Welcome to June!

This month we will piece the star blocks, and cut out the pieces to create our half square triangles.

June Lesson 1

• Before you begin this step, you should have your star blocks cut out and stacked in order. You will need your master star block pattern for reference.
• Remove the freezer paper from your stacks, keeping all pieces in order. The freezer paper should peel off easily.
• Before we piece the stars, we need to shuffle our fabrics. Here is a video on how to do that:

June Lesson 2

• Before you begin this step, you should have your star blocks shuffled and ready to go. You will need your master star block pattern for reference.
• Reference page 7 of your pattern book, heading 5 A - F, while piecing the stars together.
• First, a bit of important housekeeping!
  • Use a scant 1/4" seam for all piecing in this quilt.
  • Double check your stitch length, mine is set to 13-14 stitches/inch. You can check this by sewing a straight line on a scrap, and laying it on a cutting mat to count the stitches in one inch. Too large of a length, meaning fewer than 12 or 13 stitches in an inch, and your piecing will pull apart too easily at the ends, sometimes just from handling and ironing it, and before you add it to the next piece!

Remember that the stars aren't meant to end up identical. Each star shines it's own way! Don't fret if each star is slightly different, with differences in point sizes and angles. Embrace the character of your quilt!

Section A

Star Section A: Step 1	Step 2: Notice the top piece (A2) is hanging past the left edge of the bottom piece (A1).	Step 3: Pieces A1 and A2. The left edge of A2 is still hanging a scant 1/4" past A1's edge.	Step 4: Pieces A1 and A2 sewn together and pressed.
Step 5: Piece A3 added to the A1/A2 piece from step 4. Notice again, a scant 1/4" of the triangle is hanging past the left hand side of A1.	Step 6: Pieces A1, A2, and A3 sewn and pressed.	Step 7: This is where you might start to panic! The pieced section is going to look way too small. Never Fear! Just center it to A4. The extra will get taken care of in future steps.	Step 8: This isn't really a step, you're done with section A. Set it aside and move on to section B!

Section B

Star Section B: Step 1, Pieces B1 and B2 right sides together, ready to sew. Notice the way I've left 1/4" of the top triangle hanging past the bottom triangle on the top left of the photo, and the bottom piece is hanging 1/4" past the top piece in the lower part of the photo.	Step 2: Here is how your piece should look after sewing B1 and B2 together.	Step 3: Layer B3 onto your step 2 unit.  Notice again, the top piece (B3) is hanging past the bottom piece (B1&B2).	Step 4: Pieces B1, B2 and B3 sewn together and pressed.
Step 5: Now we need to add B4. You'll notice that the side of your step 4 unit is not a nice straight side. This is where trimming becomes necessary.	Step 6: Trim ONLY the side you need to trim to attach B4. Trim just enough to make it a nice, straight side. Pictured here, this is the little bit sticking out from the bottom of the ruler.	Step 7: Now, I have a nice straight side on my pieced section to attach to B4. Your pieced section is probably a little smaller than B4, center it on B4.	Step 8: Here is how your section B should look complete. Notice we centered the B1-B3 section onto B4. Press and set aside, we will move on to section C.

Section C

Star Section C: Step 1, Pieces C1 and C2 right sides together, ready to sew. You can line up the straight edges of these two pieces even with each other, as shown in the bottom right hand side of the photo.	Step 2: Here is how your piece should look after sewing C1 and C2 together, ready to add C3, which is the piece pictured on the right.	Step 3: Layer C3 onto your step 2 unit.  Notice C3 hangs over a scant 1/4" on each end.	Step 4: Here is your pieced unit from Step 3, next to C4. We will need to trim the side of the pieced unit before attaching C4.
Step 5: Remember to only trim the minimum amount to make a nice even side, and only the side we are immediately sewing to C4.	Step 6: Trim ONLY the side you need to trim to attach C4. Trim just enough to make it a nice, straight side. Here is what you will have after trimming. C4 is the bottom piece, which we will now add.	Step 7: Your pieced section is probably a little smaller than C4, center it on C4. Here is the finished section C.

Section D

Star Section D: Step 1 Here we go, final section! Show below are pieces D1 and D2. Notice the overhang of the smaller top piece.

Step 2: Shown here on the right are pieces D1, D2 & D3. Notice how I let both of the star point pieces (D2 & D3) hang a 1/4" over the bottom edge of D1 when I added them, and they do not extend far enough to cover the entire top edge. This is OK! Next, we will add D4 (the piece shown on the left).

Step 3: Add pieces D4 and D5, trimming the side of the D1, D2, D3 piece as necessary, and just as we trimmed in prior sections.  Below you will see my center section has been trimmed on the left and right so I can add D4 and D5.

Step 4: Here you see section D, complete!

Combining the Star Sections to complete the Star Blocks

Now that you've pieced Section A-D of the star blocks, we can combine the together. We will do this in alphabetical order, starting with sections A and B.

Shown here is a photo of all sections you should have for each star.

As we combine sections, we need to trim the edges we will be sewing together. First, sections A and B. Shown below is how I trimmed Section A.


Shown here are both Section A and B, after both are trimmed on their adjoining sides and ready to go together. It is important to note here that I am going to match up the seams where the star points and the center square of the star meet. (Circled in red below) These seams need to match to make the star look right.



Here are the Sections A & B, right sides together.

Here is how your star sections will look after combining A and B.

Combine Section C with Your Section A-B next, following the exact same method.

1. Trim the adjoining edges. Shown are Section A-B and Section C, ready to be trimmed.	2. This is how they will look after trimming the adjoining edges.  Now, match up the star point where they meet the corner of the star center just as we did when we combined A and B.	3. Sew Section C to AB.

Repeat 1-3 above to join Section D to Section A,B,C. 

1. Trim the adjoining edges. Shown are Section A-B-C on the left, and Section D on the right, ready to be trimmed.	2. This is how they will look after trimming the adjoining edges.  Now, match up the star points where they meet the corner of the star center just as we did in earlier sections.	3. Sew Section D to ABC. This completes your star block!

The final, final step of the star blocks is to square them up to 6.5". The video below will give you an example of how I like to do this.