The Next Lone Star

I am continuing to practice lone stars.

This time I tried a different tutorial. Each one I find is slightly different so I get to try different techniques and see which ones work best for me.

Since I've gotten better with points and the quarter inch seam allowance and need to work on keeping the diamonds from stretching I picked this tutorial. It has fewer, bigger diamonds so it should go faster. It also doesn't have the set in squares and triangles so it will be easier to finish if I choose to do so.

As soon as I started cutting the diagonals I realized I forgot the starch. I just jumped right in and missed the main point of the block. So, I decided to continue and focus on being as careful with the fabric as I could. Guess what, my diamonds didn't stretch out this time!

I got some stretching when I sewed on the triangles, however the block still turned out OK. A couple of points are slightly off but most of them are right on. There is a slight hump in the center that I think I can hide with careful quilting. If I had trouble sewing on triangles, imagine the potential trouble with setting in.

Overall I'm pleased with the progress I've been making. Each Lone Star is better than the one before. This the first one worthy of finishing and will make a cute wall hanging.

Next, I'm going back to the first tutorial and try it again. If I'm successful I'll attempt the real lone star. I was going to get the strips cut out over the week so I could jump in this weekend. It didn't happen and this weekend is busy. So, it may need to wait a bit.

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