I have been on a journey this year to see how many stars and shapes I can place in a One Block Wonder.
Timeless Treasures Last Dance
I found this great fabric from Timeless Treasures called “Last Dance”. The Skeletons are about 6 1/2″ tall.
Octagons
Last Dance made some great octagons. I wanted to add a bat in my design also.
Moonlight Flight
My friend and fellow Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor Beth Sidley designs great patterns. I love Moonlight Flight and decided to use her bat for my quilt. You can purchase Moonlight Flight from her Etsy shop Park Bench Designs.
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Stitchin Heaven’s Journey’s BOM – Month 12! This has been a spectacular year. You all have worked so hard. Thank you to Deb Luttrell, Founder of Stitchin Heaven, Deb Tucker, Creative Kingpin of Studio 180 Design, Marie Bostwick New York Times best selling author and Jason Yenter Fabric Designer & President of In the Beginning Fabrics for making this all possible. Now to assemble your quilts!
Print 4
Print 6
Print 11
Print 12
Note: WOF stands for width of fabric. This month you will assemble your quilt top and add the borders.
Gather the following pieces:
4 Corner Sections from Month 6
Block K from Month 7
4 Middle Edge Sections from Month 9
4 Pieced Border sections from Month 11
Finishing Instructions
Step 1 – Lay out the Corner Sections, Middle Edge Sections, and Block K as shown in the diagram on page 35.
Step 2 – Stitch the sections together into rows, press the seams open. Stitch the rows together to create the quilt center.
Step 3 – Attach the 72½” Print 11 inner border strips. Find the center of the quilt and the center of the 72½” border strip. Match the center points with right sides together, pin. Match both ends of the strip with the ends of the quilt and pin in place. Ease the quilt top to match the border strip and add more pins between the others to hold the border in place as you stitch. Attach the other 72½” border to the opposite side in the same manner and press toward the inner border strip.
Step 4 – Repeat step 3 for the 75½” Print 11 border strips.
Step 5 – Attach the 75½” Print 6 middle border strips. Using two of the border strips, stitch them to the quilt in the same manner as in step 3. Press toward Print 6.
Step 6 – Stitch a Print 4 middle border corner stone to each end of the remining 2”x 75½” Print 6 borders. Press toward the middle border.
Step 7 – Attach the remining two middle border strips to the quilt as described in step 3. Make sure to nest the seams. Press toward the middle border.
Step 8 – Add the pieced borders. Start with the borders that do not have the N Units on the ends. Orient the pieced borders so that the Corner Pops are against the middle border and the points of the V Blocks are pointing away from the quilt center. Refer to the diagram. Find the center of the quilt top and the center of the pieced border. Match the centers and pin. Match each end and pin. Ease the border to match the quilt top and add more pins between the others to hold the border in place as you stitch. Stitch in place. Press toward the middle border.
Step 9 – Repeat step 8 for the other pieced borders with the N Units attached to the ends. After you have matched the centers and the ends, make sure that you nest the Corner Beam seam with the seam attaching the pieced border.
Note: We recommend that you wait to cut your outer borders to length until you can measure your quilt top. To determine your specific border length, measure the longest side of your quilt in three different places. If those measurements are different, add the three measurements together and divide by three. That will be the length that you need to cut your first two borders. Once the first two borders are attached to the quilt repeat the process for the remaining two sides.
Step 10 – Add the outer borders. Find the center of the quilt and the center of the 90½” outer border strip. Match the center points with right sides together, pin, match either end of the strip with the ends of the quilt, and pin in place. Add more pins between the others, about every 4”, to hold the border in place as you stitch. Attach the other 90½” border to the opposite side in the same manner and press toward the outer border strip.
Step 11 – Repeat step 10 for the 102½” outer border strips.
Step 12 – Finish with Batting, Backing, Quilting, and Binding! Layer quilt top with batting and backing. Baste and quilt. Bind and Enjoy!
Journeys
Thank you all so much for joining us on this Journey! Congratulations on a job well done!
