Customer Reviews

Stars by Magic: New Super-Easy Technique! Diamond-Free(r) Stars from Squares & Rectangles! Perfect Points and No Y-Seams!

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a novice, I love lemoyne stars, but haven't yet tackled diamonds and "y" seams... I love Nancy's books anyway, so decided to try this....using Nancy's technique making stars is incredibly easy!!..your points are perfect and there are very few seams to be matched...I am thrilled with this book, and I'm just pumping out wonderful stars... thanks, Nancy

Every now and then, a quilting book comes along that knocks your socks off with new concepts that work. Nancy's step-by-step instructions make it easy to follow her formula for perfect stars with no Y-seams and using squares and rectangles instead of triangles. Absolutely brilliant!

This book will forever put to rest the notion that eight pointed stars are difficult! Anyone will be able to make those pesky stars with complete confidence and perfection. Nancy has done ALL the work by giving us 30 stars in many different sizes. She also gives us some beautiful quilt projects to make. She also shows us how to use the "leftovers" to make absolutely beautiful and imaginative quilts. Nothing is wasted. There are some techniques out there that are so wasteful, that I hesitate to use them. With fabric prices steadily climbing, I am very happy to use this wonderful book. Thanks, Nancy. I love the book. It's one of my favorites.

This is one of the easiest ways to make quilt stars that I have ever encountered. It is a must have in any quilters library.

I FOUND THIS BOOK AN EASY WAY TO MAKE BEAUTIFUL STAR BLOCKS.EASY TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS AND SEVERAL SIZES OF EACH BLOCK WERE GIVEN.A MUST FOR ANY QUILTER WHO LOVES MAKING STAR BLOCKS.

As I was reading "Stars by Magic", I wondered just how many more star ideas could be presented in this book than was given in "Block Magic". As I continued through the book, I found out that there are literally dozens of ways to put these squares and rectangles together to make wonderful new patterns.

But I am ahead of myself. In the very beginning of the book, Nancy provides two "No-Fail" tips sections; one on sewing on the diagonal and one on pressing. Learn what she says and it will give your blocks a more professional look. Then, there is the "how-to" on reading the charts which tells you how to figure out the sizes of the squares and rectangles you need to make the blocks.

30 block ideas later - no make that 90 blocks later as each block shows three different color-ways - I was eager to get out my fabric and try a few. The blocks range in size from 4" to 18". Putting a few 18" blocks together and you have a quilt in a hurry. By now, you realize there are cut-offs from making the blocks. WAIT! Don't throw them out (and what quilter would anyway!?), put them together and you get "bonus blocks and borders". The final pages of this book provide ten quilt maps. Oh my, which one do I start with first? If I have such a difficult choice to make, think what my students will have!

Since my students now realize that making star patterns are not that difficult, they are eager to try other ideas such as taking one-fourth of a block to make borders and by just turning that same quarter block, they get whole new look. But don't just use them for borders, use the quarters together to make a whole quilt! With this book, I will be teaching "Stars by Magic" for several more classes!

i have no trouble with y-seams. my points have made more experienced quilters envious. i'm still buying this book.

there are times when the techniques in this book will be useful. i'm not thrilled with the somewhat wasteful piecing suggestions that seem to be taking over the quilting world (even the australian quilt magazines have them), since it isn't all that time consuming to make a template or learn to use the rotary rulers to their best advantage. i'm still buying this book.

and that's because there are several designs in the last part of the book that i just have to make--they're wonderful, no matter what technique is used.

also, each star block has measurements for several finished sizes, so you won't have to struggle with math or (what i do) testing with paper pieces.

and be warned, you still have to make an effort with the center points.

Such a great book. I like the look of stars on quilts but have never tried doing any myself. They always sound so difficult. Not any More. This great book has given me an easy way to make great stars!! Thanks to the author for sharing her ideas.

I purchased this book several years ago and have finally taken the HOUR to sit at the sewing machine and sew. What a pleasant, successful experience!! Follow Ms. Johnson's directions, particularly the pressing directions. I tried a 12" practice square - and am very happy with the results. I also recommend Ms. Johnson's Rotary Magic book, particularly for the cutting advice and pinning approach. These two books are among the most valuable in my rather extensive book collection. Thank you for such dedicated work.

Oh dear. I have had this book for years, but it has been a couple of years since I last made a star block using these techniques. I was very quickly reminded of 2 things:

1) the methods are very clever and yield near-perfect stars (IF you have an exact 1/4 inch seam allowance AND you nestle all seams when joining the sub-blocks)

2) you've got to be willing to part with a significant amount of fabric

Regarding that 2nd point, currently I am making an 18 inch Lone Star (Block #9, page 34). It took nearly a full half-yard (actually 15" by 44") of fabric just to make the background. THE BACKGROUND. Of one single 18 inch block.

It is a hideous feeling to me whenever I have to cut away the waste pieces from these stars. I still have piles of waste from when the book first came out in 2004, and I will probably never be able to re-purpose these very oddly shaped pieces. I shudder as I type ... (To her credit, the author does have suggestions for how to use all the scraps, but I just do not really care for the ideas.)

This reminds me of a third thing:

3) I have GOT to learn how to do y-seams better!!