Summer in the Country- Final Block and Setting Plans

Our final block for the Summer in the Country sew-along is Farmhouse Star, designed by Susan Vaughan. What a beautiful block to conclude our sewing together! The block may look complicated, but we are going to take it step by step and you will love the results.

I didn't follow the pattern instructions much for this block. I can see we need to make some flying geese, so I used my current favorite 4-at-a-time method and trimmed them down to size with two different flying geese rulers.


The first trim tool I used was my 1.5 x 3" finished BlocLoc ruler.


For the larger red flying geese I used an older trim tool called Fit to be Geese designed by Monique Dillard. This tool can trim larger-sized geese (in several sizes), which these were at 3 x 6" finished.


When I have to make multiple four-patch units I prefer to strip-piece rather than sew little squares together. I cut 2 1/4" strips of my blue plaid and white background and sewed them together, and pressed to the blue fabric.  I used another BlocLoc trim tool for lopping off my 2-inch segments for the four-patches.

Next, I made my little pinwheel unit for the middle of the center star. I followed the pattern for the pinwheel, which involved making four half-square triangles and sewing them together.

Now let's take a look at all our units to put together this Farmhouse Star block.

We've got four large flying geese, four smaller flying geese, four four-patch units, and a pinwheel unit for the center. And four 2-inch white background squares (not shown).


Now we need to assemble the center star unit, which we will build around to complete the block. Lay out your pieces and sew them together. 


As always, I recommend checking your unit for accuracy. This should measure 6 1/2".


Now to build around that center star and finish up our block. Lay out your remaining block units around the center star and sew them together. Be sure your four-patches are oriented properly as shown. 

And there you are, our final block in this sew-along! I ended up with 17 blocks because I made an extra. I've selected my least favorite block and will probably use in on the back of my quilt. I only need 16 blocks for my setting, which is going to be pretty simple.


This is the basic idea for my setting. I will use white lattice strips between the blocks and cornerstones of
3 1/2" sawtooth stars. I plan an inner border of white and an outer border of the large red daisy print. I'll work on it over the weekend and show you my progress next week.

Thanks so much for sewing along with me, and especially to Patt, Nancy, and Joy for sharing photos of their progress along the way. In particular, I thank Moda Bakeshop and all their great designers, for hosting this sew-along back in 2020.

 

 

Comments

[m]

It was fun watching your progress. Now onto the next project, right?!

[Erin]

It's lovely! I can hardly wait to see the finished quilt!

[Sandra]

I love the little saw tooth cornerstones! You are in the home stretch now!

[Diane]

You are zipping along with you quilts! This is very pretty.

[sue s]

I love the really summer-type blocks- cherries, Mason jars, basket of flowers. It is definitely a nice summer quilt.

[Jan]

Your blocks look great in the setting you've chosen! I always like to do something fun on the pieced backs of my quilts. You might think about the white borders & sawtooth cornerstones for that one block you're going to use...just to make it a nice little surprise on the back!

[Ina]

oh, I love those tiny stars you're using for corner stones!! Now I want to go make a quilt of tiny stars....

[Jeanie]

This is looking so great!

[Sally]

Agreeing with the others, I love those little red star cornerstones! A wonderful summer quilt that really does feel summer-y.

[T Holzer]

Love it!

[Vickie]

The Farmhouse Star would make a lovely one patch type quilt with a simple chaining block between.
Vickie