Stars of the City: May Finishing

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

Many months ago, we started the Stars of the City quilt along, and in the time that has passed, we've pieced a variety of star blocks, Drunkard's Path, and Pseudo Drunkards units together!

Now that May has arrived, we finally get to bring all of those pieces together to finish our Stars of the City quilts!

The finishing instructions are divided into two parts; begin by assembling your Drunkard's Path or Pseudo Drunkards units into border pieces, then locate the instructions for your desired quilt size and follow those to complete your quilt top!

Pattern Notes

As usual, before jumping into the pattern instructions, there are a few simple notes to keep in mind:

all seams use a ¼” seam allowance
press each seam before sewing the next

May Final Assembly

There are only a few simple steps left to complete the Stars of the City pattern.

Begin by assembling the Drunkard’s Path and Pseudo Drunkard units into border blocks, then proceed to the page that corresponds with your desired quilt size and follow those instructions to complete the quilt top.

Border Blocks

Piecing Instructions

From fabric A, cut one square at 4½”.

Select one each of Drunkard’s Path or Pseudo Drunkard units A, B,and C. Along with the square of fabric A, piece the left facing border unit as shown:

Trim to 8½” to complete the left facing border unit.

For either throw sized quilt, make 16.

For an XL twin sized quilt, make 24.

For a queen sized quilt, make 36.

From fabric A, cut one square at 4½”.

Select one each of Drunkard’s Path or Pseudo Drunkard units A, B,and C. Along with the square of fabric A, piece the right facing border unit as shown:

Trim to 8½” to complete the right facing border unit.

For either throw sized quilt, make 16.

For an XL twin sized quilt, make 24.

For a queen sized quilt, make 36.

Using one left and one right facing border unit, assemble a large border unit as shown:

Trim to 16½” x 8½” to complete the large border unit.

For either throw sized quilt, make 10.

For an XL twin sized quilt, make 16.

For a queen sized quilt, make 34.

Note that this will not use all of the left and right facing border units.

Rectangular Throw

Cutting Instructions

To finish the quilt top, cut the following:

Fabric A: 2 rectangles at 2½” x 8½”

2 rectangles at 1½” x 16½”

4 rectangles at 1½” x 8½”

Piecing Instructions

Select the two matching star blocks and join them along their fabric H sides to form a large square star block.

Using the large star block, two 1½” x 16½” rectangles of fabric A, four large border units, and any two star blocks, assemble the quilt centre as shown:

Set aside.

Using three large border units, two 1½” x 8½” rectangles of fabric A, one left facing border unit, and one right facing border unit, assemble the side-centre as shown:

Make 2, set aside.

Using two left facing border units, two right facing border units,one 2½” x 8½” rectangle of fabric A, and any two star blocks, assemble the quilt side as shown:

Repeat using the two remaining star blocks.

Join the quilt centre, side-centres, and sides together to complete the quilt top as shown:

Rectangular throw sized quilt should finish at 48" x 66".

Square Throw

Cutting Instructions

To finish the quilt top, cut the following:

Fabric A: 16 squares at 8½”

2 rectangles at 2½” x 32½”

2 rectangles at 4½” x 16½”

4 strips at 2½” x width of fabric

Piecing Instructions

Select the two matching star blocks and join them along their fabric H sides to form a large square star block.

Select four large border units and four 8½” squares of fabric A, join them around the outer edge of the large star block to create a large framed star block.

Set aside.

Select one large border unit, one left facing border unit, one right facing border unit, two 8½” squares of fabric A, and any star block. Join them together as shown to create a half framed star block.

Repeat with the remaining star blocks to create six half framed star blocks, set aside.

Using the large framed star block, two half framed star blocks, and two 2½” x 32½” rectangles of fabric A, assemble the quilt centre as shown:

Set aside.

Using two half framed star blocks, and one 4½” x 16½” rectangle of fabric A, assemble the quilt side as shown:

Repeat using the two remaining star blocks, set aside.

Join together the remaining 2½” strips of fabric A to create two sashing strips that are 68½” in length.

Assemble the quilt top by joining the quilt centre, sashing, and sides together as shown:

Square throw sized quilt should finish at 68" x 68".

Extra Long Twin

Cutting Instructions

To finish the quilt top, cut the following:

Fabric A: 24 squares at 8½”

3 rectangles at 1½” x 32½”

4 rectangles at 2” x 16½”

5 strips at 4½” x width of fabric

Piecing Instructions

Select any two matching star blocks and join them along their fabric H sides to form a large square star block. Repeat with an additional pair of matched star blocks to create a total of two large square star blocks.

