PATTERN SHEET: star-sampler-quilt-block3
Good morning, Friends!
I hope you all had a lovely weekend sewing and creating in your unique ways! Me, my weekend (and past week) was spent working and earning those good ol’ dollars! (Hence why this block tutorial is slightly late!)
So block three is a bit of a good-un! Although the Kansas Star looks a little complicated to piece together, once broken down into manageable steps and sections it really is quite simple to piece together. Although I do have a few tips for you to keep in mind when your sewing…
First is to make sure you’re really precise with placing/pinning the 2.5″ squares into the corners of the 4.5″ squares when making each of the ‘snowball’ units. When pressed, you want the 2.5″ corner squares to replace the corner of the 4.5″ square, (I hope that just made sense??) so that when measured at the end, you still have a 4.5″ square/unit(s) ready to be sewn into the Kansas Star design.
Secondly, if you’re having trouble with getting your 4.5″ ‘snowball’ units to sit flat and straight, give them a good spray with some starch, then press with a hotish steamy iron you’ll find they’ll behave themselves a lot better! (If ever in doubt about wrinkles, wonky lines, curled up edges etc, whip out the spray starch and then press the heck out of it and I’m 99% confident it’ll fix any of your problems!)
Thirdly, if you find that some of your ‘snowball’ units are slightly under 4.5″ squared, that’s okay. As long as it isn’t any more than a 1/4″ on any one side, your block should still come together pretty easily.
If you want some inspiration on how using different colour ways transforms the block, do what I did and Google, ‘Kansas Star Block’, click on Images and be instantly inspired!
For all of the measurement and cutting details, along with the fabrics* I’ve used to piece this block together and a diagram of the block layout, click on the pattern sheet linked at the top of this post. If you would like to use a similar 12.5″ set square as me, you can find it here:June Tailor Get-Squared 12.5″ Ruler.
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As I mention at end of the tutorial, block four will hopefully be up for you to watch on Friday (or Sunday, depending on a few things that are happening this week!). It’s another simple yet effective one called Janet’s Star!
Oh also, I had a great idea suggested that we get a hashtag going for the Quilt-Along! So whenever you share your blocks with me on Instagram include the hashtag #AmandasQuiltAlong (really original, I know!) and we’ll all be able to see each others blocks etc. How exciting!
Until then…
Happy Sewing, Friends!
xx
*A big thanks to Australian wholesale supplier and fabric distributer Dayview Textiles for supplying me with such beautiful fabrics! If you want to see all of the fabrics I’ll be using in this Quilt Along, check out this post where I share them all with you!
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