Welcome to Stitchin Heaven’s Journey BOM – Month 7 Liberty Star. This month, you will be using the 12” markings on the Rapid Fire® Lemoyne Star tool, but you will be working with them as quarters that will be trimmed to 6½” using your Tucker Trimmer 1 before you sew them into the quilt.
Note: Some of your strip sizes are in sixteenths of an inch. These are necessary in order to equally divide the diamond into three sections. To cut the sixteenth of an inch you will see that after the sixteenth measurement there is a 1¼”+ listed. This means that you should locate the 1¼” mark on your ruler then move up just a bit to get to a 1⁵/16” measurement. You want to be as close to the half way point between the ¼” mark and the ⅜” mark as possible.
Piecing Instructions
You will be using the standard Rapid Fire® Lemoyne Star strip piecing for the “B” sections and fussy cut piecing for the “A” sections.
Step 1 – Lay out the Print 1, Print 2, and Print 8 strips as shown in the diagram.
Stitch together Print 2, Print 8 & Print 1, making four strip sets.
Step 2 – Stitch the strips into 4 strip sets, two will be used to create your “A” sections and two will be used to create your “B” sections.
Step 3 – Press all the seams toward Print 2, the widest strip.
Tip: To keep strip sets straight while pressing – it helps to draw a line on your ironing board with a sharpie and ruler. If the strip set wants to curve just keep re-adjusting it along the straight line.
Tip: After stitching your strips together measure the strip set to be sure it measures 3 1/4″ wide.
“B” Section Construction
Step 4 – Sew a strip set from step 3 on page 19 to a background strip to make a “B” section strip. Stagger your pieced strip 4¾” down the background strip. Be sure to sew the Print 1 to the Print 11 background strip. Press the seam toward your colored strip set. Make two.
Step 5 – Cut the “B” sections by placing the strip set right side up on the cutting mat. Make your first diagonal cut to clean up the end and set your angle. Then sub-cut the strip set into 3¼” sections. You will need a total of 16 sub-cuts.
Note: When cutting the Section B segments, place your 45 degree line on a seam to help establish the correct angle. Section B sections are cut 3 1/4″ wide. Cut almost to the end of the ruler and move the ruler up re-aligning the ruler on the 3 1/4″ line.
Step 6 – Cut Again. Make a vertical “second cut” to each sub-cut section. Make sure to leave a small gap between the tip of the diamond and the start of your vertical cut. One quarter of an inch will suffice.
Step 7 – Lay out, stitch, and press your pieced “B” sections toward the small side triangles you just stitched.
Remember, “whatever you are pressing toward goes on top”, so lay your pieced units on the ironing board with the small triangles on top and press.
“A” Section Construction
Step 8 – Cut the 4¾” x 4¾” Print 11 squares in half diagonally. Make the diagonal cut ¼” from the true diagonal to create small and large half square triangles.
Tip: You can use your regular ruler or your Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star tool to make the diagonal cuts as shown below.
Each square yields one large and one small triangle.
Step 9 – Cut the remaining two colored strip sets into individual diamonds. Place a strip right side up on the cutting mat as shown, align the 3¼” window template on the back end of the Rapid Fire® Lemoyne Star tool over the strip set and cut up the side. Rotate the first diamond and again align the 3¼” lines with the edges of the diamond and trim off the excess fabric. Continue repositioning the tool and cutting using the 3¼” window template until you have 16 diamonds.
Step 10 – Lay out, stitch, and press. Lay out the fussy cut diamonds, the large and small half square triangles right sides up as shown. Be sure Print 1 (Dark Blue) is positioned by the small triangle.
Be sure Print 1 (Dark Blue) is positioned by the small triangle.
Stitch the large triangles in place first and press the seam toward the background fabric.
Press the seam toward the background fabric.
Stitch the small triangles next and press these seams toward the diamond section. Make 16 “A” star points.
Press these seams toward the diamond section
Step 11 – Trim all “A” and “B” triangle sections using the 12” line on the Rapid Fire® Lemoyne Star tool. See diagram. Pay Attention here! It’s easy to forget this step.
