The red line is just showing you my sewing line.

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1 Crooked Stars These won t be the most perfect stars you ve ever made, but that is what makes this an enjoyable project. Whether scrappy or planned, this is a quick, easy and fun project. These stars can be made in any size you desire. If you need little stars, or big stars, you can adapt the pattern to fit your needs. Basically you are making a Sawtooth Star, but forgetting all the rules of piecing. What ever happens happens, and it will be a lovely project when you are done! You can use all the same background if you d prefer, but I like keeping it totally scrappy, and use all different lights for my backgrounds. For this project we will be making 6 inch unfinished squares. Remember that when you are making your stars! There is a little more information about sizes at the end of the pattern. For each block you will need background pieces, cut four 2 by 3 1/2 inch rectangles and four 2 1/2 inch squares. For each point you need one 2 1/2 inch square, so you need a total of eight, either all the same or all different, and you need a 3 1/2 inch square for your center. (Or you can make that a four patch, or even a nine patch, just which ever strikes your fancy) Let s start with those center squares. If you want a solid square fine, but to give your stars a really scrappy look, let s mix them up a little. I took four 2 1/2 inch squares and made a four patch with them. Then I trimmed those back to 3 1/2 inches, but did it crookedly to add some interest. Now we can move on to the flying geese units, but believe me these will be the easiest flying geese you have ever made. Simply lay one of your 2 1/2 inch squares on the corner of a rectangle unit, and sew a line diagonally across any way you please. If you go all the way to the top of the square, or you won t have any points at all. Remember that square is bigger than your rectangle. (If you don t want to lose any of your points, that is ok! I have to remember to lose points on purpose.) The red line is just showing you my sewing line. Crooked Stars August 2003 Delaware Quilts page 1 of 6

2 Don t forget to trim back your excess fabrics, leaving at least a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I just use my scissors to do this, but if you really have to, you may use your rotary cutter and ruler. I forgot to trim when I did these, as you can tell by the pressing lines. However, I did remember, which is important! Press carefully towards the squares. And now add the second square to your rectangle. Remember to angle your sewing lines a little different each time, to give your point a variety of height and width. Again, the red line shows my sewing line. Crooked Stars August 2003 Delaware Quilts page 2 of 6

3 Trim off the excess, leaving at least a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Press again to the square, and then trim these back to the 2 by 3 1/2 inch rectangles you started with. Add one rectangle to the side of your center block, either the 3 1/2 inch square or a four patch like I have here. Press carefully so the seam allowance goes towards the center square. Guess what comes next! If you said add the other rectangle unit, you were correct! Again, press so the seam allowance goes towards the center square. Crooked Stars August 2003 Delaware Quilts page 3 of 6

4 One thing you might notice here, my points do not come to the top of the background that is the way we want them. And see how the points don t meet on the right side where the rectangle and square are joined. That is also fine, remember we re making crooked stars, and they don t have to be perfect! What comes next is probably totally different than the way you ve done things in the past Not to worry, it will work out in the end. We are now going to attach the 2 1/2 inch squares to the end of the remaining rectangles. Yes, I know they are too big, but we want them that way, you ll see why in a little bit. Just be sure that the bottom edges and sides meet. Aren t they funny looking! Now we are going to attach these funny looking rectangles to either side of the center unit. Again, funny looking, but just wait to see what s coming up next! Crooked Stars August 2003 Delaware Quilts page 4 of 6

5 If you lay your 6 inch ruler on top of this mess, you will see you have excess to cut off. You can cut them just like shown here if you want. Or you can turn the ruler a little and cut them crookedly. They are crooked stars after all! (And now you know why those corner squares were bigger than the rectangles were) Just be sure that there is fabric where you are cutting, so you don t end up with holes in your star. And please, don t worry about losing any points, remember these are crooked stars, and they can deal with losing a point or two! made without the owner s permission. This includes the patterns as well as any graphics and/or instructions that are associated with a pattern. Crooked Stars August 2003 Delaware Quilts page 5 of 6

6 On page 1 you can see my stars, all trimmed up and sewn into a little wall hanging. Here are a few other suggestions for using up your crooked stars. You can finish your stars how ever you want, wall hanging, lap quilt, king size if you want. How big you make it will depend on how many stars you want to make, and how you want to set them. Remember, you can always add borders to make it even bigger! I really like them set on point like this. Or how about this for a kids quilt, with the center square being an eye spy square! Here is the little bit about sizes promised on page one. Remember with this pattern we made 6 inch stars, which are kind of an odd size, but it worked for this learning pattern. You can make your crooked stars any size you want to make them. Basically this is a nine patch star, four corners, your center square and the four crooked flying geese. So you can make it any size you want to fit the project you are making. The graph below shows you how to make four traditional size crooked stars. Unfinished square Rectangles Corners Points Center square 3 1/2 1 1/2 X 2 1 3/4 1 3/ /2 2 1/4 X 3 1/2 2 3/4 2 3/4 3 1/2 9 1/2 3 1/4 X 4 3/4 3 1/2 3 1/2 4 3/4 12 1/2 3 3/4 X 6 1/ /2 made without the owner s permission. This includes the patterns as well as any graphics and/or instructions that are associated with a pattern. Crooked Stars August 2003 Delaware Quilts page 6 of 6