts on the construction. I am spray starching the squares before I sew and cut them. I used a scant 1/4" seam around the outside of the blocks so I could square them up with my Tucker Trimmer - I love that tool. When you make the HST this way you do have the bias on the outside edges of the units, so I think the starch helps stabilize the bias and you need to handle them gently. That said, it is nice for this old dog to learn new tricks.
I have all the fabrics cut for these blocks (those squares on the design wall are the other backgrounds I'm going to use). I'm hoping to get a little time here and there this week to sew up some more blocks. Hope there is some sewing time in your week!
Happy stitching-
carol fun
Great star blocks! I think I might see some of these in my future! :0)
ReplyDeleteThose blocks look great. I saw that video on Pinterest too but haven't watched is yet. I Pin and run a lot of times. Will have to go back and look at it!
ReplyDeleteThose blocks are looking good! I've seen this idea for making HST's but I seem to just go back to my tried and true. I may still give it a shot, but those bias sides give me pause. Thanks for sharing your progress.
ReplyDeleteI received that video in my e-mail, as well, but saved it to watch later. Fabulously huge stars - like the Swoon blocks. LOL
ReplyDeleteI saw her method for making 1/2 square triangles on another video and the bias edges concerned me.
Have fun - can't wait to see more.
Big blocks make big quilts FAST. I like that. Lots of great colors playing together there.
ReplyDeleteYour big stars look great, great fabrics. I think I will do this, maybe start with 8" blocks. Thanks for the link to the video, I hadn't seen it before.
ReplyDeleteYour star blocks are awesome-prettier than the ones on the video!!
ReplyDeleteGreat big stars! they are great.
ReplyDeleteI saw that video and was also inspired. However, I am in mid-Christmas sewing and am not allowed to start anything new until after Thanksgiving. but I bookmarked the video for later. Your stars are looking stunning: good job.
ReplyDeleteLove your star blocks!
ReplyDeleteIsn't that a great video? I saw it too. However, I was not as productive as you and I can't decide which fabric to use. Your stars are super cute though and I really like your use of busy background fabric.
ReplyDeleteThis video is just MADE for my best friend, JoAnn ! Thank you for sharing it.......I just sent her the link !
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the link. Their Tutorials are always easy to follow. Stars are always favorites.
ReplyDelete