Hive #4 January 2015 Tutorial

Happy New Year Hive 4! My name is Renae. I live in Northwest Indiana with my husband, 5 year old daughter and Corgi named Roxy. I really love bright colors and fun prints (like those Cotton + Steel tigers and Heather Ross anything).

*New for 2015*
Each month the Queen Bee is supposed to ask a question to be answered by all of her hive mates. My question to you is........

What is one quilting project on your bucket list? 

Links(if available) are appreciated so that we can all consider adding it to our bucket list too ;)

My Block:
I need your help! I have a little confession, I did not finish my quilt from last year's bee and I need your help to make more of these gorgeous blocks so that I can get it done on 2015! Here are pictures of the blocks that I have received already.

Tutorial

For my month I would like for you make a star stringquilt block. It is paper pieced. I have shown you how I paper piece, but there are lots of tutorials out there. If you don't like my way or are confused, let me know and I will help you. There are also lots of great tutorials on line. Jennifer from Ellison Lane has a great video tutorial. The block was created over at wombat quilts and I just fell in love with her finished quilt! I love low volume, rich colors and bright colors, so I would like to combine all of those with these flora hues.

 Please use the following colors: Navy(#1), Low volume gray, white and cream (#6 & #7) and the other spots can be a mix of lime green, purple, raspberry and teal. The center does NOT need to be lime green.

Paper Piecing PDF link for Renae's block

I turned her jpeg into a PDF to help insure that everyone ends up with a block the same size. Make sure that when you print that the "fit to page option is NOT checked. You can check to see if it is the correct size by measuring the 1” square in the bottom right corner. You will need to print out 5 copies. I always print out an extra copy so that I can use it as a template to cut the fabric. This is not necessary, but I think that it really helps! 

First you want to cut your pieces of fabric out. Remember when you cut it out that the fabric is going on the opposite side of the numbers, so if you cut with the wrong side of the fabric up, you will need to cut the fabric out with the number up. I usually forget this rule a time or two and try to cut them in a stack. Always make sure that you add at least 1/4” to the size that you need. I think that in this case, bigger is better.

Next place the fabric for piece 1 on the non-printed side. This piece should be navy. I always add a little bit of glue from a glue stick to the paper so that the fabric does not move around. You can hold the paper up to the light to make sure that the placement is correct. You are going to next add piece #2(right sides of fabric facing). Make sure that you have at least 1/4" seam allowance. You will add fabric pieces in numerical order.

You want to use a short stitch length so that it perforates the paper and makes it easy for me to remove. You are going to sew directly on the line. 

After you sew each piece down, fold the paper back on the seam and trim the seam allowance ot about a 1/4". You do not need to measure, just eyeball it. You can again hold it up to the light to make sure that the placement is correct. 

Continue adding fabric in order. I want the center to all be the same color/fabric, but the other sides can be raspberry, lime, purple or blue. I always finger press open and then I add a dab of glue from a glue stick to hold it down. The center star can be raspberry, lime, purple or teal.

After I added piece 6 and 7, I ironed down the pieces and then glued them down before trimming the squares

Now trim on the dotted line and sew them.

I folded the paper down and tore it off on the seam allowance. I then pressed the seam open. Please send me the blocks with the rest of the paper intact. It makes it easier to sew them together.

The final block should look like this:

Thank you for making this block for me. I cannot wait to see how these turn out!

Renae