Monday 21 October 2013

Charm Star

I had a very enjoyable day a couple of Saturdays ago, teaching my Charm Star quilt to a group of six lovely ladies at my local quilt shop.  Here are the blocks made by Marian, Jo, Hilary, Helen, Sarah and Jenny :


One of the pleasures of teaching a class is seeing just how different everyone's work turns out because of their choice of fabric.

 It was also a delight because everyone worked really hard and achieved excellent results.  I hope they will power on and finish their quilts.






As a teacher I always dread the class putting the project in a bag at the back of the cupboard, because I know that's what I have done with some of the things I have started in workshops in the past.

However, I am now finally resurrecting and finishing some of my UFO's and it is very rewarding.  So if you are in the same boat, challenge yourself to finish something soon.





The block is designed to use the delicious packs of 5" Charm squares we are (or is that just me?) so often tempted to pick up.

The Sawtooth Star has a 16 patch middle; the small squares finish 1" - but with quick cutting and, yes, chain piecing, the block centres go together accurately.






It is surprisingly satisfying to make a block on a smaller than usual scale; the only drawback being that you make twenty of them and you still only have a cot size quilt!

But the design could be scaled up to use Layer Cakes (10" squares) and that would make a BIG quilt.





This is a block which benefits from good pressing at every stage, and particularly pressing open the seams which join the flying geese units to the pieced centres.

I find that pressing open helps to show off the star points really well - they can get lost in the bulk of the fold if the fabric is pressed to one side.






And if you have great points you should show them off!













Here is my completed quilt, which measures  37" x 46", simply quilted with a walking foot.  I used a couple of Charm packs I had had in the cupboard for a while: Old Fashioned Charm by Blackbird Designs for Moda,  plus some co-ordinating spots for the star points.














I am making a bright version which I will blog about when I have finished it.

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