Exploding Star

We’ve reached the end!  Woohoo!  One final option and then we can get to work piecing together the top.

I was really pushing to have this posted last Friday, before the long weekend, and since I was driving north to my parents for a few days with my brother and sister-in-law, I couldn’t just leave when it was finished.  I had a deadline.  Now, the room with the best natural sunlight is two stories down from where my machine is, so I was running up and down the stairs trying to get it finished.  Stella was also running up and down the stairs, wondering what all the fuss was about and trying to trip me with each flight.  Who knew that quilting could be such an extreme sport?!  Well, I came really close to having it finished, but right before the “finish it up” step I really did have to go.  I threw all the pieces in a box and today I hauled out my mum’s machine to finish it up.  (I’m so jealous of her machine and can’t believe she doesn’t use it more often!)

Just like the last few blocks, this one is a serious scrap-buster.  And while there are lots of pieces, it’s very straight-forward.  The centre is essentially just a Courthouse Steps block, but we’re going to throw some striped star points onto it.

Starting with the centre 2″ square, work your way out, adding two strips to opposite sides with each step.  I cut my strips longer then necessary so that I could square up after each step, ensuring the accuracy of the block.

When the centre is finished it should be 6-1/2″ square.  If you are worried about the accuracy of your 1/4″ seam allowances, you could cut the final two steps of the block a bit wide (maybe 2″ instead?) and then trim down the centre when you’re finished.

Next we need to piece the star points.  Again, I cut the pieces longer than necessary so that I had the freedom to square things up later.  Sew the strips to each other in the order you’d like, ensuring that you have four (4) left-leaning blocks and four (4) right-leaning blocks.

Then trim the two sides with make the right-angle to 3-7/8″ (2-7/8″ | 1-7/8″) in length, and cut from corner to corner to create a triangle.

When you’ve sewn the striped triangles to the QSTs cut from the large square of background fabric (such as with the Plaid Star), you should have four (4) flying geese which are 6-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ each.

Now sew everything together (a 3-hour car ride is NOT necessary for this step to be successful…) and guess what?  You’ve completed your final star variation!

Now then, I think we all need a bit of time to get all our stars completed (I have a pile of 4-inch stars that need finishing up!), so how’s about we meet back later next week for a strategy for putting all these lovelies together?  Sound like a plan?  As always, let me know if you have any questions.

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