Charm Star Quilt with Heirloom Fabric by Sharon Holland

This week I’m working on a Charm Star quilt in Heirloom fabric by Sharon Holland for Art Gallery Fabrics. I’ve had my eye on this collection for a while, and finally decided I had to have it to share in the shop.

Here are a few photos of the progress I’ve made so far. I’m about halfway to a finished quilt, and it’s been so fun to see it come together.

Sewing my Charm Star Quilt

I’m following my Charm Star quilt pattern and using the 2-at-a-time half square triangle method, but if you want to speed things up, you could easily make this quilt using the 8-at-a-time HST method instead.

I wrote this pattern with the 2-at-a-time method because it works well with a wide variety of fabric cuts and gives you more flexibility depending on what fabrics you’re sewing with – charm squares, fat eighths, fat quarters, or even your scrap stash.

One thing I’ve found helpful with this quilt is sewing a block a day. Once you have enough blocks for a row, sew the row together. It’s a nice way to watch the quilt come together row by row.

Piecing on my Industrial Juki

I also wanted to share that I’m piecing this quilt on my industrial Juki. I bought this machine several years ago when I was doing production sewing, but lately it’s mostly been used for assembling pillows and making bags.

The one thing that kept me from using it for quilting was the lack of a stitch plate with 1/4″ seam markings. I recently found a 1/4″ stitch plate at my local Juki dealer, so I’m good to go now.

A strip of diagonal seam tape on the bed of my machine has really helped with piecing the half square triangles. It lets me line up the corners and sew right along the guide, making chain piecing simple without having to mark every square.

The machine I’m using is the Juki DDL-9000C. It can sew an impressive 3,000 stitches per minute, though I definitely don’t quilt that fast! My favorite feature for quilting is the automatic thread cutter. I know many newer sewing machines have this now, but my older Bernina 440QE doesn’t, so it still feels like a luxury.

Quilts Ready for the Longarm

That’s what’s happening in my sewing room this week. I have a longarm appointment scheduled at APQS at the end of June, and a friend from my quilt guild generously offered to let me use her longarm this Friday. I’m excited to finally get a few quilts finished! I currently have four ready to quilt, with many more waiting on backing fabric.

I hope your week is fun, creative, and productive.

Talk soon,

Jen

P.S. Grab a quilt kit to make this Charm Star Quilt in Heirloom fabric from my shop and sew along with me.