Star Light, Star Bright BOM: Block 6

Here it is the first day of September.  It has been a long journey of getting a working computer but finally last week I am up and running again.  In the meantime, my vacation from tech encouraged some time away with my beloved hubby and we spent some nights in the woods, just the two of us and beautiful starry skies.  There is something mesmerizing about looking up at the night sky far away from the hustle and bustle of life...the quiet, a little too quiet at times, and the Milky Way filling the sky as far as one can see.  We had some perfect summer nights.

I also took advantage of abundant harvests and canned a lot of jam from our apricot tree followed by wild huckleberries and then some blueberries we were given.  I may yet go out and pick blackberries as well.  I tried something new with my apricot jam and added in Earl Gray tea to one batch and some lavender from my herb garden to another.  Both are really quite tasty.

I was never able to post last month's block 5 on the blog due to my computer issues so let's start this month with a look at that one.

And here is the one that is going into my baby quilt.  I worked to get the fussy cut rabbit in the middle.

Now for Block 6.  I heard from some of my pattern testers that this was their favorite block for this quilt so far.  All of the techniques in this block we have used in previous blocks so nothing new just more good practice.  I will mention that try as I might not all of the seams will lock together the way I like which means we have a few rather bulky seams to deal with.  So remember, sew slowly over those seams as it does help to keep things lined up.  A stiletto to help guide those bulky seams under your needle will also be beneficial.

Every once in awhile I come up with a new streamlined way of doing things.  This time I laid out several of these Half-square Triangles in a row and trimmed the first two sides at the same time.

The I rotated them all to trim the last two sides.

  I don't know if it actually saved any time but it felt more efficient.  Here they are ready to be sewn together into the Corner Units for our block.

I love it when seams go together so perfectly, and these diagonal seams do just that. 

Because of the way I have pressed these I again have seams that perfectly match with one going one way and the other facing the opposite direction.  This allows them to "lock" together as I sew.  I rarely use pins and having that seam on top facing towards the top of my unit helps to "push" them together as I sew.

These units are looking good.

As I mentioned, we do not have any new techniques but I want to remind you to sew with the top little square pointing away from your needle.  These little things do help.

We need to join our Flying Geese units together...

I sew with them arranged so that I can see the point.  This way I can make sure that as I sew my needle will land right at the tip of that intersection (the "X" made by the seams.)  This is where having that 1/4" seam allowance is so important since I want to achieve sharp points as I have in the photo above.

When it comes to the center unit I want to remind you to sew just to the right of your drawn line and not on top of it. 

As I mentioned we will have some bulky seams that do not lock together well-the seams ended up facing the same direction.  One way I try to deal with them is to flip the seam up and place a pin through the remaining layers to hold them together.

Then as I come to it I flip the seam back down and just before I get to the pin I go ahead and remove it carefully, while my needle is in the down position.  When my needle is in the down position I can make little adjustments as the needle acts as a pin holding things in place.

Here is how my baby quilt version came out.  The pink show brighter in real life. Since we do have those bulky seams I recommend pressing the final two seams open rather than to one side.  I finger pressed the seams open before taking it to my ironing board.  The pressed the back of the block on those open seams before flipping to the right side for a final press.  All in all the block lays pretty flat with that technique.

And here are blocks my testers submitted.  I am hard pressed to choose a favorite.

Joanne H.

Nicola K.

Susie H.

You can download all of the blocks in this series in my shop.  They will be free until January 1, 2021.

Download Here

Let me close by taking a moment to thank those who have checked up on my during my absence.  Your care and thoughtfulness was such a blessing.  And for those posting photos and comments on my Facebook pages; how truly wonderful it is to see my designs being made into such beautiful quilts; I am always amazed and honored when I see each one. 

So, thank you and...
Happy Quilting!!