Sunday, 2 March 2014

BLOG 189


STRINGING THE STARS continued

When I sit down of an evening to sew for an hour on this project, I concentrate on one particular block and repeat it over and over again. This is so I don’t have to think about what I am doing and I can listen to music or to the radio in between bursts on the sewing machine. When all’s said and done, making a quilt is about application and stamina once the nuances of the design and method are solved. It’s sheer slog from here on in but well worth it in the end!


Half-square triangles

Cut the paper foundation squares at 3”.

Use the light and dark strips in Bags 2 and 3 (see Blog 188)

It is essential that the diagonal line runs exactly down the middle of the square. Use a normal stitch to join together several light and dark strips in varying combinations and iron the seams from light to dark.

                                     Diagonal seam
 

Place a sewn strip RS down on a flat surface and pin a square of paper over the top. Position it so that the corners of the square lie right along the sewing line.

                                                  Detail


Turn the paper over and lay another light strip, RS together, on top of the light side. Adjust the stitches to perforate the paper and sew along the strip.

                                      RS together
 

Continue adding strips to both sides of the diagonal to cover all the paper.

                                      Cover the paper
 

Press the fabrics and trim the square to measure 1 ½”, making sure that the diagonal line goes exactly from corner to corner.

                                                 Trim

The corner squares and centre squares are made much more simply.

                            Centre and corner squares

 
Sew strips to the paper foundation with a perforating stitch, press, trim and remove the papers.

                                          Sewing sequence
 

Lay the blocks in sequence prior to constructing the star block. You may have noticed that the strips in my centre and corner squares are all positioned to run from SW to NE. This will be constant throughout the quilt.

                             Building blocks of star

 More next week.

 

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