Farmhouse Stars in Circles in Squares

Stars in Circles

This week in the Farmhouse Star Quilt SAL we start to applique the stars to circles and the circles to squares - and I am so glad I am using the quick fuse applique method.

Using Lori’s interfacing method you will sew each star/circle twice (once to the interfacing and the second time affixing it to the background).  With 55 stars and 15 circles - that's a lot of sewing.   However, with quick fuse applique you only need to sew once – half the sewing and a whole lot quicker.

The Pattern is available from The Fat Quarter Shop

Firstly, I replaced the recommended Lori Holt circular rulers with items from my kitchen saving myself quite a few pennies.  

No need for circular ruler - just scurry through your kitchen cupboards

And whilst we are talking circles – I would recommend you cut the circles ½” bigger than stated in the pattern, so that you can fit the stars into them (the circles will still fit onto the background squares).  Otherwise you will struggle to get the stars to fit neatly into the circle.  

You can trace and cut three circles in one by tracing the largest circle first (in this case 12½”) then trace a middling (10½”) circle inside it and finally trace a smaller (8½”) circle inside that as shown:

I cut all three circles ½" larger than the pattern stated

Then cut out each circle roughly (not along the traced lines) so that the circles became rings of fusible webbing, each measuring approximately 1” wide.  You will be left with a large inner circle of fusible webbing that can be used for some of the points/pentagons.

Circles become rings with a little extra in the middle

Then it is a simple case of fusing the rings to the back of your chosen fabrics .....

Three rings ready to morph into three circles

...... before cutting out each circle accurately along the traced line.

Ready for a star turn!

If following the pattern repeat this process four more times.  However, you will still need to cut two further 12½” circles but you can do so by creating a single ring of fusible webbing.  That way you can use the middle cut outs for the points and pentagons.  

A single large ring.

Next fuse the circles onto the background squares .  

A circle in a square - but where is the star?

And from thereon in it is a case of tracing and fusing the the stars and pentagons as detailed in the first post of this sew-along.  

Easy quick fused stars

Just remember to keep the backing paper on the pentagon until you have positioned points into place.  When I lift the paper-backed pentagon off it looks like this: 

It is looking a little messy right now ....

But all that untidiness is hidden again after I have fused the pentagon on top.

A star in a circle in a square - perfection!

Now I just need to stitch all those stars to the circles and the circles to the squares.  Until next time .....

Talking of fusible webbing – I use Bondaweb which I buy in a 30m roll via Amazon as I use a lot of it.  It is quite expensive initially but I save in the long run.  The roll I am currently using I purchased in 2017 and I still have lots left.  If you are making the quilt as detailed in the pattern I estimate you will need approximately 6m of 45cm wide fusible webbing.