Video series for the Fierce Feathered Star pattern is now available!

I love the Fierce Feathered Star block! There is no paper piecing involved, there are no y-seams to negotiate. But even so, it has intimidated some quilters. I know because they tell me. :) Haha. I'm here to remove the mystery about sewing this block. What better way than to show you every step?

The videos are all completely free, you just need the Fierce Feathered Star pattern for your own templates and cutting dimensions.

Click here for the entire video playlist.

Here's a breakdown of each individual lessons:

Part 1: intro, templates and sewing the star tips

Part 2: making HSTs the Magic 8 way

Part 3: making the corner units

Part 4: making the side units

Part 5: making the center unit and assembling the block

BONUS: Making a 60" lap quilt (shown below) using two 36" FFS blocks

Before quilting...

After quilting!

I hope watching the steps will you give you the confidence to tackle a project that might challenge and grow your current skill set. That, my friends, is so exciting to me! 

Happy learning! Happy quilting!

Quilting trick: removing threads under a quilt's surface

It doesn't seem to matter how careful you are. Inevitably, dark threads seem to wind up trapped where you want them least, like just beneath the surface of the lightest fabric in a quilt top. I'm also going to assume that the quilt is already quilted, or at the very least basted at this stage. Sigh!

I ran into this problem often when I quilted for customers and I still run into it when I quilt my own tops.

But, after a helpful Instagram post pointed me in the direction of the Soft Touch Thread Pic by Clover, (see Amazon affiliate link) a few years ago, I've been able to capture those threads. This tool quickly became a within-arms-reach kind of a thing while quilting!

There's no sound in this video, but it shows the tool in action on one of the last quilts I was working on. The higher contrast in your fabrics, the more this issue will come up. It does take a little bit of finesse, but with practice, you'll get the hang of it. 

Did you know I have a list of tools and products that I use on the regular? Find it here: current recommends. I hope it's helpful, sometimes having the right tools at the right time makes all the difference!

Brighten the Corners block construction

I played around with the construction of this block many ways before settling on the foundation paper piecing templates that ended up in the pattern.

One thing that I ask myself when designing quilt blocks and their construction is: How can I get accurate and consistent results? Recently, paper piecing has become my answer for many such designs. If I can avoid any "weird" sewing, I will! Of course "weird" sewing is subjective and many find paper piecing in itself weird! :)

Check out this 29 second video I put together showing how a Brighten the Corners block comes together so you can see for yourself the easy sewing methods:

I'll be honest, I made this block just for this video demonstration, but now I can't stop at just one! I love these fabrics too much and so now am working on a quilt. What can I say? I find this process very satisfying!

This time, I'm going to play around with taking my papers out after each block is constructed but before I sew the blocks together in the quilt top. I love being able to perfectly align the blocks with paper still in, pin, and sew on the solid template lines to ensure perfect points. But, the downside of keeping the papers in through whole quilt top construction (in my opinion) is that paper removal feels more tedious... maybe because there actually are more seams through the paper at that point. But, I'm pretty confident in my 1/4" seam, so I should be able to get good points without the paper for reference.

Let's be real. There is also that element of, "I just finished the last seam of this quilt top and now I'm DOOOOOOONE!" Rather than: "I just finished the last seam of this quilt top and now I have hours more of paper removal!" 

I still like to experiment to find the methods most enjoyable for me. It definitely won't be the same for all of us, but that's the beauty of having options and sharing those findings with people who speak your language, if you know what I mean. ;)

If you are interested in buying the pattern and trying this block out for yourself, it's available here: