Journey to Nebula - Rock Candy - Cutting the Star 60 Way!

 

Now that I have finished my Jaw Breaker pillow, it was time to move onto the next project in the Journey 2 Nebula Quilt Along.

The next project is Rock Candy Tabletopper.  This is a fun quilt that is made by combining diamonds and side triangles.  The pattern calls for the use of 5" charm squares. I choose to use black background Island Batik fabric and 6 Coordinating fabrics; all were cut into 2 1/2" strips.  The reason I used 2 1/2" strips over the 5" charm squares is that not every 5" charm square package is actually 5", and we needed to cut each of the squares in half.

I started cutting 36 diamonds from the 6 coordinating fabric strips using my Studio 180 Star 60 tool. 

Right Handed

Left Handed

Starting by trimming off a 60° angle off one of the ends of the strips.  

Right Handed

Left Handed

Next, I located the 2 1/2" diamond point guidelines and aligned the guidelines on the strip edges and cut. Continue to cut 36 diamonds from the coordinating fabric strips.

Right Handed

Left Handed

Finally, I trimmed off the tips by lining up the 4 1/2" horizontal line so that it lines up on the bottom of the diamond. 

Right Handed

Left Handed

Now it is time to cut out the background side triangle pieces. Placing the strip on your cutting mat.  If you are right-handed, you will be cutting from left to right. Left-hander will cut from right to left.  Position the 2 1/2" horizontal line of the tool on the bottom of the strip and the tip line on the strip's top.  Cut up one side of the strip and down the other.

Right Hand

Left Hand

Rotate the tool 180°, so the tip is facing you this time. Realign the guideline used previously on the top and bottom of the strip and align it along the trimmed edge. Cut the next triangle shape. Continue rotating, aligning, and cutting until you get 24 triangles. 

Now the fun part begins with arranging my pieces into a pretty table topper.  Stay tuned; I will be sharing my finish table topper soon.

Journey to Nebula - Finishing Jawbreaker pillow

I'm a little behind on my Journey 2 Nebula projects; life seems to change your plans when it involves quilting.  

The last blog post on my Journey 2 Nebula project was cutting Jawbreaker triangles using the Studio 180 Design Star 60 tool. Read the first post Here.

Then I arranged the triangles according to the directions spinning the triangles as you would be arranging your blocks for a One Block Wonder Quilt, so they make a shape, but you will also notice that they are also set up rows. Adding the extra pieces to fill in the gaps.

After I had the pillow top arranged with the triangles, it was time to start sewing the blocks together.  Starting with the first row, sewing each triangle to each other. 

Once I had the triangle pieces sewn into individual rows, I started sewing all the rows together to match up all the seams.

Once this was done, I trimmed the pillow top to be 15 1/2" square and add the border, and quilted it.  With this pillow top, the directions were to add a 2 1/4" binding to finish it off.

Here are the finished Pillow and the coordinating  Seaside table runner and Lucky Charm Pillow top. 

Now off to get my new Journey to Nebula project.

Tina

Journey to Nebula Quilt Along - Jawbreaker - Cutting Star 60 way

 

Week 5 in the Journey 2 Nebula has started with the making of the "Jawbreaker" pillow by Jaybird Quilts. When finished, this pillow will measure 20".  

This pattern is written by Hex N More Ruler by Jaybird Quilts, but I will be using the Studio 180 Design Star 60 tool to do all my cutting. I'm using fabrics from the Island Batik "Islander Batik" Collection that I have been using for the last 2 projects.

The pattern calls for eight 2 1/2" x WOF strips, so I pulled out eight coordinating strips that I could use as strip sets. 

Then I began making four strip sets.

Once my strip set was stitched, I press the seams open to reduce the bulk.

Right Handed

Left Handed

Now that I have my strip sets ready, it was time to start cutting the triangle pieces out using the Star 60 tool, starting by carefully placing the strip on your mat.  If you are looking for the direction on the 

Position the mark at the tip of the tool with the top of the strip set and 4 1/2" horizontal line on the tool on the bottom edge of the strip set. Right Handed quilters will move from left to right. Left Handed quilters will cut from right to left.  Trim up one of the sides and down the other to get your first triangle.

