A Star is Born

This story begins several months ago, when my wife Janie was making a Flying Geese quilt. "There's got to be an easier way" echoes through the hills every time she starts a new quilt. Janie has been an avid quilter for over 20 years and still each design presents new challenges. She's pretty good, mind you, but at least one area is a sore spot. Difficult to do or taking too much time.

Now I wrangle computers by day and putter with wood and stained glass by night. These all have something in common with quilting: the goal is to make something beautiful with minimum effort and to perfection. I wanted to make Janie's creations a less frustrating experience, so I took on some of the age old issues in quilting.

This led me to Quiltsmart and their use of fusible interfacing - especially their grids for watercolor and counted cross-stitch designs. I wrote the folks at Quiltsmart with a new idea for making borders and blocks. Mary Pat reviewed a whole passel of patterns and concepts. Each day seemed to bring another idea and a request for Mary Pat to look it over.

Mary Pat liked what she saw, but it just wasn't enough. Now I don't know whether it was a sincere need or just getting me out of her hair that led her to say "If you really want to stir things up, solve the 'Holy Grail' of quilting!"

Bill Reinhold

Well I didn't know they made a Holy Grail quilt. In all her years of quilting, Janie had neglected to mention this one. After a slight hesitation I asked "Ok, what's the Holy Grail?" Mary Pat explained "No one has come up with a way to make a Lone Star quilt fast, easily, and accurately."

Wow! The gauntlet was down. Never one to walk away from a challenge, I began looking into what went into a Lone Star.

It seemed simple enough, take a bunch of diamonds and put them together to form a star. But keep in mind that people don't like to cut diamonds, nor do they like to sew them together (bias edges) and that in order for the quilt to be good, everything has to join up perfectly and leave no room for error. Whoa! Computers aren't even this good ... how are ordinary folks going to do it?

After days of cutting, folding, sewing, ripping, re-sewing, re-ripping, re-cutting and going back and starting all over again, it appeared the Holy Grail would stay out of reach. But it was too late to back out, I was already committed and my honor was on the line.

By then I was about as confused as a cowpoke in a tornado. Well it dawned on me that I might be making it too difficult. Go back to basics! Break it down, look for the commonality, keep it simple. It was two days later in the early morning hours that it became crystal clear. Use rectangles to make diamonds. How could I have overlooked that?

When many quilters see the technique, they say "Oh! Its like foundation paper piecing." Sort of ... in this case the interfacing stays in the quilt. And believe me that Quiltsmart's lightweight interfacing does not add significant bulk or stiffness to the quilt.

Well I quickly realized that accurate layout is the key to making a slew of diamonds out of rectangles. So I blended Quiltsmart's interfacing with my concept and it seemed to just flow on to the drawing board. Hours later the first test panel was rolling off the printer. I ran to the sewing machine! I armed myself with fabric, rotary cutter, ruler, and Janie's well-worn cutting board. I lopped off my first pieces of fabric.

I took the pieces to the sewing machine. Now why is it that just when the creative juices are flowing, the unexpected grabs you? First, the sewing machine jammed. Next the bobbin ran out. Then the color of the thread was wrong and I didn't know where Janie kept spare bobbins.

Overcoming all obstacles, I somehow managed to sew the first seam.

Jumpin' jackrabbits, it worked! The first section was only a 3x3 diamond - three rows and three columns. It went faster than blazes, the whole thing sewn together in under 10 minutes. Something must be wrong.

I turned it over to see how it was coming together. Hmmm, it looks good! Better than good, everything was perfect, except the fabric colors. It looked like a peacock in a blender. I learned you don't mix blue, hot pink and brown.

Do I dare try another? Whoa, Nellie, the second diamond section was even better! Might as well go all the way and put a whole Lone Star together. It worked! The sections fit together wonderfully.

I picked up the phone and called Mary Pat. Now it was 6:00 am on a Sunday morning. Her husband Mike answered. In hindsight, maybe I was a bit too enthusiastic when I shouted "I found the Holy Grail!" Mike answered in a groggy monotone, "Okay, sounds good." I expected more jubilation, but perhaps my timing was a bit off. I said "I'll have it in the mail in the morning." I pondered the rest of the day whether or not it really was that big a deal.

Using rectangles to make diamonds

Mary Pat called two days later at midnight. This time I'm the one who is not awake. "It works! It works!" she yelled into the phone. "It is absolutely perfect! How did you do it? How did you figure it out?" In my groggy monotone I replied, "How did I figure what out?"

Janie and I planned a visit to the Quiltsmart farm in early July. Now a few days before we arrived, it so happens that 25 ladies in an internet chat group converged on the Quiltsmart farm. Mary Pat decided to have them sing for their supper by testing the Lone Star. It couldn't have worked out better, because those gals found every imaginable way to run into trouble. You see, at first I planned to fuse a rectangle of all fabrics in each row at once and then stitch assembly-line style. These ladies put us straight ... the six fabrics jostle each other like ranch hands at a chuck wagon. When Janie and I arrived, we worked long but fun hours perfecting the technique.

Now here we are two months later. Test classes have been conducted, instructions written, and a whole galaxy of Lone Star quilts have been made. So what's next? I'm standing by for the call. Another Holy Grail, or perhaps the Arc of the Covenant.

And when they ask "Who is that man?" Just tell 'em "He's the Lone Star arranger."

Lone Star Quick Kit

Makes a 38" star. Includes yardage and instructions for a Baby / Wallhanging and a Small Lap size quilt.

Lone Star Classic Kit

Makes a 58" star. Includes yardage and instructions for a Large Lap size quilt and all bed sizes.