Luminous Layers Quilt Along - Make the Medium Stars

I find it very rewarding and heartwarming that several of you just couldn't stop at the small stars from last week and made the medium stars, and now you have your 36 blocks all sitting on the design wall! And I am thrilled that Diann had the idea to chain sew as leader/enders the bigger simpler blocks that have been sitting on the design wall for a few weeks as she pieced the small stars... As a result, I have a little more than half of my quilt top sewn up and it felt like someone else did it (well, almost).

So all that is left now are four blocks. The good news is that you have 5/16 of these last four blocks already done. So let's get cracking at making the four medium 8" (12") star blocks!

Note that in the original quilt the star points for these four medium star points use the black background and various chops (prints in batik terms) of blues/violets.

1. In the same manner as you made all the other HSTs, two at a time, pair twelve BG 3" (4") squares with twelve Fabric D 3" (4") squares to yield 24 BG/Fabric D HSTs. Press half of the HSTs' seams to the BG and half to the Fabric D. Trim these to 2.5" (3.5").

2. Finally pair four BG 3" (4") squares with four Fabric E 3" (4") squares, and follow the HST two at a time method to yield eight BG/Fabric E HSTs. Press half to the BG and half to Fabric E. Trim to 2.5" (3.5").

3. To make one medium star block, gather the following pieces: six BG/Fabric D HSTs, three with seams pressed to the BG and three with seams pressed to Fabric D, two BG/Fabric E HSTs, seams as previously noted, three BG 2.5" (3.5") squares, one small star quarter unit, and one complete small star. Lay these out as shown being sure to have HSTs with opposing seams beside each other:

4. Sew the top  and bottom rows. For the middle row, first sew the HSTs together, and then sew each pair on either side of the small star. Finally sew the three rows together. Make sure your quilt inspector oversees the procedure.

I do think she likes watching the fabric move as I sew!

The block should measure 8.5" (12.5"). Make four identical blocks. They will be rotated in the quilt layout which will form the centre medium and small star.

This completes the last step! Next week we'll talk about sewing the flimsy together, and I will show you a really slick method that I use for nearly all my quilt tops which helps keep all the blocks in perfect order…unless you somehow turn them on your way from the design wall to your sewing machine... Yup, I did that, more than once, when I was being all smart and leader/ender sewing the top half of the flimsy together🤦🏻‍♀️!!

I have one important announcement to make and I’ve saved it for those who have read all the way to the end. I finally heard back this week from Fat Quarter Shop—they have a new method of applying for donation prizes and they must get a lot of requests because it took over a month! But excellent news: they are offering a $25 gift certificate to one lucky winner! I have added them to the sponsors graphic on the main page of this QAL and on the schedule post as well as right here as a happy reminder of what you can win.