Tuesday, January 14, 2014

My 2013 Lucky Stars Quilt

This was the big project I wanted to get finished these holidays! I was over it when the final block arrived at the start of December and then I wasn't super-enthused about the ideas for finishing it. However, I took inspiration from Amy Gibson and her Sugar Blocks and knew I wanted a large star in the centre of the smaller lucky star blocks.

Somehow I ended up at patternpile.com (probably via google images) where I found a picture of an 'inverted star' which is just a series of squares and half square triangles. Strangely, I couldn't find directions for a 26" version of the block so had to make up my own! (I will put the measurements I used down the bottom - I am no expert, but it all worked out for me!)



I am not sure I meant to have the chevrons make up the final star ... think I was planning for it to be a solid star ... oh well, it fills the gap!

I have no idea how to quilt it. There is not a lot of room for quilting around the 12" stars and I don't want to quilt over the stars. I might just quilt in the ditch around the stars and then fill the background with something geometric.

Anyway, read on if you want to make your own giant (26" ish) inverted star:

  • Cut one centre square 9 1/4"
  • Cut four 'outer corner' squares measuring 4 7/8" (chevrons) and four 'inner corner' squares (solid on my quilt)  also measuring 4 7/8"
  • The half square triangles start out as 5 1/4 squares. You need 12 squares of both colours for a total of 24 HST blocks.

The putting together is just a matter of following along row by row with the picture ... occasionally I got my HST blocks upside down and had to unpick and re-sew. I made the top two and bottom two rows and added rows three and four onto each side of the big centre square before putting it all together.

I should also add that I sashed all four sides of my lucky star blocks with 2.5" sashing which is why I needed a 26" centre filler. I quite like how it turned out.

I chose a very hot and windy day to photograph it! Under-exposing wasn't working (as can be seen in the first photo below), so I put my trusty DSLR on auto.




29 comments:

  1. Wow, it looks amazing Karyn. I love your idea about the big star in the middle. Is that your garden? If so it's as pretty as the quilt!

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  2. Looks great - lovely colours. Where did you photograph it - the garden looks lovely?

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    1. Thank you. Photographed it at my parents' in Hawkes Bay.

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  3. Isn't it wonderful! Very very nice

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  4. Absolutely stunning. I joined the group but only made one star. Bummer! Maybe I will make them after all.

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    1. I didn't dare stop because I didn't think I would re-start!

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  5. Looks great! Hope you're happy with it and no doubt you'll be feeling so good about having it done!

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    1. Thanks, Leonie. Definitely good to get it to this stage.

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  6. visiting from WIP Wednesday. The giant star in the middle is stunning.

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    1. Thanks. I think it would make a good mini quilt - the star on its own.

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  7. You may have just inspired me to make one of these quilts!! It is wonderful! Stars, points and such scare me LOL

    Going to go check out more of your creations!

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    1. Thank you. Trust me - some points are pointier than others (-:

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  8. gorgeous! i love your layout and your stars with grey just pop.

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    1. Thanks. I was worried it was going to be too bright - but I like it lots!

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  9. I think it looks great! I love the gray background :)

    Stopping by from Lee's hop http://domesticdeficitdisorder.blogspot.com/2014/01/wip-wednesday-jan-15th.html

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    1. Thank you. I think it's not too grey and it's not too blue. It has some depth.

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  10. This looks great and the colors just pop! Love it!

    Kim
    http://tiesthatbindquilting.wordpress.com/

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    1. Yes - I was worried it was going to be too bright. But I think it looks quite good now (-:

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  11. Lovely! I really like the impact of the large star in the center.

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    1. Thanks, Michelle. I took the idea from Amy Gibson's Sugar Block blocks.

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  12. What a great star quilt! Love the BOM stars acting as a border!

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  13. That is a fantastic quilt- it looks beautiful.

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  14. Very lovely, and the garden looks amazing! xx

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