The cutting technique we will be using can be found in the Star 60 instructions under the Cutting the Side Triangles.  Link to the Star 60 PDF Instructions.

Right Handed

Left Handed

Rotate your Star 60™ tool 180°, so the tip of the tool is facing you. Aligning the tip line on the bottom edge and the 4 1/2" Horizontal line on the top edge of the strip set. Trim up the side. 

Continue this process of rotating and aligning with all the strip sets.

Now all my triangles are cut using my Studio 180 Design Star 60™ tool.  Now its time to play with the pieces and their arrangement.  Next week I will show you my finished product.

Tina

Journey to Nebula - Lucky Charm Finishing

 

Welcome back to my Journey 2 Nebula blog posts. I got a little behind on my blog for Week #3, finishing the "Lucky Charm" pillow.  If you would like to see how I cut my Half Hexagons pieces check out my blog post on Cutting the Star 60 way, HERE.

The first thing I did after I finished cutting out my pieces was to arrange them the way I wanted the pillow to look in the front. 

Once I had them all arranged, I still had 10 of the Half Hexagons leftover, which will be filled in on the sides.

I found the halfway mark on the Half Hexagon pieces and cut all 10 pieces vertically.

Then place them on the sides of the pieces.  I choose one color of the Half Hexagons to give them all a border effect.

I figured out a way to make the stitch of the row go faster and to stay organized.  I started by pulling two rows that I had placed on my small design board and placed them into stacks. 

I then started stitching the Half Hexagon pieces from each of the stacks one from the first stack.  Once the first pieces where sewn, I then grabbed pieces from the second stack.

Once I had the second match piece sewn, I snipped the first row pieces off and Pressed all the seams open.

Then continued the stitch on the next piece from the first stack. Repeating the steps over and over until the rows were complete, pressed thoroughly.  Then started sewing the next couple rows until all the rows were ready to be sewn together.

Once my rows were ready to be sewn together, the process of sewing the rows went fast.

My pillow-top is now complete, ready to quilted.

Here are my finished pillow and the back of the pillow.  I had fun machine quilting this project; these projects have been great for practicing my skills.  

I can't wait until today to start my next project in the Journey to Nebula Quilt Along.

Tina

Journey to Nebula Quilt Along - Lucky Charm - Cutting Star 60 way

 This week the Journey 2 Nebula is starting a new project.  We are making the "Lucky Charm" pillow by Jaybird Quilts. This pattern uses 5" charms or 2 1/2" strips to make Half Hexagons.  

The pattern is written by Hex N More Ruler by Jaybird Quilts.  I will be using the Studio 180 Design Star 60 tool with leftover 2 1/2" strips from the last project, Island Batik "Islander Batik" Collection.  

Right Handed

Left Handed

After referring to the Half Hexagon Cutting Chart, I found the 2 1/2" strip width under the Precision Column.  Then moved one column to the right titled Bottom Horizontal Line  (Precision) and found the 4 1/2", this would be the number we will be using on the tool to line up the tool on the strips.

Place the folded strip on your cutting mat, starting on the left side of the strip for Right Hand and the right side for Left-Handed. 

Position the Star 60 tool on the fabric aligning the 4 1/2" Horizontal line on the strip.  This is the number we found in the chart.  This will give us the exact size of the hexagon we need. 

Once your tool is in position, trim up both sides of the tool.  

Right Handed

Left Handed

To cut the next half-hexagon, rotate the tool 180° and align the 4 1/2" horizontal guideline. Cut up the next side.

Continue doing this until you get all the half hexagons you need.  You can get 10 Half Hexagons out of a strip.



For this project, you need a total of 60 half hexagons.  So choose 6 different strips.

Right Handed

Left Handed

Now we need to trim off the tips on the bottom. Place your half Hexagon with the longest end of the half hexagon on the cutting mat. Then position the 4" horizontal line on the top of the Half Hexagon and aligning the 4 1/2" Diamond Point Guidelines along the sides of the Hexagon. 

Trim up both sides.



Continue with the rest of the Half Hexagons.  I just love how easy it is to cut out and trim the tips of the half hexagons.  

Next week, we will continue making our Lucky Charm pillow.  See you next week.

Tina