Big Star Quilt

Yesterday, I finished quilting this "Big Star" quilt top that I made in February. If you want to make a quick top, this is a good one. It finishes to about 42 inches square, but could be enlarged with a wider border. It's a simple design, if you have space to lay out your triangles and can keep them in the correct orientation when you sew them.

I wrote this pattern for the KC Project Linus chapter's National Make a Blanket Day last February. The pattern has been hiding on my website. I keep meaning to go back and revise it for 40" wide fabric. I learned that fabric widths are shrinking after I had it written. I also need to add a warning about directional prints. You can use them, but you need to be careful about which way you cut the diagonals if you want everything to be right side up.

I have a pretty standard quilting plan for this quilt design. I ditch quilt the vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, plus around the outside of the star and the border. Then I quilt skinny diamonds in each star point from tip to tip. All 8 diamonds can be quilted without stopping and cutting the thread. I divide the background squares and triangles with more lines, creating more diamonds and triangles; two trips around the quilt without stopping. You can see most of my quilting lines in the photo. Click on the photo for a larger version.

Our blanketeers had a great time making this star and several variations. Rearranging the same squares and triangles gave a variety of results. Check out the KC chapter photo gallery for pictures of the some of the quilt tops that were made.