Select four large border units and four 8½” squares of fabric A, join them around the outer edge of one large star block to create a large framed star block.

Repeat with the remaining large start block to create two large framed star blocks, set aside.

Repeat with the remaining star blocks to create eight half framed star blocks, set aside.

Using two large framed star blocks, two half framed star blocks, and three 1½” x 32½” rectangles of fabric A, assemble the quilt centre as shown:

Set aside.

Using three half framed star blocks and two 2” x 16½” rectangles of fabric A, assemble the quilt side as shown:

Repeat using the three remaining star blocks, set aside.

Join together the remaining 4½” strips of fabric A to create two sashing strips that are 99½” in length.

Assemble the quilt top by joining the quilt centre, sashing, and sides together as shown:

Extra long twin sized quilt should finish at 72" x 99".

Queen

Additional Blocks

Select and piece an additional two star blocks. These can be two matching blocks or use two different patterns.

Cutting Instructions

To finish the quilt top, cut the following:

Fabric A: 36 squares at 8½”

7 rectangles at 4½” x 32½”

4 rectangles at 2½” x 32½”

5 strips at 4½” x width of fabric

Piecing Instructions

Select any two matching star blocks and join them along their fabric H sides to form a large square star block. Repeat with an additional seven pairs of matched star blocks to create a total of eight large square star blocks

Select four large border units and four 8½” squares of fabric A, join them around the outer edge of the large star block to create a large framed star block.

Repeat with the remaining large star blocks to create eight large framed star blocks, set aside.

Repeat with the remaining star block to create two half framed star blocks, set aside.

Using two large framed star blocks, two half framed star blocks, and three 4½” x 32½” rectangles of fabric A, assemble the quilt centre as shown:

Set aside.

Using three large framed star blocks, two 4½” x 32½” rectangles of fabric A, and two 2½” x 32½” rectangles of fabric A, assemble the quilt side with the wide sashing between the blocks and the narrow sashing at the ends as shown:

Repeat using the three remaining large framed star blocks, set aside.

Join together the remaining 4½” strips of fabric A to create two sashing strips that are 108½” in length.

Assemble the quilt top by joining the quilt centre, sashing,and sides together as shown:

Queen sized quilt should finish at 104" x 108".

Full finishing instructions for each of these quilt sizes can be downloaded as a PDF here:

And with this being the final instalment of the Stars of the City quilt along, if you know anyone who would be interested in making this pattern, please send them here to download every set of instructions for themselves!

Stars of the City Sample Quilt

With the quilt along wrapping up, I had hoped to be finished the quilting on my original Stars of the City quilt, but I'm not quite there yet.

Although I didn't quite reach my goal of finishing the quilting on this project, I'm still thrilled with the progress I've made so far and am excited to continue!

Stars of the Lily Pond

For my second version of the Stars of the City pattern, I wanted to do something a little bit different.

All the way back in September, I selected a totally new colour scheme inspired by the Waterlilies fabric line by Michel Design Works and Northcott.

Changing up the colours to give your blocks a unique look is covered in the colour selection instructions shared in September, and is one of the simplest alterations to make when personalizing a quilt pattern!

But I wanted to take my changes another step further by altering the block placement!

When planning the changes to my block layout, I considered the inspiration for the new colour scheme, waterlilies, and decided on a much more organic and random layout. I also decided to make quite a few additional Drunkard's Path units, since lily pads tend to grow in tightly packed, overlapping clusters.

With that inspiration in mind, my Stars of the Lily Pond quilt is coming together something like this:

I've only pieced together about a third of the quilt top so far, but this gives a good impression of the effect I'm hoping to achieve!

Though the effect is totally unique from the original Stars of the City design, Stars of the Lily Pond uses all of the same methods and techniques as the original pattern. It really goes to show how a few changes to colour selection and block layout can truly transform a pattern!

And with that, the Stars of the City block of the month quilt along has come to an end!

I'm sad to finish another quilt along, but excited to see how all the choices that each of you has made will transform the pattern into something beautiful and unique!

As you put the finishing stitches into you project, please continue to share your progress with me in the comments below or on social media using #starsofthecitybom! I can't wait to see how each of your quilts turn out!

If you enjoyed working on this project with me, I'm planning another quilt along to start next Autumn, so I hope you'll join me again then! In the meantime, I'll be continuing my normal posting!