Step 12 – Assemble quarters. Arrange the sewn and trimmed “A” and “B” sections into quarter blocks. Stitch the sections together and press the seams open to best distribute bulk. You should have 16 quarters total.
Step 13 – Trim the quarters to 6½” x 6½”. Clean up the dog ears and true up the first corner as shown. You should only be trimming off the dog ears and an additional thread or two in this trim. Then rotate the unit to trim the opposite corner. Align the common diagonal with the seam and the 6½” clean up lines with the trimmed edges to trim the remaining two sides. Repeat for all 16 quarters.
First TrimSecond Trim
Step 14 – Assemble the quarters into the center block. Lay out the quarters as shown and sew them together into rows. Press the seams open.
Step 15 – Stitch the rows together and press the seams open. Label this Section K.
It is late March 2020. Most of us are quarantined inside. At least those of us in New York are! I had planned to schedule a class at Stash away Quilt Shoppe in Rome NY, for a Quilt of Valor using the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler. I decided to just post the lesson here and share it with anyone who would like to make Patriotic Lemoynes.
I went to my EQ8 software and designed this quilt for Lynn. This is a great skill builder for those that took the Tucker University Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star class but haven’t made a project yet. This quilt measures 68″ X 82″ with 20 – 12″ finished Lemoyne star blocks. The supply list and instructions are available here for download.
Understanding the “Cutting Chart”. The chart in the tool instructions gives you valuable information for 10 Finished Size Blocks: Cut Size of Star Strips, Cut size of Background Strips, Minimum Strip Length for One Block & Approx. # of Diagonal Cuts from Full WOF strips. For 12” finished blocks, you need a minimum of 24” star & background strips to be able to make one block.
Block Construction: (Width of Fabric – WOF)
Background Fabric: Cut 20 – 4 3/4″ WOF strips
Red Star Points: Cut 10 – 3 1/4″ WOF strips
Blue Star Points: Cut 10 – 3 1/4″ WOF strips
Step 1 – Make 2 piles of 10 background strips right sides up – side by side. At the top, mark 10 “A” & 10 “B”.
Establish the starting point for placement of our star strips by making two additional marks down from the top of the strip, on the inside edges of each strip, the same width as our strip is wide. Our background strips are 4 ¾” wide. OR simply fold top right corner over to the left edge for “A” matching raw edges and top left corner over to the right edge for “B”.
Step 2 – Position a star strip right sides together with each of the background strips starting 4 ¾” down from the top.
Step 3 – Using your Best ¼” Seam, Stitch the “A” strip on the right side & the “B” strip on the left side. (Do not use a scant ¼” seam.)
Step 4 – Press: The “A” strip should be pressed toward the background strip. The “B” strip should be pressed toward the Star Strip. Remember “whatever you are press toward goes on top”!
Step 5 – Position: Move the strips to the cutting mat and layer the strip pairs right sides together, background strip to background strip & and star strip to star strip. The long seams should nest.
Step 6 – Cut: Make a 45 degree angled cut. Use your Lemoyne Star ruler to help insure you get a good 45 degree angle by lining up the ruler edge with the stitching line and bumping another ruler ap against the angled edge.
Step 7 – Cut the 1st Unit: Each Cut Should be the same measurement as the Star Strip Width (3 ¼” wide).
Step 8 – Second Cuts: Cut one set and trim side triangles. Using your 6” x 12” ruler, place a line on the top edge of the just cut unit and slide to the right until the ruler touches point from the star fabric. Trim up the right side of the ruler. See tool instructions for left hand cutting. In the tool instructions you are told cut all the units then trim the side triangles. I find the students are less confused if they cut the unit and immediately cut the side triangle.
Tip: Label two paper plates One “A” & one “B”. I also add pressing instructions from Step 11: “A” units are pressed toward the star point. “B” units are pressed toward the background fabric.
