A Star is Born!

 

Started the New Year by working on a project that takes a day to complete. These are easy to make! This one is my test block for this tutorial. 

Start with cutting well starched fabrics:

• 5  3x3" squares one for placement fabric and rest for row 1
• 8  3.5x3.5" squares for row 2
• 8  4x4" squares for row 3
• 4  4.5x4.5" squares for row 4
• 4  5x5" squares for row 4 corners
• 1  9x9" square of muslin fabric for grid
• 1  9x9" square for backing

I started with a 9x9 muslin cloth that I folded in half and half again, pressed, and then opened it up flat. I marked those lines (vertical and horizontal) along with lines going from corner to corner. From the center I then marked 1 1/2", 2 1/4", 3", 3 3/4" for the placement lines on the vertical and horizontal lines.

I placed one of the 3x3 blocks in center for starting fabric with edges on that 1.5" marked lines. 

All other blocks minus the 5x5" get folded in half and then half again, and then open last fold. Mark that fold line with a pencil for reference for stitching. Then fold the two corners down towards center marked line to form a triangle and press well. 

Starting with row 1, place 4 triangle fabrics on top of placement fabric making sure to center with vertical and horizontal center lines. Sew down first on the pencil marked line as shown above. Best to use thread color close to fabric color. 

After all 4 triangles are down stitch around as seen in photo above for row 1.

Second row is sewn by first placing 4 of the 8 triangles on the vertical and horizontal markings, and making sure that the tip of those triangles are a 1/2" from center.

Block will look like this. By sewing down the triangles individually one is able to sew them down more easily. 

Place the last 4 triangles down on the diagonal lines making sure those triangle tips are also 1/2" from center and sew on pencil line. Tack down those 4 triangles in center along open raw edges.

Continue this method for row 3. 

For row 4 do the same for the vertical and horizontal placed four triangles.

Next fold the 5x5" squares in half on diagonal and then fold in half again, press well after each folding.  Open that last fold and mark that line with pencil for easy stitching reference. Then take the two corners and fold them to the center marked line to form a square. Now place those squares in the corners along the diagonal lines and stitch down. 

Trim to a 7x7" square. Place batting down along with insulbrite on top of wrong side of backing and then place trimmed top right side up on top. 

Stitch around edge of last row through all the layers. Then stitch around the edge of potholder.

Make binding from 2.5" strip folded in half. Decide on how wide for the top of binding and then stitch down on top of potholder.  Turn binding over and then stitch down either by hand on back side or by machine stitch.  If machine stitching, then stitch from the top by using the stitch in the ditch method. 

Christmas Gift Projects!

 I put the quilting project aside to work on some aprons, tea towels, and pot holders for my kids and their partners.

First project was the reversible apron for my daughter.  I called it melted candles.

Then came the easier aprons for the rest of them.

Dog apron for daughter's fiance.

Hot chili peppers for son and blue apron for his girlfriend.

Next came the pot holders. I wanted to use up the fabrics.

And I still had a little fabric left; so, I made tea towels.

I really enjoyed making the tea towels, super easy pattern.

Having Fun!

Took time out to explore free motion quilting with my Davis NVF. Normally I just used this machine for straight stitch quilting and attaching bindings. Today, I used it for making some potholders that will be Christmas presents. Since I'm not gifted in drawing (my sister and my kids inherited that gene, not me), I just outlined the pattern on some fabric that has large floral prints that my mom gave me. I found a good use for that stash of fabrics. The silver material is ironing board fabric.
The first potholder has the silver material on the back.
First potholder:

This became the bottom of the potholder with the printed side inside the finished potholder. The top layer, printed fabric and batting, was quilted with curvy lines. The potholder has top printed fabric, layer of batting, printed fabric from above section, layer of batting, and silver back.

The second potholder:
The ironing board fabric is sandwich inside with batting layers.

Since these are rather large potholders, they could be use as cloth trivets.

The binding was attached with the Davis NVF and finished with decorative stitching from the Singer 328K, Hank the Tank.

First potholder's binding was done with the method I came up with in my Time for Another Tute tutorial. On second potholder, I used the same method, but I just shifted the straight stitch line that I use to secure the binding down before stitching the decorative stitching. I like the look of the straight stitch line move in closer to center, since it now looks like it is part of the decorative stitching.