Hive 5 November 2016 Fall Stars

Happy November, Hive 5!

I'm so excited to be Queen Bee this month. I was so disappointed when I wasn't assigned a hive at the beginning of the year, but had my fingers crossed because I knew I was on the waitlist. Imagine my excitement when a slot opened up!

A little bit of background. I'm an environmental attorney who runs a research program at the University of Mississippi School of Law focused on ocean and coastal law. I've always loved the beach! I grew up in central Pennsylvania surrounded by beautiful Amish quilts and fabrics. My mom taught me to sew, and I made a few basic quilts in high school and college. I liked it, but I stopped sewing for years as other interests took over. Then, about 3 years ago, I discovered Craftsy and an obsession was born! I can't imagine a day without sewing now.

I've been struggling for months to decide on my block and my colors. I thought about Christmas, butterflies, and stars. Then, in early October, MJ reached out because her surgery was coming up and she was hoping to get an early start. And, all of a sudden, I knew what I wanted. A fall quilt.

Eight years ago, I got married in Gatlinburg, TN on a gorgeous fall day in mid-October. Our ceremony was outside and the fall leaves were in full bloom. My flowers, centerpieces, and cake decoration were just bursting with deep maroons, yellows, oranges, and greens. Here's a few wedding pictures for inspiration.

My choosen block is the Ribbon Star Quilt from Missouri Star Quilt Company. I can't possibly top a tutorial by Jenny Doan, so I'm just going to send you a link to her video: http://land.missouriquiltco.com/ribbon-star-quilt/ If you are a subscriber to their Block magazine, this quilt is also featured in Vol. 3, Issue 1.

Here's my fabric pull. I found this jelly roll on sale. The light makes some of the colors look a little more purple than what they are. Have fun with fabric selection. Anything in the fall color range is great.

I decided for my block I wanted to focus on the maroons and oranges. You'll need three prints and one background color. Please use a white fabric for the background. You can use a white solid or a white tone-one-tone. Please avoid cream.

For the stars, you'll need 4 pieces of Print A (2.5" x 6.5"), 4 pieces of Print B (2.5" x. 4.5") and 4 2.5" squares of Print C. You need three different sizes of pices from the background fabric: 8 2.5" squares for the flip-and-sew corners, 4 2.5" squares, and 4 2.5" x 4.5" rectanges.

The block goes together a lot like a log cabin. You'll start by sewing the two 2.5" squares together, and then work your way around the block sewing on the rectangles. You'll end up with 4 square units that look like this:

Next you'll snowball the corners of the two print rectangles to create the star points. In the image on the tutorial website, you'll see that the stars turn in two different directions. In the instructions in Block Magazine, they only turn one way. It doesn't matter to me which way they turn, so don't stress about that.

After you snowball the corners, your 4 units will look like this. Ironing tip: if you iron the triangle for one print towards the background and the other towards the print, the seams will nest. It's a little tricky to do that because one of the snowball corners goes over a seam, but I think it reduces bulk in the end and makes it easier to line things up.

Sew the four units together as a four patch and you're done!!!

I can't wait to see what you come up with. Thanks so much for letting me join your hive this year! It's been great.

Thanks,

Stephanie