At Piece with Time Block Two -- Twinkling Star

Block two is a little more challenging than block one.  It's a variation on a star block, which means the quilter is dealing with several issues.  First of all, there are more pieces of fabric in this block and the biased edges are exposed in almost every piece.  Second, there are lots of points with a star, so the tips can't be cut off. If they are, the star loses its visual effectiveness.

First choose your fabric.  This is the second block, so you have to have some continuity in the colors you pick.  Background fabric one is used again, but other than that, you have options of which of your fabrics to use.  These are what I picked:

Notice I picked the same blue background fabric for the center of block two as I did block one and I kept the same coral-colored accent fabric.  I did add a darker turquoise fabric.

This block adds the flying geese element.  Flying geese aren't difficult -- as a matter of fact, I enjoy making them.  This element reinforces your skills in not cutting off the tips and it adds the issue of marking on the fabric. In order to put the "wings" on your geese, you've got to mark the larger squares on the diagonal.

There are tons of marking tools on the market.  There are markers that promise to disappear with water or fade with time when exposed to air.  Personally, I'm a little leery of these.  I have read horror stories of the marks left by these tools coming back to haunt a quilt by either re-appearing or eventually leaving a trail of tiny holes.  So I'm pretty old school when it comes to marking on my fabric.  I use either chalk or a pencil especially designed for quilts.  These two are my very, very favorite marking tools...

The Fons and Porter pencil is kind of like a mechanical pencil.  It has either dark or light lead that can be used in the pencil and they wash out completely.  The Quilter's Choice is a non-waxy chalk pencil that is ph balanced and also washes out completely.  The Quilter's Choice also comes in a gray chalk.

You will mark your 3-inch dark squares with a diagonal line.  It doesn't matter which way the diagonal runs -- right to left or left to right -- because you can flip these squares around to have the diagonal line go the way you need it to run.

Line the squares up with one end of the background one square.  It doesn't matter is you begin on the left or right side of the rectangle, but it's easiest to do all one side and then do the next.

Make sure all the diagonal lines are running the same way.

Take the units to your sewing machine and sew along the marked line.

Now we're going to have to cut off the excess part of the wing.  I have found the Add-A-Quarter ruler a huge help.  Line the ruler up with the seam, having the 1/4-inch lip over hanging the seam.

Then use a rotary cutter to cut the excess off.

Now iron the goose, pressing the seam towards the blue triangle.  This is a very important step.  The pressing makes the goose sharper and just look better.

Half way there!

Now place the remaining squares on the other end of the rectangle, right sides together and repeat the above process for the second wing of the flying goose.

Notice you have that "magic X" again to use to make sure your points aren't cut off.

Once again, this is a variation on a star block.  There are more pieces to this block than block one and it's important to have the tips pointing in the correct direction, or it won't look right. It won't even look like star!  So it's a a good idea to lay out your units that need to be joined together and then lay out you star before you sew it together.

Now you need to make your half square triangles with the background unit and accent fabric.  Be sure to handle these pieces carefully as the biased edges are exposed.  If the fabric has been prepped as discussed in the first block, the starch will help protect the exposed bias edge.

 Lay out your small background squares and your half-square triangles.  Make sure the triangles are facing the right direction or your corner squares won't be correct.  Sew these units together and press towards the square.

 Don't be too obsessive-compulsive about your edges not being even at this point.  Again, this block has a lot of pieces and it's not unusual, no matter how carefully you measure, that the edges don't line up completely evenly.  You can trim up a little later.

Now lay out your corner squares.  Again, make sure everything is facing the right direction.

 The darker triangles are going to "kiss" -- the points are barely going to touch.  I call this the butterfly effect because the darker triangles resemble a butterfly in flight if you do this correctly.

Let's take a look at the back side of these units.  If they've been pressed correctly, with the seam allowances towards the square, the backs of these units will look like this:

The seam allowances are facing in opposite directions and this will make it easier to sew together with the triangle tips matching and not getting cut off the process.  Put these units together, right sides facing each other, and sew.  I still pin the seam allowances together just for added insurance.  That way nothing slips under the feed dogs and everything lines up wonderfully.

See how all that fussy prep work paid off!  The darker triangles barely kiss!

A word here about pressing this corner unit.  Kristin Steiner and Diane Frankenberger instruct you to press the joining seam open.  While this is the norm for garment construction, it is a little odd for quilt construction.  Usually the seams are pressed towards the darker fabric.  Remember what has been stated numerous times about block two -- there are a lot of pieces in this block.  There are six pieces in the corner unit.  All those seams equal up to a lot of bulk on the back of the block.  The reason the seams are pressed open is to reduce that bulk for the quilting process -- or at least attempt to equal it out.  If you're hand quilting, machine quilting, or long arming this quilt, bulk reduction makes the process much easier.  So press these seams open.

A stiletto may be used to avoid burning your fingers in the process.  And only press a quilt square's seams open when instructed to do so.  This isn't something you want to do all the time.  Pressing instructions are important to follow because they do help to either keep the seam allowances from showing through on the right side of the quilt (this is why you may be told to press towards the darker material), or to reduce bulk, or to allow seam allowances to "nest" so your sections line up.

Almost done...

Lay out your square and walk away from it a few minutes.  Get a drink.  Call a friend.  Check your email.  Update your Facebook status.

Take a break.

This is a more complex square and sometimes that break helps you catch layout mistakes.  In this square, the points of the flying geese have to be facing inwards towards the center square and the "butterflies" have to be flying away from the center square.  When you've been working on the square for a while, it's easy for your eyes to overlook the mistakes.  A break helps you look at the square with fresh eyes.

I sew the middle section together first, using the "magic X" to make sure I don't cut the tips off my flying geese.

Sew the corner units to the flying geese, making sure the butterflies are facing the correct direction.  Then join the top and bottom units to the middle part.  I do pin at this point in three places:

This helps me make sure my seam allowances are going to match up and the point of my goose doesn't "sag."  Sometimes the tip of the goose may slip down a bit and not get correctly caught in the seam allowance.

Press according to directions and there you go!  A beautiful and complex square finished except for the applique!

Don't get too concerned about the uneven edges at this point.  We will even them up before we put on the setting triangles.  Just make sure it measures 10 1/2-inches square through the middle.

The next applique method I will cover is machine applique.  I will be using a square I'm making for a Round Robin exchange for that and not this block.  The applique pieces are so small for these blocks, I'm needle turning them for better control.

Have fun!  And don't forget to journal this block!

Love and Stitches...
Sherri