Land Locked Quilting Cruise ™ Event: Mini Lemoyne Star

You may not can tell by the photo, but this little quilt, and I do mean little, is only thirteen inches square! The star units are 3″ finished! I originally made it back in 2018 as one of my Island Batik Ambassador challenges. You can read more about it here.

Fast forward a bit and I had several folks asking for a pattern. I didn’t make a full fledged pattern per se, but a handout with photo step outs as a free PDF when you signed up for my newsletter. It’s still available by the way… Oh, and just in case you have already downloaded the PDF prior to today, there’s a typo (gasp) The size of the star strip is incorrect. Please refer to your Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star tool instructions by Studio 180 Design for the correct size to cut your strip for a 3″ finish. I caught the error while teaching my workshop. Yikes!

While the method is the same whether you use Deb Tucker’s tool to make a 3″ finished unit or a 12″ finished unit, I had listed the workshop as “intermediate” but found 4 out of 5 had not used the tool before. No worries!

With Divine inspiration moments before my students arrived, I decided to pull out my Island Batik stash of 2 1/2″ strips and my bolt of Island Batik Sprinkles (neutral background) to share. Again, I neglected to get photos but each student used my stash as “practice fabric” to make an “A & B” of an 8″ finished Lemoyne Star unit before we played with their fabrics to make the 3″ finished units.

Armed with the knowledge of Deb Tucker’s technique to construct a Lemoyne Star unit with strip piecing vs Y seams, they were off to the races!

Now with the experience and knowledge of making a star, we took a little break to use the Tucker Trimmer I to construct the hourglass units in the quilt design. Once up on the design wall it was exciting to “visualize” where the quilt was going….don’t you just love their fabrics!!

Taking a class and learning something new can be challenging. I often tell my students that it’s not a race – there will always be smokin’ needles and slower steady Bettys. Each person learns at their own pace and it’s my job to make sure everyone has a hands-on experience with not only me as the teacher but in the process of understanding the technique. I also try to remind everyone that “you aren’t in your home environment so don’t expect to produce like you normally do” – in other words, boo-boos will happen – especially brain fogs when information overload hits – no one judges the others…we are all here to learn a new technique, make new friends, and share our passion for quilting. I’d like to think that is accomplished. I know I have fun! My hope is my students go home armed and dangerous (grin). Armed with the knowledge of the tool, the instructions, and how to complete their project at home.

It is always a pleasure and a privilege to teach – whether in my home studio, a quilt shop, or traveling on the road (or at sea!). I love what I do and hope to be able to continue to share my passion of quilting.

Speaking of which, here’s my next “local” events….

In the meantime….I’ve been toying around with the YouTube episodes of “15 Minutes to Ramble ‘N Sew” – have you seen them yet?

Whatever you find yourself doing today, make it count! Choose Joy, and share the love!

This is Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler

PS – Little known fact – 1999 our family started what we then called “The Great Overton Adventure” – we sold our possessions, purchased a travel trailer, and headed down to Daytona 500 where we were employed by a special event company selling Ben & Jerry’s and Lemon Chill at the racetrack! Hubby thought it was grand to be “paid to be at THE Daytona 500” – we traveled and worked on the road for several years vending at national events – from Daytona to Derby and oh so many places in between…Daytona raceway holds a special place in our hearts…Carry on…that is all (grin).