Star Struck - Table Top Quilt

Two weeks ago at an evening quilting class at Fat Quarters Quilt Shop in Vista, I started this great little quilt.  It is called Honeycomb Stars and is comprised of 16 six inch blocks that are primarily triangle blocks.  I went out on a limb with the fabrics and went a direction I don’t normally go.  Here’s the story of this creation….

This quilt is all about making triangle blocks.  Take two squares, put them right side together and then sew 1/4″ across on either side of the middle line.  Some people mark the back of the squares with a pencil or a marking tool.  I just press one of the squares of each pairing in half and then use that as my guide to sew a 1/4″ seams on either side.  You end up with this…piles of pieces squares.

These are then taken and cut in half twice and then paired up again to make the final 2 1/2″ square with opposite colors.

After you sew all the small blocks, you have to square them up.  You will want to use a ruler that has a diagonal marking so that it makes it easy to square them up.  When you square them up, you end up with all these fun scraps!  You need to remember to square up from the center and not the edges or you will end up with squares that are not equal.  This might be a future tutorial.

Here is a finished block.  I pinned everything on this quilt because of the amount of pieces and intersections.  Generally, it turned out pretty good.  You also had the opportunity to square up these blocks as well.

Then, I laid everything out and figured out which order I wanted my blocks to go in.  It was very hard for me to do this given the different fabrics included in this quilt top.  I settled on this and joined the blocks together in rows of four.  I pinned every single seam together as I joined the blocks and rows.  This was a lot of pinning, but it was well worth it.

I then added a 4 1/2″ border around the quilt.  I used a brushed flannel.  As always, measure your border from the center of your quilt and not the ends or your quilt will end up out of square.

At some point, I was joined by Baja who decided he needed to be in the small chair in my sewing room even though it didn’t fit him.  So, we had to shore up the front half of his body with the ottoman.  It didn’t look comfortable, but he stayed there for a while.

Here are a few pics of the finished quilt.  Here’s the front of the quilt.  I used stippling quilting in a small scale to offset the straight lines on the rest of the quilt.

Here’s the back of the quilt.  So, I love scrappy quilt backs.  Here, I used every single piece of fabric scrap from the quilt front and made a scrappy quilt back.  As always, don’t forget to add your label.

Another picture of the front.  It looks great on my table!

An idea for a table top….a cute basket with some decorative berries twigs and a great quilt.

This quilt has been listed on etsy for sale….check it out here.  Hope you have a wonderful Saturday!