Tutorial - Five Stars Plus 5

This is a simple tutorial to show you how I went from this EQ7 drawing -

To this finished quilt top - ;))

First I decided that each "square" would be 2" - finished -
Because I had already chosen some pre-cut 2-1/2" strips -
And a stack of matching 10" squares -

Since the grid is 16 x 16 -
That would work out to a quilt top 32" x 32" -

I could have decided that each "square" would be 3" - finished -
In that case - the quilt top would be 16 x 3" - or 48" x 48"

At 4" per square - it would be 16 x 4" - or 64" x 64" -

I know it's MATH - but if you want to make one like it -
You can make it ANY size you want -
And you can substitute ANY color(s) you want -
I'll show you how many of each I used - as I go along -
YOU get to choose - it's YOUR quilt - ;))

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For the FIVE STAR centers -
I wanted 4 red centers and one yellow one -
So I cut 4 red squares and one yellow square @ 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" -
To finish at 2" x 2"

I chose my favorite red and yellow strips and cut the squares from those -

I knew that I wanted the "Star Points" to be yellow -
But I wanted two different yellows -
One for the stars at the TOP LEFT and BOTTOM RIGHT -
And another yellow for the TOP RIGHT and BOTTOM LEFT -
So I took two different yellow strips (2-1/2") -
And cut 8 matching sets of HST (for Flying Geese units) from each of them -
For a total of 16 sets of HST (for Flying Geese units) -
4 blocks with 4 Flying Geese units each -
The TOP LEFT and BOTTOM RIGHT "Star Points" were from the same strip as the center square of the center star -

Next came the "Geese" -
8 red QST from the same strip as the center squares -
and 8 white QST from a white striped strip -
Make 8 Flying Geese Units with red centers and yellow "Wings/Sky" -
And 8 Flying Geese Units with white centers and yellow "Wings/Sky" -
They will measure 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" and finish at 2" x 4" -
The "Wings/Sky" parts make the "Star Points" -
And the Fifth Star - in the middle -
Is made automatically with the "Star Points" from the other four stars -
Which I think is kinda cool -

Then I cut two red squares @ 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" -
For the two "outer" corners of the RED stars -
And paired the red strip and the white strip to cut/sew 4 HST -
For the "inner" corners of the RED Stars -

Which left me with the corners for the WHITE Stars -
I decided to make them white and blue -
Then I cut two white striped squares @ 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" -
For the two "outer" corners of the WHITE stars -
I chose a blue 2-1/2" strip and paired it with what was left of the white strip -
And cut/sewed 4 HST for the "inner" corners of the WHITE stars -

For the "Inner" Stars - I chose blue and green -
And had to switch to 1-1/2" strips to get them the correct size -
I cut the strips from the 10" squares -
And made 20 Flying Geese Units in the 1-1/2" x 2-1/2" size -
To finish at 1" x 2" -
With green centers and blue "Wings/Sky" -

The Five Stars each have 4 corners - for a total of 20 -
So I cut 20 green squares at 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" -
Using 1-1/2" strips cut from another green 10" square -

At this point I sewed the center together in sections -
Because the Center Star shares parts with the Corner Stars -
It makes it difficult to just sew the "blocks" together into rows -

MIDDLE SECTION -
I started with the Center Star and sewed it together as if it were a 9-patch -
Since it is two "rows" deep -
I sewed the side sections together and then added them to the Center Star -

TOP SECTION -
I sewed the two smaller/center Stars -
Added the Flying Geese Units on each side -
Then the Top Row -

BOTTOM SECTION -
I sewed the two smaller/center Stars -
Added the Flying Geese Units on each side -
Then the Bottom Row -

Then I sewed the three sections together -

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Next came the borders -

My set of strips had two of the same green and two of the same yellow -
So I used those four strips to make the green/yellow checkerboard part of the border -
Sewed each green strip to a yellow strip then sub-cut them at 2-1/2" -
Sewed 4 sets of 8 starting with a pair with green on top and yellow on bottom -

Corner units are QST - Hourglass Blocks - 4-1/2" x 4-1/2" -
Cut/sewn from 2-1/2" strips of blue and yellow -
The same blue strip as the HST in the corners of the white stars and left over bits of the yellow strips used in the stars -

Two more 2-1/2" contrasting strips -
And a 2-1/2" strip cut from two of the 10" squares in the same prints -
For 16 QST - Hourglass Block halves -
White with red motifs/blue print -

Two more 2-1/2" contrasting strips -
And a 2-1/2" strip cut from two of the 10" squares in the same prints -
For 16 QST - Hourglass Block halves -
White with blue motifs/green print -

Then sewed the 16 Hourglass Blocks together - and put them on the wall -

From one yellow and one white striped 10" square -
I cut 4 squares at 5" -
Then matched them up - right sides together -
Cut them from corner to corner ONCE diagonally -
Sewed them together to make 8 HST -
And trimmed them to 4-1/2" x 4-1/2" -
(The diagram shows them as QST - Hourglass Blocks - but I made HST instead -
My quilt - my choice - LOL - ;))

The corners were cut from the 10" red square that matched the red corners in the center stars -
I cut the square in half both directions -
Making 4 squares at 5" -
Then decided NOT to trim them to 4-1/2" because they were going in the corners -
And the quilt top would be "squared" later -
And I might "need" that extra 1/2" - ;))

There you have it -

I started with 18 2-1/2" strips and a matching set of 18 10" squares -

Made the quilt top and had 5 strips and 8 squares plus some odds and ends left over - ;))

I may use those to make the backing - ;))

Most of the quilt top "units" were cut/sewn from the pre-cut strips -

And your results may vary depending on your color and design choices - ;))

You could decide to skip the "Inner Stars" and cut the "centers" at 4-1/2" x 4-1/2" -

Or make the "centers" as 4-patches -

As long as the "centers" FINISH at 4" x 4" -

Any number of variations would work - your choice - ;))

If you copy/paste the top image to a word processing document on your computer -

You can resize it - print it out - and color it to suit yourself -

Count up the number of "units" you need -

Decide what size you want to make it -

And play with it -

Have FUN!! - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -