Starstruck Challenge!
This month's Island Batik Challenge is to create a quilt that incorporate STARS! The fabrics featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik. I love stars and you'll tend to see lots of different stars in my quilts. This month I decided to use a new technique as well to create scrappy half square triangles called accordion sewing! I picked a Carpenter Star for my Starstruck project and made it rainbow!
Accordion sewing was created by Eva Paige Quilts where you can get a truly scrappy feel. Check out her YouTube videos here, it's a 3 part series for accordion sewing. Even though I decided to use a plain white for the background, it still sped up my process for sewing all the pieces together. Here is my accordion for my center star.
The accordion for the circle part around the center star was much longer since there were more pieces to sew together. It makes such a lovely rainbow of colors!
Once I got all the accordions sewed, I cut the half square triangles apart, trimmed them to size, and pressed them open. I used my design wall to arrange the colors.
You'll notice that my final layout has the center star rotated. I used some organic straight line quilting throughout the quilt. Organic meaning that I didn't measure but made it more of a general feel of where my lines should go.
I wish you could see the quilting more on the back, but it blends in with the colorful tie-dye.
Don't you want to try the accordion sewing method now?! Have you made a carpenter star before?
If you're interested in what the other Island Batik Ambassadors are making, you can check out their blogs. There are 45 ambassadors this year! Be sure to follow Island Batik on Facebook and Instagram to see the projects we all make too!
Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy
Anita at Quilt in a not-Shell
Anna at Ark Angel Creations
Anne at Sweetgrass Designs
Barbara at Bejeweled Quilts
Bea at BeaQuilter
Carole at Carole Lyles Shaw
Connie at Freemotion by the River
Connie at Kauffman Designs
Dione at Clever Chameleon
Geraldine at Living Water Quilter
Jackie at If These Threads Could Talk
Janet at Whispers of Yore
Jeanette at Inchworm Fabrics
Jen at Patterns by Jen
Jennifer at Curlicue Creations
Jennifer at Dizzy Quilter
Jennifer at Inquiring Quilter
Jessica at Desert Bloom Quilting
Joan at Moosestash Quilting
Joyce at heARTs Creations
Karen at Sew Karen-ly Created
Kathleen at Kathleen McMusing
Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts
Leanne at Devoted Quilter
Mania at Mania for Quilts
Maryellen at Mary Mack Made Mine
Michelle at Creative Blonde
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Nancy at Masterpiece Quilting
Pamela at PamelaQuilts
Sally at Sally Manke
Sandra at MMM Quilts
Sarah at Sarah Goer Quilts
Sharon at Yellow Cat Quilt Designs
Sherry at Powered by Quilting <--- me!
Stephanie at Steph Jacobson
Suzy at Adventurous Applique and Quilting
Teri at Lizard Creek Quilts
Tina at Quilting Affection Designs
Toby at Gateway Quilts & Stuff
Turid at Den Syende Himmel
Vicki at Vicki's Crafts & Quilting
Join me again on Friday for Friday Foto Fun and on Sunday for the #365DayOfArtPBQChallenge! Link up and share your progress on your own projects!
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So, do you think the accordian method is faster than the other methods?
I think it’s faster if you are looking to do scrappy HSTs. If you want 2 of the same HSTs, it’s probably not faster.
I’ve seen her youtube on accordion HSTs and it looks fast and furious! I had forgotten about it, so your post is a good reminder. I want to try it. Your finished quilt is wonderful!
I love the carpenter star and the accordion sewing method is something I would like to give a try sometime. I love the rainbow you created!
I’d never seen the accordion sewn hst’s before but I have done Carpenter’s Wheel before (or something very similar). I love your scrappy version!
That is a fun technique and glad you tried it. Did you like it? I almost did a carpenter star again with those bright layer cakes, but am embarking on the crazed design and make saga. Hopefully it will mostly be done by early next week! Great job!
Hi Sherry! I have been meaning to make a Carpenter’s Star for ages and haven’t gotten to it yet. I love your version, and I also have yet to give the accordion method a try. Thanks for highlighting it and reminding me on both fronts. ~smile~ Roseanne
This is so lovely! I have not heard of accordion sewing. I made a carpenter’s star as a bee block earlier this year and *loved* it! It was hard to part with! I’ve consoled myself by choosing that design for the barn quilt I plan to paint and put on our new storage shed. Bonus points for me that it’s a pun, since the shed will by my husband’s woodworking space.