Working on Stars

This week, I worked on my Star Quilt. I ran into a couple of problems. I cut the the pieces for these blocks last year. I carefully put them in a box and was going to get back to them. What I didn't do was put the different size pieces in different baggies.  I had some 2 3/4 in white squares and some 2 1/2 in white squares. Of course since I am just getting back to the quilt a year later, they got mixed together. So when I started making the blocks I was losing the defining points where the star points come together.

At first I couldn't understand it. I had totally forgotten about the smaller squares. I just sort of made up this pattern in my head and didn't write it out. It's still up there in my head but I didn't have instructions to remind me of the two different sizes.  So I pushed on and made another block. On this one the defining points looked better but the length of the star points were different.  Then I realized what had happened. I needed to go back and sort out the different sized white squares.

The only thing was I had already press all them into triangles. I didn't want to undo all of that work. At first I was just going to measure the sides of the triangles. But common sense took over and I pressed them all flat again. Then I measured them. I separated out the squares by size and placed them in baggies like I should have done last year.

I then folded the 2 3/4 inch squares into triangles once again to give me a diagonal mark to sew along.  As you can see in the picture I also decided I needed to pin the square in place. That should help me to keep the piece in place as I sewed. I figured wandering pieces were part of the problem.


I also replaced my 1/4 inch presser foot for my zigzag foot. That helped me to sew down the crease easier.  I had heard that it works better to sew one thread width to the side of the crease. You need to be careful that it is only about a thread width. Too much to the side of the crease you will loose the points as well.

I will need to put the 1/4 inch foot back on to sew the block together but for doing the star points, this just works better.

Another thing I am doing is checking the triangle before trimming and cutting.  I want to be sure that the side of the white triangle come at least even with the 5 inch square underneath. If not, I take out the stitching and redo it. I unpicked several seams this week. Usually because I was not taking the care I needed to while I was sewing. Isn't that usually the case with sewing errors. We are either rushing or distracted.

I was really glad that I started checking the points before trimming when I did this block. Although the pin is still in it, that block is actually sewn down. I went to fold it up and realized that the white triangles weren't meeting. I don't know how I managed to to pin it on the wrong corner but at least I caught it before I trimmed it.

I am still struggling with losing points but they are not as bad as when I first started. I have also figured out that the 5 inch pre-cut squares are not a full 5 inch square. They are about 1/16th of an inch smaller than the 5 inch white squares that I cut.  My friend Cindy did tell me that pre-cuts are not always accurate. Over the years I have found that everyone does not measure things the same way.  So next time I will make sure to measure the pre-cuts.

I have a four more blocks to make and then I need to Square them up.  At that point I will begin working on the sashing and corner stones. I am planning on making the corner stones into stars as well. I know that is a bit ambitious and I am sure it will be challenge but I am trying to get out of my comfort zone.

I still need to dig out the fabric and get the borders on the Christmas Lemonade quilt.  Millie is feeling lonely. Plus I really want to get that quilt done and I don't need to go several weeks without using the long arm.

Where are you with your projects?