About A Quilt Sampler QAL #19 & #20 :: Piecing and quilting block #9

Woohoo!! This the last block for our quilt along “About A quilt Sampler” .

If you happen to land here first, I have archived all of the posts HERE so you can go through all the tutorials for each block and quilting tutorials included in this quilt along.

For this final block, we are making a star block.

It seems simple, but a bit tricky when piecing those sharp points. Last time we made this similar block here, I find that it is easy to make error and get a smaller block at the end. However, this time round, I figured out a better way to limit those errors. Follow the instruction below and hopefully, you will be able to get good 12.5″ unfinished block!

Block #9 cutting instruction:

From background fabrics,
cut 4 pieces of 4 7/8″ x 4.3/4″ squares and cut 4 pieces of 4 1/2″ squares (not shown in photo)

From printed fabric for the star points,
cut 4 pieces of 5 1/4″ x 2 5/8″ rectangles

From the printed fabric for the center;
cut 1 piece of 4 1/2″ square

For the star points, cut 2 pieces of the rectangular piece in half through the diagonal. Do the same with another 2 pieces, except this time, diagonally in opposite direction.

For the almost equilateral triangle, take the 4 7/8″ x 4 3/4″ block and fold in half. Keep in mind that the  4 7/8″ side is the base of the triangle.

Now, you want to cut this triangle as so that the tip is not as sharp. It should be about 1/4″ blunt.

Now, piece the star points by joining the printed triangles with the equilateral triangle. I press my seams toward the equilateral triangles. Once you have all 8 points ready, arrange the pieces in 9 patch as below.

Start sewing in rows then sew the rows together minding the seams so that they would either nestle or opened.

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Well, that’s it. I love how pointy the star look. Trim your block to 12.5″ square

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Now, let’s get quilting!

Custom Free Motion Quilting Tutorial – Secondary pattern

This time round, I will show you how to create more points for the star through quilting. This will be a secondary pattern that will give the block a little more feature.

Firstly, measure 1/4″ from the side, and mark all around with an erasable pen. Then, mark 1″ and 2″ from the valley on each sides of the points.

From these points, draw a line towards the center of each valley.

I started quilting by quilting on the lines and then fills in the spaces between the lines with a filler of back and forth quilting lines. The denser you do these back and forth lines, the more of those unquilted parts will pop out.

Finish off by adding any features in the middle and that’s it for this block!  I hope you enjoyed making this block and quilting it!

Here is where we are at now! You can arrange your blocks as you like and we will be attaching them together soon and binding it off.

I love the fun coloured backing I chose for this Quilt As you Go! Are you as excited to put the quilt together?

Let me know how you go!

Hugs,

Amira