Righties – “A” strip is on top & “B” strip is on the bottom. Once cut, place “A” unit on plate marked “A” & “B” unit on plate marked “B”.
Lefties – “B” is on top & “A” is on the bottom. Place “A” unit on plate marked “A” & “B” unit on plate marked “B”.
NOTE: IF Left Handed, It will be beneficial to flip each of the pairs over from east to west so that they look like the pairs trimmed by right handed cutters.
Cut side triangles and place one on each plate. Continue cutting sets and side triangles.
Step 9 – Lay Out: Take your plate of “A” units to the sewing machine.
Step 10 – Position & Stitch: Position the side triangle right sides together with the pieced unit. Raw edges even and triangle centered over the pieced unit. Stitch, continue to chain stitch all the “A” units & then all the “B” units.
Step 11 – Press Carefully: Take the “A” units to the ironing board. “A” units are pressed toward the star points, therefore place your chain stitched units with the star points facing up. Trim threads, place back on “A” plate.
“B” units are pressed toward the background fabric, therefore place your chain stitched units with the background fabric facing up. Trim threads, place back on “B” plate.
STOP – BEFORE YOU TAKE ANOTHER STITCH!
Step 12 – Trim: Take all you units to the cutting mat. Place your units at a 2:00 position to be able to comfortable trim the two sides. Trim all your “A” & “B” units to an exact size using the 12” lines.
Step 13 – Examine/Position: You will now have pieced half square triangles that will fit together perfectly. Nest the seams and pin.
Step 14 – Stitch: Stitch the pieced triangle units together, first into pairs, then into half blocks and then into complete blocks. Stitch from the star center outward.
Step 15 – Press: Option #1 press all seams open. Option #2 press seam in the same direction as all the other seams in the unit. I press my seams open. Trim the Dog Ears at the star center.
Lay out four units.
Choose two units. Pin the nested seams and pin star point.
Press seams open.
Join halves pin the nested seams, match & pin the center. Stitch.
Step 16 – Trim to 12 ½” using your Tucker Trimmer III: If right handed, place the half circle in the upper right hand corner. Center the common diagonal line and the 12 ½”” size diagonal line on the seams of the block. Trim up the right side and across the top. Lift the tool, rotate the block, centering as before but also using the clean up lines on the edges just trimmed. Trim up the right side and across the top. See Tucker Trimmer tool instructors for complete left hand cutting.
Two WOF background strips & two WOF star strips will yield 2 – 12” finished lemoyne star blocks.
Twenty 12 ½” Lemoyne star blocks done!
Sashing: Cut 6 – 2 ½” WOF strips. Sub Cut into 16 – 12 ½” strips. I stitch four sashing strips between 5 blocks and measure the row length to determine the size of the vertical sashing strips.
Vertical Sashing: Cut 14 – 2 ½” WOF strips. You may need less if don’t mind piecing several together. I just stitched two 2 ½” WOF strips together and cut to fit. Once the vertical sashing is complete and rows are joined, measure the width through the center and cut the top and bottom sashing and stitch to the quilt top.
Cut 8 – 5 ½” WOF. Strips. Measure the length of the top to determine side border length. Once the side borders are stitched, measure the top width through the center to determine the final borders for the top and bottom.
Binding: You will need approximately 8 strips for the binding.
The fabrics shown in this post were given to me by Island Batik.
Tropical Escape
Last January Island Batik gave me a secret bundle to hold onto till November, it was Tropical Escape shown above. I sat and looking at the bundle of gorgeous fabrics, waiting for them to talk to me. The goal is for me to introduce the Tropical Escape fabric line by making a quilt showcasing as many of the 20 fabrics as possible.
I decided to use Studio 180 Design’s BlockBuster pattern #29 Pointsettia. This block requires the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star, Split Rects and Tucker Trimmer I tools. You can download the BlockBuster pattern below:
I loved that the Poinsettia block could be made in 7″, 14″ or 21″ finished blocks. I chose the 21″ blocks.
