Patches of Blue Quilt Along – Block 8 Shining Star

Last few weeks I was blessed to visit my Mom in Poland and take in some simple beauty of the surroundings.

In the middle of the summer, everything seems to be bursting with color, especially at Zalipie, a little painted village that we stopped at.

I was smittered by some of the paint combinations chosen by these local folk artists for their homes.

I just wanted to peek inside,

and experience their creations.

Where your house becomes a canvas,

from every angle.

This was one of my favorites, I was really drawn to the shades of blue.

I couldn’t help but imagine some of my “Patches of Blue” quilts resting on the beds or laundry lines of that little painted village.

As I was daydreaming, my thoughts drifted to the next block of our “Patches of Blue” Quilt Along.

Shining Star is our block number 8 in the Patches of Blue Quilt Along.

You can find the detailed directions on page 90 of the “Patches of Blue” book. I’m digging down to the bottom of my scrap basket to find fabrics for this block. The goal is to continue using the same fabrics through all of our blocks so the finished quilt looks cohesive.

We will be selecting 8 blues and 8 lights for this Shining Star block. For the background you will need 1 fat quarter light fabric, I love this piece from Something Blue.

In the book, directions call for 22″ strips, to make the block even scrappier I will be using twice as many strips cutting them 11″ long.

From the blues, cut 8 small 11″ long strips and 8 large 11″ long strips.

From the lights, cut 8 small 11″ long strips and 8 large 11″ long strips. Notice that if my fabrics were not long enough, I sewed short strips together then cut to 11″. Now we’re really getting scrappy!

Cut large background fabrics into 4 quarter square triangles and 4 squares.

Time to sew your strips into sets – remember to offset your fabric strips as shown above so later your ruler will align well at a 45-degree angle to cut diamond units.

Sew a total of 8 strips sets together – 4 with a large light strip in the middle and 4 with a large dark strip in the middle. Press seams open.

Align 45-degree angle on you ruler to strip sets and cut as outlined in the book.

From 4 light middle strip sets, cut a total of 16 small diamond units. From 4 dark middle strip sets, cut a total of 8 large diamond units as shown above.

Sew 1 large and 2 small diamond units together to create a diamond. Press seams open as shown above.

Create a total of 8 diamonds for our star block.

Sew 8 diamonds together then set them in background quarter square triangles and background squares. I suggest watching my videos below to give you the best results with your star.

Please watch my video above for detailed 8 point star assembly technique.

This video will also be helpful when making our block.

We only have a few more months to go and our Patches of Blue Quilt Along  quilt top will be completed, I’m looking forward to adding some applique flowers and branches to our project.

Happy Quilting! Edyta

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