Hive 6 September Tutorial: Poet’s Star Sampler

Hello all! This is my first year participating in the Stash Bee and so this is my first time writing a guide. I’ve had so much fun making all of Hive 6’s blocks (and a few hive crashes for good measure!) so hopefully you’ll enjoy this month’s quilt and hopefully my guidance makes sense. 

I called this post the “poet’s star sampler” because this quilt is going to be a gift for a good friend of mine who makes his living as a poet. He does a lot of work in the community bringing people together in creative workshops and so I thought he would get such a kick out of being given a quilt made by our community! 

The idea behind this is that I’m setting a colour palette, but you can make whatever star shape your heart desires ✨⭐️🌟💫

Fabrics: 

Here’s my fabric pull: 

As you can see I’ve got lots of patterns. Geometrics, batiks, florals, solids, blenders. Ultimately anything goes so long as it reads the right sort of colour. 

• If you have any fabrics with text or words on them that fit the colour scheme, I’d love it if you would include those! That includes fun selveges. 

Background	Warm, darker purples
Main star colour	Warm-toned yellows
Accent colours	Pink, orange, red

• I think my purples skew a little lighter than I’d like, so if you have some darker purples that would be great to see. 
• Scrappy backgrounds and stars are more than welcome. 
• I won’t be too prescriptive about colours though! So long as it all reads warm-toned that’s the important thing. 

Star patterns: 

I’ve collated a collection of free star shape patterns. Feel free to pick one of these or find your own!

A range of sizes would be great: smaller blocks will help fill in the spaces between bigger blocks (and I struggle a bit with sewing little blocks). But any and all blocks will be gratefully received. 

• Moda Blockheads 5 is a collection of star shapes in 6” and 12”: https://modafabrics.com/blockheads5
• This website has 45 different star shapes: https://www.favequilts.com/Miscellaneous-Quilt-Projects/Star-Quilt-Patterns-Free-Block-Designs-and-Quilt-Ideas/amp 
• This website has lots of good patterns with tutorials: https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/30-of-the-best-star-quilt-block-patterns 
• This blog post has cutting instructions for a range of sawtooth star sizes: http://www.gigisthimble.com/2022/06/sawtooth-star-cutting-chart-tutorial.html?m=1 

General notes before you get started: 

• Press seams open or to the side, whichever you prefer. 
• Don’t worry about squaring blocks up, I’ll be happy to do that when I start putting things together. 

And with that, I think that’s the important bits! 

If you don’t want to make a decision yourself about what block to make (I hear you!), I’ve attached a tutorial below for how to make sawtooth stars using the 4 at a time flying geese method. They’re quick and easy and low-waste. They’ve included directions on how to make different sizes. So, if you want to put something together quickly, a couple of sawtooth stars would be great. 

https://www.diaryofaquilter.com/fast-flying-geese-sawtooth-star/ 

Conclusion 

Thanks so much for sticking with me all the way to the bottom. I’m super excited to see what you come up with and put this quilt together! Feel free to message me on Instagram @lighthouse.crafts if you have any questions. 

Thanks, Kieren ✨