Machine appliqued planes soar through this quilt among half square triangle (HST) stars. The smoke trails are hand embroidered in different colors using a straight stitch to add that special touch to the baby quilt.

HST’s are made using the Spinning Star papers to give you perfect half square triangles every time! You can find a quick demo HERE on the papers.

Quilt measures 45″ square. Kit includes instructions, the HST papers, fabric for the quilt top and binding. Batting & backing are NOT included. The kits can be found in the SewModDesigns Etsy shop.

It’s funny how creativity strikes when you least expect it! Remember this post for the CLMQG demo I did on the Spinning Star HST’s, Making Perfect Half Square Triangles? Well, several of those quilt blocks became the the inspiration for two new baby quilts. One is the adorable new addition to SewMod , called Seeing Stars. The other is going to be for sale shortly in the SewModMakes Etsy Shop As a finished baby quilt. (Post on that quilt coming soon)

I had made so many HST’s that they were running outta my ears. I kinda got carried away and seeing how fabric is not something to be wasted these days, I was determined to use them.

Seeing Stars
At first this quilt was just going to be a simple star to star block. No bells and no whistles. But how much fun would that be? I love appliqué. I love embroidery. I replicated the plane from the Oh Boy main fabric, positioned the planes horizontally and diagonally to give it the soaring effect through the quilt.

Appliquéing the planes with different colors of thread and hand embroidering the smoke trails gave it the extra whimsy touch.

I used a Kona Ash to frame everything and before you knew it, I had a finished quilt. Paige quilted it for me in a loopy soar and I finished it off with the stripe binding and a polka dot backing…so sweet!

The quilt is always the fast part of the process. It’s been finished for about 3 weeks now. It’s the pattern writing that tends to send the creative process to a slow. turtle. crawl. It needs to be written, tested, and left for a bit do do it all over again…not something to be rushed. And it always helps to have a pattern tester.

So now that I’ve completed the pattern step, I get to blog about it and cut the kits! I love cutting the kits. Kit includes the free pattern, enough fabric for the front & binding…and enough HST paper to make your own perfect stars! The great thing about this baby kit is that there’s hardly any waste. I love that too.

If you’d like to purchase a Seeing Stars Kit, you can visit the SewModDesigns Etsy shop. Kit is $45.00 plus $5.75 shipping for US customers. International shipping rates vary.

They could be landing in your sewing room shortly!

Demo: Spinning Star HST Paper
Warning: Addictive

I came across Spinning Star HST papers in a cute quilt shop while on vaca in Oklahoma called Threads of Tradition. They had made a chevron baby quilt using them them and I thought, what the heck, I’ll try that. The added bonus was the papers were designed by a local quilter in Edmond, OK and I do like to support my local small business!

I contacted Liz of Spinning Star Designs and she generously donated papers for a demo and a door prize for the guild.

Triangle paper was always something I knew of but never tried. I always thought, “Why would I need that? I can make half square triangles…for free lol!”

But, oh how wrong I was. The paper made me squeal…and in just one afternoon, I had made over 200 PERFECT HST’s. So today I want to share this product that you may have overlooked in your local quilt store. I’m convinced, once you try it, you’ll never want to go back to your other method. I promise!

We’re going to be working with 3″ HST papers. One paper will produce (8) 3-1/2″ unfinished blocks. For this demo, I’m using the Riley Blake line by Lori Whitlock called “Oh Boy”. You can find the papers and the fabric line in the SewModDesigns Etsy shop.

Let’s begin!  Cut two 8″ squares of fabric. Place the pieces right sides together.

Place your HST paper on top and pin.

Shorten the stitch length on your machine to 1.6.

Sew on the dotted line starting where the arrows point in the #1 direction on the paper. Pivot and turn when you arrive at the solid dots and continue all the way around the paper until you’ve finished stitching on the line #8.

Using your rotary cutter and ruler, cut along all the solid lines.

Tear your paper away. If you bend the paper towards the seam, the paper will tear away easily.

Press the seam towards the darker fabric.

We all know that a great quilt starts with the cutting, and a damn near perfect seam allowance. This paper has that part covered!

I made several different blocks for the demo. This one is a 12.5″ unfinished block using (2) HST’s units with one each of a  3.5″ square of white and the matching HST fabric.

The block on the right is the same as the one above just turned a different way. I also made a chevron and a HST nine patch block.

Tell me your thoughts on HST papers. Do you use them? Do you want to try them? What have you made?