Edited 9/1/11: Blogger did it again, grrr….it ate up my post for the August T&T block! Doing a very quick repost now and will fix the photos soon. Check the PDF file under the Tips & Tricks tab to print these out….
It’s August! We’re midway through summer – whew! We’re just back literally, hours back, from our two week vacation to the beach. What a fantastic time we experienced! Hope you’re enjoying time with your family, too, whether home, away or something in between.
A new month brings a new block in our quilt along. For August, let’s do a Brilliant Star. I just love LOVE star blocks and this is near the tippiest toppest of my list! The star is meant to glow from the center out and radiate brilliance, so color placement is important.
Pick out your fabrics:
Pulling from my stash again, I found some plain muslin, and blues and purples I just had to use.
Here we go…
Light Blue: 4 each – 5” x 5” squares
Dark Blue: 8 each 3-1/2” squares
Light Purple: 4 each 3-1/2” squares
Dark Purple: 4 each 2” x 3-1/2” rectangles
Lightest (here I used the muslin): 1 each – 3-1/2” square AND 8 each - 2” squares
This block pieces together SO FAST! Yay – more time to get out into the sunshine this month {big toothy grin}. Take out your blue fabrics, both light and dark. On the back of the dark squares, mark a diagonal line from corner to corner. TIP #1: I use a chalk pencil to mark the back of dark fabrics. Lead pencils just don’t show up very well unless it’s a light fabric.
Place the dark square in the corner of the larger light blue square… 
and sew 1/4” away from that line on either side. TIP #2: Another repeat of the same ole’ tip…sew a second line 5/8” away from your first seam. This will result in an extra HST and not wasting the “unwanted” corners in the sew and flip method 
Cut apart 1/4” away from the drawn line. Set the extra HST aside (we’ll use it in the final quilt top layout). 
Press open the corner... 
Place another 3-1/2” square on the opposite corner of the light square and repeat what we just did above… 
Cut apart 1/4” along the drawn line, set the extra HST aside and press the corner open. 
Make 4 of these units and press well. Square to 5”. Set aside and let’s work on the purple units.
Pull out your light purple squares and the muslin 2” squares. Using a lead pencil, mark from corner to corner on the back of all 8 muslin squares. TIP #3: Use a mechanical lead pencil and you’ll always have a fine pencil line and not need to stop to sharpen it! 
Okay, remember what we just did above? Sew…let’s repeat it with a couple of easy adjustments. First, these units are smaller than the blue ones. Therefore, no extra HST unless you are really a glutton for punishment {hee hee}. Sew, place a muslin square on the corner of the purple square…and sew on the drawn line. 
Trim 1/4” away from that line… and press open. 
Now, here is the where the other adjustment comes in…place the next muslin square on the corner BELOW the one we just did. 
Proceed as we did earlier making 4 units. Square up to 3 1/2”. 
Sew the purple rectangle now to the 3 1/2” unit. See the photo for placement. 
And press open toward the darker fabric.
Let’s layout your block and piece together. First in rows and then the rows to each other. 
And here’s my completed block 
Don’t forget to post your block in our group photo album! Enjoy your August and eek – it’s almost back to school time! Enjoy this last month of summer break!
©2011, Carrie Graziano, crickets studio
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