Rising Star Quilt Block in Fabric Scraps

The studio was recently cleaned a bit and fabric scraps were sorted by color. I’m now putting those scraps to good use and making AnneMarie Chany’s Rising Star Quilt Block.

It will take a little while to cut all the scraps, but I think it will be worth it. I decided to make a two sample blocks using white/off-white background colors and fabric scraps from the “blues” bag for the foreground color.

I first chose my scraps by size:?Will this piece be big enough for the four squares I need to cut. Then I sorted again based on value: Will this blue appear dark enough next to a neutral background fabric.

Here’s a tip for cutting into your fabric scraps– Make durable templates. These are cut from extra comic book boards, which were previously used when refolding/organizing yardage. I lay the templates on my fabric scrap to see if it is big enough to work with. It is wonderful; no surprises when cutting. Once I know the piece is usable, I still rotary cut my shapes.

First step, make half square triangles.

I make them without marking the center diagonal lines. Watch this video to see how it is done with the Seamingly Accurate Seam Guide—

Once the smaller and larger?triangles were complete, I was able to arrange my test blocks.

My block will finish 16″ x 16″. I plan on making 30 of them and having one really large quilt or possibly two small ones. I haven’t decided yet.

I’m happy to report the blue blocks went together really well.

The neutral/white background pieces are cut and in the project ziploc bag. I’ll now start cutting into all the fabric scrap color bags to create an additional 28 blocks. Who knows when this guy will be finished. =) It will be that on-going, pack-for-retreat project. Of course, I’ll keep you posted on the progress.