Has anyone made the Jungle Star quilt on page 26 from the book "Ribbon Star Quilt" by Nancy Mahoney? I can't seem to get the stars to match up to the center blocks. I've measured but still can't get it to work. Any words of wisdom out there? It's a system of cutting strips, sewing those together, then cutting those into smaller rectangles. The rectangles are then sewn onto a 3 1/2 inch block to form the star.

Welcome to the board from Southern California!!!
I have not tried that one. Your fabrics are really pretty!

Thanks! Most of the fabrics are batiks. I wish someone out there may have taught a class on this, or perhaps the author might respond? I've measured and such, but give up. I'll just put it together and still have a quilt to cover up with. But it will always bug me why it won't match up! The outside lines have to match, and the outside blue pieces will be joined to look like a solid block between the pieced blocks.

Start with the center little square and line all the pieces up on your design area. Then play with the pieces until they are right. There is a solid block between the star points.

welcome!

Right. But the purple tips of the star don't all measure 3 1/2 inches to match the center block. I cut them all alike but some won't measure 3 1/2 inches. If the purple tips match, the outer parts will not, on some sections.

Don't you just hate when that happens? I know I do!

Yes! The instructions looked easy. It's anything but! Also, there is a lot of wasted material. I could have just taken the smaller rectangles, and sewn them with sashings, rather than making imperfect stars. But I didn't. That was the only alternate plan I could come up with. I measured and remasured the strips of the larger rectangle. It's maddening. Should have started with a topper rather than a full sized quilt. Then at least I'd know what NOT to do!

I have the book, but haven't made a quilt out of it yet.

It's pretty. I started with probably the most difficult. Might be wise to begin with the topper, or table runner, that's also shown in the book. The Jungle Stars uses 7 fabrics. Others use fewer pieces, with less cutting, probably having a better chance of lining up correctly.

Sewing the first strips was a puzzle. I got help from a quilt instructor with it. See my photo and notice these line up across the bottom but are at an angle. It must look like that.

The author suggests using a certain sized ruler and I think that's a help. I put tape on it to keep my eyes on the measurements.

When cutting the smaller rectangles out of the larger rectangle, the ruler lines up, corner to corner, on that one strip of fabric. That is difficult to explain. The upper corner of the ruler lines up to the left corner of the beige strip. The lower corner of the ruler lines up to the right side of the beige strip. Beige in my photos. This gives the slant needed.

I marvel at the brain power that dreamed this one up!