Scrappy Stars, Part 2

Are you ready for the sashing? This part will probably be a little harder for me to explain, so please bear with me and let me know if you have questions. Also, read through all the directions first--you'll be cutting in two different steps, so you may want to calculate what you'll need up front and get all the cutting done first.

First, though, before we get started, someone asked me about the masking tape on my sewing table. Right now, I have two pieces on there--one was for a project I did awhile back and I just haven't removed it yet. But the other piece is always there, and I use it all the time when I'm sewing small squares on the diagonal, as we're doing with the star points for this project. Here's what I'm talking about:

For the smaller pieces, this allows me to sew without drawing a diagonal line first. I just line up the point I'm heading toward on the edge of the masking tape. If this looks like something that would come in handy for you, just line up the edge of your ruler with your stitch line, using the needle hole in your plate as a guide. Lower your foot to hold the ruler in place, and apply the masking tape at the edge of the ruler.

Now, on to the SASHING.

If you're making a four-block quilt, you'll need to cut 12 pieces of sashing. From medium/dark fabrics, cut each sashing strip 12-1/2" by 2-1/2". If you're making a larger quilt, put your blocks on a design wall or the floor and count to see how many pieces you'll need to go between each block and around the outside of the quilt. For each piece of sashing fabric, cut four (4) neutral squares at 1-1/2". Sew a square on each corner of the sashing--this is the same method we used for the Happy Jacks sashing. Just click HERE and scroll down a little to the black and yellow fabric for more complete directions.

You'll also need a cornerstone for each sashing intersection. For a four block quilt, this means cutting nine (9) cornerstone pieces. From neutral fabric cut the cornerstones to measure 2-1/2". My photo above shows the sashing without the star points but with the cornerstones in place. I'm making two pillow shams, so don't be confused by the extra sashing you see.

At this point, you can sew your blocks and sashing together or hold off until the last steps are done. This next step is similar to a pieced border but will complete the secondary star pattern. For this part, we'll need to make a few more block pieces and sashings. Take a look at this photo to see what I'm talking about--see that bottom section?

For a four block quilt, you'll need to cut 12 more pieces of what I'll call "half sashing" since it's shorter than the others. From the medium/dark fabrics, cut these sashing pieces at 2-1/2" by 4-1/2". You'll also need to cut two (2) 1-1/2" neutral squares for each sashing piece to form the star points. These will be added to ONE end of the sashing only and will complete the stars around the outside of the quilt.

To complete the block portion--the part between the half sashings--you'll need to make the same half square triangles you made in the first step of the main blocks. For a four block quilt, you'll need ten (10) 5" squares of medium/dark fabrics and ten (10) 5" squares of neutral fabrics. Make the half square triangles as before and trim them to 4-1/2". [Note--if you're making a larger quilt and calculating how many you'll need, for each half block section, you'll need one neutral square and one medium/dark square. You'll also need to make four additional half square triangles (2 squares of each fabric) for the corners of the quilt.)

In addition to the half square triangles, for a four-block quilt, cut eight (8) neutral squares at 4-1/2"--these go between the half square triangles. Or, if you'd prefer to use up some of your smaller neutral pieces, cut squares to 2-1/2" and make them into four-patch blocks. I think this photo shows you what those half blocks should look like--I used the four-patch idea here:

So, that's it! Sew everything together and add a plain border if you'd like--that's up to you.