Rose Star Week: Day One

Another week, another theme. I probably won't do a full 7 days, but I know you'll be entertained with some lovely projects featuring the Rose Star. "What's a Rose Star," you ask? It's a vintage block that uses a patch shape called the "kite." And you all know what a kite it, right? Here are a few dozen kite shaped fabrics waiting for a quilty home.

Kite shaped Kaffe Fassett fabrics

Are you nervous? Are you thinking: Y-SEAM! Well, if you have a driver's license, you know how to make a y-seam, only it's called a "y-turn" in driving school. That's what I tell my students in my Rose Star classes.

Here is the project I made using these patches. It's one of my favorite quilts. I'll show you a few steps, too.

Rose Star Table Topper

I realized I needed a dependable kite shaped template and had one made for me. While it cuts only one size, it's very easy to do without a lot of weird twists and turns. I also realized that the several multi-sized Kite Rulers on the market are not easy to work with (ask me how I know). (I no longer sell the template.)

My Kite template used to make the topper above

Creative Grids ruler is great (I have one). Price tag is a bit steep: $28.99 (with no patterns). It is multi-sized for a lot of options, of course. But I digress.

The Rose Star topper above has 24 sets of 3-kite units. After you've sewn those 24 y-seams, everything else gets stitched together as though you're just using 60 degree triangles: NO y-seams.

What does the 3-patch unit look like, front and back?

3 patch unit from the front

3 patch unit from the back

And here's my class sample top (no quilting). I keep it as a top so my students can see what's going on "behind the scenes" and how the units are stitched together.

Rose Star Topper using Aria fabrics from Windham

I sell the digital pattern (minus the template) as a DIGITAL pdf. ($7.99). Of course, there is a full size paper template! I used to sell the template, but they're gone and I don't plan to reorder.

Come back tomorrow for more ideas using this very simple Kite shaped patch. More ideas!