Previously posted by Em Komiskey on stlmqg.blogspot.com

Welcome to Month Six of the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild 2022 Block of the Month Sampler!

Remember to post your block to Instagram with the hashtag #stlmqgbom before the 2nd Saturday of July to be entered to win this month's prize. (There is no July meeting because of our quilt show, This Is Modern. See you there!) If you don't use Instagram, you may email a photo to the guild email.

This month, we will be making an 18-inch lone star block. A lone star block uses strip piecing and 45° angle cuts to create multiple rows of diamonds that form the star points. A lone star can have MANY rows of these diamonds, but for this lone star, we will just be using three. 

***This block took me 2 hours and 6 minutes to cut and sew, as well as take photos for this tutorial. You may need to add extra time for reading the tutorial, especially if you have never tried a lone star before.***

CUTTING DIRECTIONS:

Fabric1 (inner diamonds of star): (1) 2¼" x 28" strip

Fabric2 (middle diamonds of star): (1) 2¼" x 28" strip

Fabric3 (outer diamonds/points of star): (1) 2¼" x 28" strip

*if you are using fat quarters or don't have fabric length for a 28" strip, you may use more shorter strips. 

Background: (4) 5" squares, cut on the diagonal to make 8 triangles 

                      (4) 6½" squares, cut on the diagonal to make 8 triangles

SEWING DIRECTIONS: 

1. Line up one strip of Fabric2 (middle) above the strip of Fabric1 (inner). Off-set to the right by 2". Place right sides together and sew the length of the strip using a ¼" seam allowance. 

Line up the strip of Fabric3 (outer) above the other strip of  Fabric2 (middle). Off-set to the right by 2". Place right sides together and sew the length of the strip using a ¼" seam allowance. 

Iron open towards Fabric2. 

2. This step requires a ruler with a 45° angle marking. Line up the 45° angle line along the edge of your strip set. Trim of the excess. 

Keeping the 45° angle consistent, cut EIGHT sections at 2¼". 

Repeat for your second strip set. 

Match each Fabric1-2 set with a corresponding Fabric2-3 set. 

**Note: I am not a big pinner. I tend to avoid them as much as possible. However, in this case, I highly recommend pinning your two strip sets together prior to sewing. 

    a. Place your Fabric1-2 set and your Fabric2-3 set right sides together. Put a pin on the seam line between the two fabrics, ¼" from the edge. 

    b. Slide the pin through to the bottom set, and again, put the pin through the fabric on the seam line, ¼" from the edge. 

    c. With the pin through both fabrics as a pivot point, line up the edges of the 2 strip sets, then angle the pin to come up through the fabric and secure the pieces together. 

3. Sew the sections of strip sets together. I can't recommend sewing through pins because that sucker could break your needle or the pin could splinter and fly into your eye. That being said, I sewed (VERY slowly) over my pins because you want that line of stitches to cross right over where your pin is inserted. You could also just take the pin out right before you sew that bit. 

You will now have eight 4-piece diamonds. These will be the arms of your lone star.

We are making four identical quadrants that will be sewn together into the finished star. 

4. Using two of your star arms, lay them out with the background triangles as shown.

5. Take one of the smaller triangles and place it right sides together along its long side with one of the outside angles of the star arm. The point of the background triangle will extend beyond the outside of the star arm at the ¼“ mark. Sew together with ¼“ seam allowance. Iron open. Repeat with the other star arm of that quadrant. 

6. Now, use one of your larger triangles, and place right sides together with a star arm along one of its short sides, as shown. Again, the point of the background triangle will extend beyond the star arm at the ¼“ mark. Sew together with ¼“ seam allowance. 

Trim off those little “dog ears” extending beyond the seam allowance. Iron open. Repeat with the other star arm of that quadrant.

7. Sew together the two halves of the quadrant along the diagonal line, matching the seam lines as you go. It will be easiest to line up your star if you start sewing from the inner corner of the star. Iron open.

8. Trim to 9½“. To ensure that the star remains the correct size, it’s best to first line up the inside of the star and trim as little as possible, just enough to square up your star quadrant. Then turn the quadrant and complete your trim to 9½“.

Repeat steps 4 - 8  for the remain three quadrants of your lone star. Sew together, again lining up seams and beginning from the inside of the star. 

You're done! Great job! Remember to post your finished lone star block to Instagram with the hashtag #stlmqg.