Making an Ohio Star Block using Accuquilt Go and Die

This is a tutorial to show how I use the Ohio Star Die # 55174 to make this quilt. The Ohio Star Die cuts the 4.5"quarter square triangles used to make the star points for the block and it also cut five 4.5 " square which are the corner blocks and the center block of the square. Both the quarter square triangles and the square finish at 4". In this quilt I used 12 blocks set 3 x 4.

As you can see I have marked my die with the size of the blocks. To this measurement I added 1/2" to allow the material to cover the blades. I find that if I cut my fabrics to fit the die plus one half inch I waste less fabric than if I try to fan fold it. You may use whatever method works best for you.

I will use the colors I used in the quilt to make one block as an example. You may make your stars whatever color you want. I cut a strip of blue 5 3/4" by width of fabric. From that strip I was able to cut seven 5 3/4" squares. To make 12 blocks you will need 3.5 strips of fabric 5 3/4" by WOF to make enough squares for twelve blocks since you will need two blue square per block and 24 squares of blue fabric in total to make the blue star points for 12 quilt blocks.

Next I cut a strip of the red fabric 5 3/4" by WOF which also gave me seven 5 3/4" squares. You need one 5 3/4" square per block which means you need 12 total. Two strips of 5 3/4" by WOF strips of the red and two strips background will give you enough squares for 12 blocks.

The squares above when cut apart will give you the cut pieces shown on the right side which when sewn together will give you one complete block. I used a pre printed block in my center you can use the same color as your background or a 4 patch or a red center what ever you want to use in the center.

When I sew the quarter square together I lay them out as pictured. I flip the red triangle on the right to the blue on the top and sew the seam. Then I flip the bottom blue to the white (background) triangle and sew that seam. I usually press my seams open to reduce bulk then sew the two halves together. Do this 4 times and you have all your star points ready to lay out your block and sew the 9 squares into a block as shown on the right.

I hope you find this helpful in using your Ohio Star Die and making an Ohio Star Quilt. If you have any questions please do contact me. 

Two New Dies for Accuquilt

 Accuquilt is releasing The Spool and The Wonky Hearts Die today. They both make a 6" finished block. As you can see I had a chance to get the dies early so I could make up a couple of sample pieces. They are both very easy to sew. I really enjoyed doing the spools and even though I'm not really a wonky heart person the block was very easy to cut out and sew. There is a video out on doing these blocks on the Accuquilt website by Pam Heller and she was doing the wonky hearts using a layer cake of batiks. Very pretty blocks. Give these dies a try and let me know how you like them.

I Love my Accuquilt Studio Cutter

How many of you have the Studio Cutter? I purchased mine after I started selling the Go and the Baby. I like all the cutters but hands down my favorite is my Studio. Recently the Studio Dies went on sale and I had just discovered the Hawaiian Dies so I quickly purchased a couple of the dies to try. These two dies with one cut give you a Negative and a Positive look. These are just two of 8 different dies by Stacy Michell you can use to make a Hawaiian Quilt . I have since purchased the Dolphins, Palm Trees and the Butterfly Dies. When I get a couple of them cut out will be posting more pictures here. These are really fun to do. Now I just have to sit down and sew around the pieces so I can figure out how I want to set them together. Soon as I figure that out I'll post pictures.  Have you made any of these block if so have you posted pictures of them somewhere? I'd love to see pictures and how you put them together. I've been having so much fun out in the quilt room hope you are also having fun with your quilting.