Patches of Blue Quilt Along – Block 3 Aurora
Updated: Jan 4
Welcome to our “Patches of Blue” Quilt along. I am so thankful you are joining us. I hope you have finished your previous blocks and please remember to tag us when you are posting them on Instagram and Facebook #patchesofbluequiltalong
I love seeing your pictures!
I have been busy picking our next block.
There are so many beautiful quilts to choose from.
One of them always catches my eye, it even made it on the front cover of our Patches of Blue book.
This cute little saw tooth star block looks lovely as a border in the “Shining Star” quilt on page 71.
It also glows and sparkles through the “Aurora” quilt on page 118.
I love stars – not only in quilting, do you?
Lets start by picking our fabrics. It should be smooth sailing, we need 6 blue 10″ squares and 6 light 10″ squares.
Grab your fabric, rotary, ruler, and “Patches of Blue” book; cutting directions are on page 119. NOTE: You will be cutting 2 stars from each fabric instead of 4. We need 11 star blocks for the quilt, we’ll save the extra star block for later.
This month I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite little rulers, Bloc-Loc 1″ X 2″ finished. It is going to come in handy when making flying geese units.
Out of light fabrics, cut 4 quarter-square triangles and 4 squares for each star. (The exact measurements are in the book page 119)
Out of blue fabrics, cut 1 center square and 8 half-square triangles for each block.
Place 1 quarter-square triangle in light and 1 half-square triangle in blue right sides together. Notice I match perfectly the outside point and have a little overlap on opposite side then sew. It looks like I could use a new spool of my favorite Aurifil 2310 thread!
Press open, pushing your seam allowance towards the blue, and then add the second blue half-square triangle. Now its time to trim the little bunny ears.
After you press your flying geese, it is time for trimming to an unfinished size of 1-1/2″ X 2-1/2″. Grab your Bloc-Loc ruler and get ready to enjoy it!
Place your Bloc-Loc ruler on the front side of your flying geese, lock the grooves onto the seam allowance, and trim the outside of flying geese unit. Repeat for all of the flying geese.
Time to assemble your star block. Begin by laying out 4 flying geese, 4 background squares, and 1 center square.
Sew in three rows. Make sure the seam allowances are pushed towards the square. Join the rows to make a star. I love to use pins to keep everything in place.
The block is 4-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ unfinished. Make 11 Star blocks.
If you need a little help, don’t worry, you can click on this link and it will take you to our YouTube video where I will talk you through all the steps of making this star.
Before you put all your fabric away, please cut 8 light 4-1/2″ squares from your scraps. We will be using them when it is time to assemble the quilt.
Looking forward to seeing you next time!
Happy Quilting, Edyta
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