Giant Star Quilt Tutorial

Saturday, March 4, 2023

When I saw the new red, white, and blue Land of the Brave fabrics from Riley Blake Designs, I immediately thought they would be perfect for a picnic quilt! 

Giant star picnic quilt using red, white, and blue fabrics

I chose eight fabrics from the collection. I chose four fabrics in blues and four fabrics in reds. There were florals, stars, plaids, and text prints. Then I added solid white to use for the background.

Land of the Brave fabric by Riley Blake Designs

To make the blocks, I started with 18" squares of each fabric and made jumbo half-square triangles. Then I laid out each half-square triangle opposite from it's match to make the jumbo star. The four corners are squares of solid white fabric. (Get the full tutorial at the bottom of the post!)

Quilt block layout for giant star picnic quilt using red, white, and blue fabrics

After sewing the blocks together, I loaded the quilt on my longarm. I used a 108" wide white and light gray fabric that I keep on hand for the back, but I think denim or fleece would have been great for a picnic quilt back too!

White thread for quilting

I loaded white thread into my longarm and quilted a large meander design all over the quilt.

Meander quilting on a longarm

I started with half-yard cuts, so I had enough left over to make a scrappy binding!

Giant star picnic quilt using red, white, and blue fabrics

As soon as the quilt was finished, I knew it would be perfect for keeping in the car this summer for impromptu picnics and park visits!

Giant star picnic quilt using red, white, and blue fabrics

I used Warm & White batting inside to keep the solid white fabric a bright white. The large meander quilting kept the quilt really soft.

Giant star picnic quilt using red, white, and blue fabrics

I made sure to add one of my labels when sewing my binding on too.

Quilt label sewn into the binding

The fake grass at the playground has me dreaming of summer even though it's still pretty cold out. There weren't any kids at the playground when I went to take these photos! You know it's cold then!

Giant star picnic quilt using red, white, and blue fabrics

If you'd like to make a jumbo star quilt too, then download the pattern tutorial! Since the blocks are jumbo, it goes together quite quickly!


Giant star picnic quilt using red, white, and blue fabrics

Happy quilting!

12 comments:

  1. I love your giant star quilt and thank you for the tutorial!

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  2. Thank you for the free Giant Star pattern. My girlfriends hubby was in the Air Force for 20+years and he's been wanting a quilt (I made my girlfriend a quilt last yr for her 61th Birthday with real soft flannel on the back and he keeps taking it every chance he gets.....and it's a girly one). This will be perfect for him out of AirForce/Military fabric. He'll be 71 this December, hope to have it done by then. Thanks again for the pattern.

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  3. Thank you for this tutorial can’t wait to make this for summer outings

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  4. Gorgeous! Summertime here we come! Thank you! I look forward to future communications.

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  5. Perfect picnic quilt. Thank you Laura.
    Debbie quiltshopemails@gmail.com

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  6. I LOVE this!!! I will definitely be making one of these for myself. I’m terrible at math—-and have a love for oversized blocks with not a clue how to go about accomplishing that. Yes, I’ve read and read and have a general knowledge BUT my brain just does not work that way. LOL. And then there is lovely YOU!! And you are so generous in sharing with us. I just wanted to thank you for always being so kind and generous.

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  7. I’m the Anonymous post right about this. Angie

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  8. I was unable to get the pattern and tutorial. I enter my email a couple of times.

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  9. Thank you for the pattern I liked it very much!!!!

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  10. Impactful star! A great make for a Patriotic display.

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  11. Thank you for the tutorial. This is such a clean simple design yet really makes a statement. I plan to make one for sure but I think I'll use denim as the backing, hope that works, a first for me.

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  12. Very beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

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