Free Quilt Block Pattern - Morning Star

Today we're going to sew together this traditional quilt block called Morning Star that first appeared in the Ladies Art Company publication. It also appeared in Hearth & Home under the name State of Virginia. It's pretty easy to piece and is so striking with the banded star design. