This past Christmas Eve, my husband and I hosted a dinner for some wonderful friends who had never before been to Utah. I wanted to give the mother and grandmother something special, and to me, “special” is always a hand-made quilt. The quilts in the photos below are Ribbon Star Quilts.
Star Quilt 1
Star Quilt 2
The pattern is fairly simple, and I used fabrics from my stash. (Yes, quilters call an extensive fabric collection a “stash.”) The only fabric I purchased specifically for these quilts was the border and backing fabric. The resulting quilts are stunning!

I didn’t make one quilt and then the other, but worked on both quilts at the same time. Each quilt had 9 stars, so I needed a total of 18. I chose 18 different fabrics that looked good together, but contrasted with each other, so that the individual pieces of each star would stand out. I used a variety of colors, but I used more of the colors I like the best: purple, blue, maroon, green. I cut 2 ½ inch strips from each piece of fabric, and then cut 4 squares of 2 ½ inches from each strip.
Star Quilt Strips
Star Quilt Squares

Then I started sewing. I made 72 corner units, 4 for each star.
Star Quilt

I sewed 4 corner units onto a fabric strip in a contrasting color.
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Then I pressed and cut the strip.
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I repeated this process with a second strip in a contrasting color. I sewed, pressed, cut, and then I had 72 units which looked like this:
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These units look very random and not very interesting, but put 4 identical units together, and you can see the beginnings of your star.
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Now add the points, and it’s almost as if magic happens! You have beautiful stars.
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If you look at the pointed and non-pointed stars side-by-side, you will see what a huge difference the points make in how the stars look.
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After each star piece had points, I sewed the pieces together, 4 units for each star.
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Next month, I’ll show you how I sewed the stars together, added the borders, and machine quilted everything. Be sure to join me for more beautiful quilt photos!