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Quilting with Cricut – FREE Carpenter’s Star quilt block

Who is ready for the holidays?? I know I am. My husband wont let me start decorating just yet but come thanksgiving, after dinner, I will be busting out everything Christmas! I have started decorating my new sewing room a little here and there. I am totally obsessed with quilting again. That is the main reason you haven’t seen too many girls patterns lately. Quilting is just so much fun and now I can’t stop. My favorite quilt block is the Carpenters Star. It has a few different names and variations but I just LOVE this block. It is made up of 64 pieces! Don’t let that scare you though. It is a fairly easy sew. The block will finish at 18″ square. I was going to use this as a mini wall quilt / wall hanging but I think I am going to save it and make a full quilt using 12 blocks. A 3×4 grid. That would give me a 54″ x 72″ quilt, perfect for the couch. The best part, I created a free downloadable tutorial for you. I also have the whole block all set up in Cricut’s Design Space just for you!

Y’all know I am obsessed with my Cricut Maker. I love that I can set up a file in Design Space using their pre-made shapes. It only takes a few minutes. You can take your favorite patterns and convert them to be cut on your Maker. Just grab your pattern cut list and create the shapes in DS. Then let the Maker cut everything out for you while you go do other things. I cleaned my sewing room while mine was cutting. I just love multi tasking – hehe. The amazing rotary blade can cut through so many different fabrics! I love being able to do DIY holiday decor for my house. I would have never been able to half the stuff I did/planning for Christmas without the Maker. It streamlined my crafting plans by allowing me to do other things (like clean, laundry, dishes) while it does all the hard work.

I created this file to also draw the 1/4″ seam allowance around the Half Square Triangle (HST) blocks using the washable marker. However, unless you plan on washing/ soaking your quilt / block right away, I don’t recommend doing that. The marker is really hard to get out and will show through when you are all done sewing. You can turn the draw lines off. The marker drew such a thick line that it could mess up your seam allowance. There isn’t much wiggle room with the HST blocks so if you sew on the inside of the line, your blocks might end up being too small!  IF you are setting this block up for a beginner sewer or child, those lines might be really helpful for learning how to sew a straight line. So – take that into consideration when using the washable marker.

Okay – let’s get to the fun stuff! You can find this quilt pattern in the Design Space Community. Here is a list of things you will need to make this with your Cricut Maker:

Cricut Maker

Fabric Grip cutting mat 12″x 24″

3 fabrics:

White: cut one at  12″ x 22″ and one at 12″ x 6.5″  (5/8 yard) I used Pure Elements Solid snow from Art Gallery Fabrics

Red: cut one at 12″ x 22″ (1/3 yard or a FQ) I used Bari J’s #WildBloomFabrics for Art Gallery Fabrics

Green: cut one at 10″ x 19″ (1/3 yard or a FQ) I used Bari J’s #VirtuosaFabrics for Art Gallery Fabrics

I love using my Cricut self healing cutting mat, 12″ x 24″ ruler and rotary cutter – but these are optional.

 

If you don’t have a Cricut maker, you can use the measurements from this photo to cut your pieces out. You can also download the PDF version to save to your computer here.

So the image above has the gist of how this block goes together. Here are some more detailed step pictures.

After all your blocks are cut, set aside the 4 small red squares and the 12 small white squares. Working with the large (4.5″) squares,  take 4 green squares and place them right sides together (RST) with 4 red squares. Take 4 white square and place them RST on 4 green square. Place 4 white squares RST on 4 red squares.

Sew 1/4″ around all 4 sides of each set. Cut each set on both diagonals. This will give you 4 half square triangles (HST) per set.

Now take all your HST to your ironing board and press each unit. Press your seams to the darker print.

and just because…..

Now comes the most important and tedious part of this block. We have to square each one of these HST to 2.75″ square. It’s not much off BUT – if you don’t square them up, you will not have a nice square block. If you like to collect rulers – I HIGHLY recommend the Blok Loc rulers. OMG – I just bought a few from my LQS (local quilt shop) that is going out of business. I am kicking myself for not buying a ton more. This 3.5 one worked great for this project. Game changer for sure. Especially since I LOVE HST’s.

YAY – now we can layout out our pieces. Look how pretty those PERFECT squares look! (yes, I am impressed with myself… my blocks usually don’t end up nice and square – haha)

Take column 2 and flip them over to column 1, right sides together. Chain sew using 1/4” seam allowance. Your first two columns will be attached. Take column 3 and sew them right sides together to column 2. Your first three columns will now be connected. Repeat this step until all your columns are sewn together.

All your columns should be attached if you did the chain sewing method. The picture below, all the pieces are held together in place, making it easier to sew your rows together.

Press each ROW in opposite directions. Ex: row 1 left, row 2 right, row 3 left…. Etc. Take row 1 and flip it over to row 2, right sides together. Pin each seam, being sure the seams are going in opposite directions. Sew using a 1/4” seam allowance. Continue to sew the rows together until the block is completed.

Now you have a beautiful 18″ Carpenter’s Star quilt block! Now I just need to make 11 more for my quilt.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Join our Fan Group on facebook to share your creations and be inspired by so many amazing sewers. Follow us on Instagram too – you can use the hashtag #SLPco and / or #SLPcoQuiltingSeries when posting your quilt blocks. I cant wait to see yours! I also started a new FB group – All things sewing and quilting – where you can post any of your sewing creations. We love seeing everything everyone makes so come join the fun there too!

 

Happy Sewing,

Katie Skoog

 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

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