Sashing question
 

First off, I love this quilting board and always get so much information and help. I am kind of new to quilting and would like to make the Ohio Star. Is there a 'rule' about using sashing strips. I was not going to make the sashing strips with this block, but I see a lot of pictures with sashing. Just confused on when to use sashing and when not to use. sorry for the rambling!

It is entirely up to you and what you like. I fold fabrics and audition them under my blocks to get an idea if I want to use them.

There's no rule, but using sashings can allow you to "float" the stars so all the points show. It can be a little tricky to get all the points of an Ohio star block exactly right so you don't end up cutting some of them off. "Floating" the stars (allowing extra seam allowance around the points) ensures you don't end up with cut-off points. That may be why you see a lot of Ohio Star quilts with sashing.

The Northern Star is similar to the Ohio Star and I do that one alot...my fav block. I always do a sashing around them as I like to break them up and make the specific blocks, instead of them all together attached cause if they are all attached, it gets looking rather busy and cluttered. The sashing also adds to the sizing...which helps in achieving the size of the quilt you need.

Mostly it's personal taste. For the most part I don't like sashing on single block quilts unless it adds to the design in some way. I don't like sashing that's just there. Audition your blocks with and without sashing and try different widths of sashing too. A very narrow sashing can add a design layer without destroying the secondary patterns you get without sashing.