HOMEWARD BOUND -- MONTH 6

  This quilt is the 2023 Block of the Month quilt for The Quilt Show. It was designed by Sarah Fielke exclusively for The Quilt Show and is only available at The Quilt Show. The best news is it's FREE for Star Members of The Quilt Show. Each month in 2023 a new part of the quilt is released for download to Star Members. 

This month we make ALL the stars that will complete the entire quilt. Here you see 4 of them added to the pieced borders made in Month 5:

There are 3 Stars, two are small and one is large. It can be confusing to figure out which fabrics are used for which stars, especially if you are using the Kit. This information should help.

First, I need to say I CHANGED THE SMALL STARS CONSTRUCTION for my blocks.. The pattern makes the star points from two Half Square Triangles, like this:

I prefer star points made from Flying Geese, like this:

There is a detailed TUTORIAL on this Blog for making four flying geese at once, oversized so you can "trim to perfection". All my TUTORIALS are listed above in the TUTORIALS tab. You can also find it here:

Four Flying Geese
 

This photo shows the FABRICS for the TWO DIFFERENT SMALL STARS. STAR A has peach points and the blue background ladybugs in the center. STAR B has purple points and the white background ladybugs.

NOTE: I used a different background for my quilt so I could start before the Kit arrived. The BACKGROUND SQUARE is cut 3 1/2":

BIG TIP: the fastest way to draw diagonal lines on the back of 2 1/8" squares is to CUT A 4 1/4" SQUARE. Use a mechanical pencil to draw two diagonal lines from corner to corner. Then carefully cut the 4 1/4" square into 4 small squares, each 2 1/8" with the pencil line already drawn. Much faster than cutting MANY very small squares and drawing the lines separately:

IMPORTANT NOTE: cutting 4.25” squares requires more fabric than the half square triangle method. If using the Kit, this might be a factor. Especially with dark purple. I will choose another dark purple for the cabin roofs in month 11 if I don’t have enough.

Here is STAR A showing the various steps to making four Flying Geese at once. Refer to the TUTORIAL for specific info:

Here are the completed SMALL STARS. Make 12 STAR A and make 8 STAR B:

The final star is LARGE: STAR C. It is a Friendship Star block. Make 4 of these. 

I have a love/hate relationship with this Star. I am usually quite unsuccessful at making the "Star Point" unit for this block. NOTE: These are NOT 60 degree triangles. Use the template in the pattern.

If I  had to make a lot of these I would simply create a Paper Piecing pattern for that unit. This time I stuck it out, trying to make at least one of these stars accurately. Once again, not real successful. I must have a mental block against it. These will have to do.

The secret must be using the TEMPLATES as accurately as possible. Hold the template firmly in place as you trim. And be sure to trim off the very small angular cuts on the bottom of the points--they help with aligning the points to the background triangle. 

If you are cutting your own templates from the pattern, make them as accurately as possible. If using the plastic templates from the Accessory Kit, hold them firmly in place as you cut. 

At least ONE of those outer points will be HIDDEN when the Star is sewn into the quilt. Oh, well...

Once you have ALL 24 STAR BLOCKS made, you are done for the Month. 

In Month 7 we start on the wide applique borders that feature the birds and lots of leaves and flowers. We will work on these four borders in Months 7, 8 and 9.

Here is my TIP for those borders: cut them wider than needed so they can be trimmed once sewn. I had a lot of fraying on all four of the borders--there is a lot of time spent handling them--I did mostly needle turn hand applique. It is a bit tricky to do because the top and bottom borders include a STAR A and a square on either end--those are made the exact size needed. More info on all that next month.

While on my recent TEXAS TOUR, I met Venetta M, who is making her Homeward Bound by machine applique, with a narrow zigzag stitch. Her work was spectacular! The background was crisp and firm, no fraying at all. She had cut the background slightly bigger than needed and marked the seam allowance so she could place the circles inside the design area correctly.

She explained she treated the background fabric with TERIAL MAGIC --buy it from the Quilt Show Store! She said a light spritz was all that was needed. I sure wish I had done that:

So, that does it for Month 6--enjoy the  process. Here is Sarah's quilt with Star A in place:

Let's quilt.

Barbara