First, I want to thank everyone who has come out to play in our Lone Star Quilt Along. We are going to see some beautiful quilts coming together. It will be such fun watching everyone's progress.
Second, I want to apologize for being a rather absent hostess today! I woke up with a really awful head cold or upper respiratory infection (whichever one makes your head feel like there's a balloon in there waiting to explode). I got up around 7:30, but was back in bed in short order, and stayed there until nearly noon!! (Unheard of for me!) A shower helped things, and I will be off to the drugstore shortly for some meds.
Enough whining. I want to talk about all the pretty Lone Stars that are going to be made through our little quilt along! We are going to have some stunning results based on the fabrics I'm seeing selected.
My previous post explained how I handled the Y-seams that will result when the rays of the stars are attached. I just visited Elizabeth's blog, Sand and Sun, and I saw that she has a tutorial on how to avoid these seams. Very good advice; if I hadn't already had my rays all stitched together, I would have tried this!
Here's a picture for Quilt Sue.
Using your handy spray starch will be a must when constructing this quilt, IMO. Care must be taken, though, not to pull or push when pressing, but using the Best Press has been crucial for me.
Another must, IMO, is pinning, which I mentioned in the previous post.
But, I'll mention it again...pinning is essential. The sheer number of places that will need matching and the potential for bias issues surely makes pinning worth the extra time.
I had a question about the size of my Lone Star, if my setting blocks are just 12 1/2" square. My quilt is actually a variation of the Lone Star called Broken Star. Here is the picture from the book I'm using.
The smaller inner star radiates out to these starbursts. The setting blocks on the outer corners are also 12 1/2". The side triangles have me a bit concerned - the bias edge is on the outside. Usually, quilt pattern designers avoid this, I believe.
ADDENDUM!! A couple of things I wanted to add, and forgot (blaming the balloon in my head). Tonya over at Hillbilly Handiworks has some suggestions that you Lone Star quilters will want to read about. ALSO, if some of you are just discovering our quilt along, try putting "Lone Star" into the search box; both Sue and I use labels, so a plethora of posts should pop up for you.
Happy Quilting, Friends!
Second, I want to apologize for being a rather absent hostess today! I woke up with a really awful head cold or upper respiratory infection (whichever one makes your head feel like there's a balloon in there waiting to explode). I got up around 7:30, but was back in bed in short order, and stayed there until nearly noon!! (Unheard of for me!) A shower helped things, and I will be off to the drugstore shortly for some meds.
Enough whining. I want to talk about all the pretty Lone Stars that are going to be made through our little quilt along! We are going to have some stunning results based on the fabrics I'm seeing selected.
My previous post explained how I handled the Y-seams that will result when the rays of the stars are attached. I just visited Elizabeth's blog, Sand and Sun, and I saw that she has a tutorial on how to avoid these seams. Very good advice; if I hadn't already had my rays all stitched together, I would have tried this!
Here's a picture for Quilt Sue.
Another must, IMO, is pinning, which I mentioned in the previous post.
I had a question about the size of my Lone Star, if my setting blocks are just 12 1/2" square. My quilt is actually a variation of the Lone Star called Broken Star. Here is the picture from the book I'm using.
The smaller inner star radiates out to these starbursts. The setting blocks on the outer corners are also 12 1/2". The side triangles have me a bit concerned - the bias edge is on the outside. Usually, quilt pattern designers avoid this, I believe.
ADDENDUM!! A couple of things I wanted to add, and forgot (blaming the balloon in my head). Tonya over at Hillbilly Handiworks has some suggestions that you Lone Star quilters will want to read about. ALSO, if some of you are just discovering our quilt along, try putting "Lone Star" into the search box; both Sue and I use labels, so a plethora of posts should pop up for you.
Happy Quilting, Friends!
My goodness! I remembered your pattern, but didn't give it any thought. Even at just 12" squares, it's easily 96" square before you reach the yellow, certainly a nice size bed quilt when you're done. :-)
ReplyDeleteSorry about your head cold, we all have days like that, and this odd winter sure isn't helping.
Oh yes, and I'm with you on the pins too. PIN, PIN, PIN, and then PIN some more.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the photo!
ReplyDeleteI haven't got to the point of trying to join my diamonds yet, but I will take the hint and have loads of pins handy!
Get well soon.
Jayne, if you are going to have a bias edge on the outside, why not run a line of stay stitching along it?
ReplyDeleteIf you marked a square diagonal to diagonal and stitched TWO lines on it (as if you were making a HST but with only one layer of fabric) and then cut the square in half to make the triangles, there's no way that baby can stretch out of shape. It helps me to loosen the tension a little and use a slightly longer stitch length for this sort of thing.
PS to Sue: Pin on the ironing board, pin when you are sewing, pin, pin, pin ... or not and spend half the day frogging with bias edges which will not forgive you.....
Hi Jayne. I am sorry I couldn't pop in yesterday. I have 2 huge quilt orders that have to get out and my daughter and I spent the entire day working on those.Love the Broken star. It is so pretty!!
ReplyDelete