Time to break out the paper plates. I sorted my fabrics by color and value, pairing a light/medium value with a darker value. This would allow me to use 16 different fabrics to form the flowers. I would use the lighter value fabric for the Lemoyne star quarters and the darker value fabrics for the split rects units.
My tip for staying organized while making Lemoyne stars is to label two paper plates, one “A” & one “B”. Follow the Lemoyne star tool instructions. When you come to Step 7, make one 45 degree cut – then imediateley reposition your ruler to cut the side triangles as you go.
If you are right handed the “B” strip was on the bottom & the “A” strip was on top. Place the “A” unit on the plate marked “A” and the “B” unit on the plate marked “B”, place one triangle on each plate also. (If you are left handed the “A” strip would be on the bottom and the “B” strip would be on top). Continue cutting your units, placing each unit on their assigned plate. Construct the Lemoyne units as instructed. Throughout the process you will always know which units are “A” and which are “B”. This is important for knowing which way to press your seams. Another tip for pressing the lemoyne star units is to “remember, the Lemoyne star point should always be pointed to the left”. To make Lemoyne star quarters you will square them up using your Tucker Trimmer 1 before stitching them to the split rects units.
Layout your Lemoyne quarters with your mirror image split rects units and stitch together.
Press seams as shown above.
Continue making your Lemoyne star quarters/split rects units. They are all constructed the same way.
Stitch a background rectangle with each Lemoyne quarter/split rects unit as shown. Follow block assembly instruction in the BlockBuster #29 pattern.
At first I decided to make 6 – 21″ blocks measuring 60″ x 83″.
But I discovered I had enough units to make 9 blocks with left over Lemoyne quarters for the use in the outer border. Quilt measures 83″ x 83″.
It’s funny how this quilt came about. It stared with Island Batik’s fabric line: Tropical Escape; BlockBuster’s Pointsettia block (a Christmas flower); and it is named after a canyon in Arizona. I named this quilt Copper Canyon Blooms as I think they look like desert blooms! In the supply list below I’ve given you fabric requirements for both the 6 block top and the 9 block top.
I tried two new quilt patterns in October. The first one was Smooth Sailing by Pam Goggans.
Smooth Sailing
Pam designed this as a companion pattern for Studio 180 Design’s Diamond Rects and Square Squared tools. I had never made a Storm at Sea before and I was very pleased with this pattern. Using the Diamond Rects & Square Squared tools made it easy. The pattern makes two sizes, 49″ x 58″ and 89″ x 107″. You can buy Smooth Sailing from Studio 180 Design or from Pam Goggans at Sager Creek Quilts
I just finished making Sugar & Spice by Deb Tucker. I love, love, love the Lemoyne star. This is a companion pattern for the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star and Tucker Trimmer 1 tools.
Sugar & Spice
This pattern was easy and fun. It measures 45″ x 62″.
I wanted to help raise funds to support The New York Mills Historical Society (my hometown), so for me that means “Quilt Raffle”! I chose a pattern by fellow Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor (CI) Katrina Thomas. I met Katrina last March at our CI Reunion. This girl is on fire when it comes to quilt designing. Katrina is one of the features in Fons & Porter’s “Scrap Quilts” magazine for Summer 2015 on news stands now.
I lover her pattern called “Rolling Stars”. Katrina is a very creative designer. Her patterns feature the use Studio 180 Design tools, which I love! Check out Katrina’s website The Hope Chest Quilting to get her wonderful quilt patterns.
I chose Katrina’s pattern Lemoyne Baskets to make my raffle quilt.
I love Lemoyne Stars. This pattern is a twist on this process using the Rapid Fire Lemoyne star Tool by Deb Tucker. It also requires the Studio 180 Design Tech Sheet Lemoyne stars as Triangles.
Tuck, his brother Earl and his other brother Earl are in charge of quality control.
And Dave is keeping a close eye on my stitches.
The fabric for this quilt is Lady Slipper Lodge by Moda. I have named this quilt “Lady Slipper Lemoyne
If These Threads Could Talk 