Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Lone Star Quilt Construction Tips and Y-Seams

"A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience."
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Quilting

After so many Lone Stars, LeMoyne Stars and other eight-pointed stars I have a few tips to pass on. 
If you are sewing smaller diamonds together, it's easier to  press those seams open.

The back of a larger blue Lone Star section shows all the seams pressed open
Press seams open on smaller diamonds


Of course, that means those intersections need more pinning when sewing one larger unit to another. I put a pin exactly one-fourth inch from the edge and through the seam on both sides then add pins on either side to keep it from shifting. Take out that vertical pin as you approach it when sewing. 

Also, pin at an angle where the sewing line stops. See the pin at the right below. 

Place a vertical pin at the intersection of smaller diamonds and use another to mark where to stop sewing at the end.
Use pins to keep intersections aligned and to tell you exactly where to stop

When you reach the end pin, backstitch {more carefully that I did here} over the previous stitching line to keep seams from unraveling. 

Sewing up to the pin. 

If your backstitching must go "off" the stitching line, at least make sure it's in the seam allowance and not into the star itself.

A line of sewing on Lone Star seams is backstitched at the end
Backstitch at the end

Once the large diamonds are sewn into pairs, it's time to add the backgrounds. I usually sew the corner squares first and leave the side triangles for last but either order works fine. Pinning is almost exactly the same except you want to pin the intersection of the two diamonds to the corner of the square without any overlap. I.e., just pin one diamond to one side of the square. 

Pinning one side of a background square to one of the two diamonds 

Again, sew to the pin but not over it and backstitch.

Sewing to the intersection of three pieces of fabric

Then when sewing the background pieces to the Lone Star, sew them the same way: up to intersecting seam allowance and backstitch. Both sides. No overlapping here, please. And you'll notice this time my backstitching looks better. 

The background fabric is sewed to the Lone Star diamonds at backstitched when the intersecting seam allowance is reached
Backstitch when sewing backgrounds to Lone Stars/Eight-pointed Stars

I always press the large diamonds and the backgrounds to one side {not open} so the intersections spin.

Press these seams to one side and spin at the intersection


Monthly FUR (Fabric Use Rate) 

The LeMoyne Star was completed in August for a total of 13 yards. YTD = 124.75 yards.

Online Lectures and Meetings


How can we feel lonely with so many online meetings? Between Zoom and Meet, I now have at least five meetings a week. It's wonderful to see friends again and great to participate in lectures. I only participated in one short workshop but my friends are taking and teaching that way

Bisa Butler recently spoke with Dr. Myra Brown-Green at the American Folk Art Museum about her body of work. The excellent discussion covered the development of her craft {always my favorite part}, her history, and the reasons she chooses who to portray and how to portray them. She began as a painter and moved to quilting with her master's program. Initially she quilted portraits of family, then friends, and finally moved into the wider world as her confidence increased. I was very interested to see the development of her skills and color sense over the years.  She also had a wealth of information about the names of the African prints, something I was unaware of until this program. 

In the second part of the program, Myra discussed her quilts and books which focus on symbolism from cultures worldwide. The third part was a conversation between the two of them. And lucky us, AFAM made the program available for reply on their website. Get some coffee and enjoy an hour of in depth thought on unique quilts.


Voting

Our national election scheduled for November 3 is 70 days away. Have you requested a mail-in ballot or made plans to vote early? Check Vote411.org for details about your state and precinct. {Make the website is correctly typed and you are on a Secure site!} Democracy requires the participation of ALL citizens.

Wink at the Moon

Neil Armstrong passed away eight years ago today. His family asked that we wink at the moon annually in his honor. Tonight the moon will be in its first phase but I plan to spend a few minutes admiring the view and remembering an event that united our world with joy.

Enjoy the day, Ann

12 comments:

patty a. said...

Thanks for the tips!

Janie said...

Great tutorial, I can see you are an expert! Practice does make as close to perfect as anyone can get.
Thanks for sharing!

Ann said...

You're welcome.

Ann said...

Not an expert but I now have lots of recent experience. Writing notes here helps me remember and I hope it helps you.

audrey said...

I have not managed to be involved with any online meetings yet. Thankful we have contact with a lot of our immediate family these days to keep the lonesomeness at bay. Great tips for sewing the Lone Star pieces. Definitely not my strong suit, but someday I will probably want to try again!

Robin said...

I watched portions of the discussion and presentation. Bisa Butler does fascinating work.

Mystic Quilter said...

Oh excellent tutorial on dealing with Y seams and giving us some tips. I pin at the meeting pint just as you do Ann, I find it works so well.

Ann said...

I've always thought you were so fortunate to have lots of family nearby. We are happy that our family keeps in contact with frequent calls although they are scattered all around.
I hope the Lone Star tips help if you ever decide to try one again.

Ann said...

Her work is wonderful. I really enjoyed seeing the progression of her quilts over the years and learning a bit about her technique. One good thing about videos is that we can rewatch it.

Ann said...

Yes, your work is so accurate I could tell you do that, too. Thanks for the kind comment.

gayle said...

We do friends&family meet-ups twice a week via Zoom. It's been a wonderful way to stay connected when people are far away and travel is impossible.
I've been admiring your Lone Stars all along and know that I'm getting close to tackling one myself. Thanks for the tips! (And the enabling?)

Ann said...

We used to be better about keeping in touch when long-distance calls cost money. Once the calls were "free", the frequency actually dropped. So I'm finding these regularly scheduled meetings are fun.
I think the lone stars make great baby quilts. A bit of a challenge for me but small enough to be manageable. Enjoy!