Thanx for the great advice. I was wondering where I could find templates; I'll look for it. Best regards, Nadia

If you haven't started your Lone Star, yet, have you considered using Marti Michell template set E. You could try the Lemoyne star to see if you like it them. The pieces fit together like a dream. If you like them, then you can cut diamonds for your Lonestar. You can control your bias edges with templates, and hand-piecing is faster than most people think. I have made two Lone Star quilts with set E. One about 60 inches and the other 90 inches. I used Lone Star layout in EQ to block in the color placement and printed this for a guide. Then I cut strips of fabric, then the template shapes using a rotary cutter. These I stacked in a pizza box. Before started to piece I marked the holes with a mechanical pencil on the back of each diamond. Sounds labor intense, but you know how accurate it is if you hand-piece. If you take care in the cutting, handling and marking the small diamonds using Marti's templates, you will not have to starch or stress when matching the large diamonds, and your center will lay flat as a pancake. I too love Jinny Beyer. Marti Michell patchwork templates come with great instructions. I love that I am not alone in doing many quilts by hand. Good Luck.

Thanx for the great advice! Best regards, Nadia

These actually look harder than they are...you can strip piece the diamonds. Sew strips of your chosen colors together, then cut into strips of diamonds. Match seams and sew the strips together. If you have trouble getting the seams to line up, hold them in place with a drop or two of basting glue at each intersection (hit it with your iron to dry/set the glue) before sewing.

You'll need to make a drawing showing where you want each color, and organize your strips so the colors land where you planned...that's the major tricky bit, but if you stay organized, it goes together very easily.

Here are a couple of many tutorials I found with a quick look on the internet:
http://www.angelfire.com/va3/jclane/LoneStar/LoneStar.html
http://hopefulhomemaker.com/wp/2013/04/01/lone-star-block-tutorial/

Also, be careful not to stretch the bias strips of diamonds. As Margo always says, starching the fabrics heavily before sewing and cutting will help stabilize the shapes and edges.

Hi Margo. I took your advice and watched Jinny Beyer--she is fabulous. I already own her Quilting by Hand book, but didn't know about "Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns." Will look into it. Thanx! -- Nadia

Watch Jinny Beyer's TQS episode (601) on hand piecing! [url]watch/watch-shows/video/show-601-perfect-your-hand-piecing[/url]

Nadia, I just looked at your profile and was going to say that the quilt you have posted is very much a lone star but then I read your last post and realized that you were wanting a refresher course. I think Rosemary's advice about starching is a good one. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Thanx for the advice. I just put up a photo of a detail of a quilt I did, and it is a Lone Star--frankly, I have just forgotten how I put the thing together, since I did it ten years ago! Thanx again, just getting used to this site. Best regards, Bluebird16

Welcome to the tqs forum bluebird16.

My advice - Carefully

Actually I would suggest starching the fabric would probably be useful, being very careful with your preparation and so would Edyta Sitar's lesson on sewing stars here. [url]watch/watch-shows/video/show-1112-shes-back-lessons-from-grandma-a-new-contest-and-more[/url] apart from that, good luck and have fun. Oh, and please show us pictures as you go... we love to see pictures of peoples work here.

I have only done 6 quilts, and would like to do a queen-sized lone star quilt (lone star surrounded by some small ohio stars). However, I am pretty intimidated by this pattern, and also am planning to hand piece and hand quilt it. (I do not even know how to work a machine, and am not interested in learning machine piecing or machine quilting).

Does anyone have any tips for doing a good lone star quilt?