{michellepatterns.com}

Sawtooth Star Quilt Blocks

This post contains affiliate links.

If you take a look at my quilt board on Pinterest there are quite few star quilts. So many that for a while there I had to stop myself from pinning them because it was getting out of hand.

Now the board has more diversity, but there are still tons of star quilts because someday I'd like to make one of my own!

So with that in mind, I thought now would be a good time to make a few star blocks to see if I enjoy the process and can see myself sticking with it to finish an entire quilt.

First I had to figure out how to make a star block. There are a number of different star blocks, but I didn't want to get too fancy about it so I choose the Sawtooth Star. 

Searching for instructions for this classic block turned up lots of free tutorials, but I really just wanted the instructions neatly packaged into a document for storing on my computer.  So off to etsy I went!  And right here I found just the right pattern.

If you want to make a Sawtooth Star block this is a very good pattern. The instructions are straightforward and neatly laid out so they are easy to read.  

The pattern comes with measurements for pieces to make this block in three sizes: 3", 4", 6", and 9". 

The blocks shown here are all 9" blocks. Really they are 9.5" because the sizes are the finished block sizes once sewn together. There's extra 1/4" all the way around to accommodate them being joined together.  

One of the reasons I selected this pattern is the 9" block is perfect for making a queen size quilt. It's not too big and not too small and a standard size for a queen quilt is 90" x 108". 

So it would be 10 blocks wide x 12 blocks high. Only 120 of them!  Haha...that's quite a lot of quilt blocks.  

I did mess up two of them (they don't have quite enough allowance) so there will some unpicking to do if they end up in a quilt.  "Unpicking" is a funny word and perhaps it's not technically a word at all, but it's something you'll need to do from time to time if you sew.  

Fortunately, I've got just the unpicking tool needed in this seam ripper.

This Clover seam ripper is pretty new to me and it's really quite nice and much better than the my old, dull one.  The ergo handle makes it comfy to hold and use and the cutter is super, super sharp.

There are a few more blocks that aren't shown here, so maybe I'm like 10% of the way to the 120 blocks needed?  That makes it sound doable, but we'll see if it actually happens! 

How to Catch Front and Back Edges of Quilt Binding

 

This post has an affiliate link.

Yesterday I made quilt binding in a black and white stripe from Riley Blake and I really haven't made much of this type of binding that's simply folded in half, but will offer more rolls of it because many people prefer to use this type.

Ok, now on to what I really want to show you...how to machine sew binding to a quilt where you cover the first stitching line used to attach the binding to the quilt and also end up catching both the front and back edges of the binding neatly. 

Matching Stripes for Quilt Binding

This post contains an affiliate link.

It's been a while since I've made quilt binding, but here's some now! 

While joining the strips together I took some photos to show you an easy way to match stripes on the bias.

The first step is to fold one end on the bias with the edge of one stripe lined up with the edge of the fabric strip.  Press it so you have a crisp fold.  Then add a piece of Wonder Tape at least 1/2" from the fold so it will be cut off when you trim away the excess fabric. 

Remove the Wonder Tape backing, match up the stripes and finger press the tape to hold the pieces together.

Carefully open the folded back fabric and then pin at the bottom.  Then just stitch directly on the fold and you'll have pretty darn close to perfectly matched stripes sewn together on the bias! 

 

 

 

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

QAYG Blocks are Done!

All 42 blocks needed for this scrappy blue quilt are complete!  This quilt has been in UFO status since 2013.  Oh my and oh dear...

This is my second QAYG quilt and you can read more about the first one at the links below. 

For this quilt my next step is to trim the blocks to the same size and start cutting the front and back sashing and then the binding.

Links to my first QAYG quilt in 2010:

• Quilt As You Go Blocks
• Attaching the Quilt As You Go Blocks Together
• Quilt As You Go Quilt is Done

I also received an email this morning about a book called Quilt As You Go Made Vintage (affiliate link) by Jera Brandvig. This book has 51 blocks and 3 joining methods. 

I'm definitely sold on the QAYG method because it makes it possible for people to make an entire quilt at home on a basic machine, so this book sounds interesting.  Both of my QAYG quilts are made with Log Cabin blocks, which is a block that makes a lot of sense for this type of QAYG with sashing, but it would be nice to have a few other go to blocks for this type of quilting. 

 

 

Save

Save

Save

Save

New - Striped Quilt Binding

Last month someone asked me to make some black and white striped binding.  It seemed like such an easy request--I'd just pop on over to the fabric store and find the black and white stripes! 

Uh, no, it didn't quite work that way, and I walked out of the store with NO striped fabric. 

So last week when I saw this black and cream stripe, I made sure to get some while the getting was good.  This fabric has a touch of brown along the edge of the black stripes that gives it a neat antiqued look. 

This striped binding is available to order by the yard right here. This binding is sold out, but you can view more binding here.

Save

Finished Baby Quilt

Yesterday I finished the baby quilt. 

Technically it was done on Friday afternoon, but the final step of washing/drying it didn't take place until Saturday. 

It came out of the dryer with 30-minutes to spare for taking pictures and wrapping it up. 

Mom-to-be was very appreciative of the handmade gift and I enjoyed making it.

Overall, I think it took about 10-hours to finish this small quilt. Since I got started with time to work on it in 2-3 hour increments, it went quickly and I had time to relax and get it done without stressing.   

It was made from (72) 4.5" squares (8 columns x 9 rows), which gave it a finished size of 32" x 36". 

The "Pop Garden" print was the basis for the color scheme. 

The binding is turquoise ticking.  It was stitched by machine and I double stitched it because the folds at the corners seemed like they needed reinforcement, and I'm sure this will be washed many times--might as well make it durable!

 

The back is a print called Powder Puffs from the Pam Kitty collection by LakeHouse Dry Goods.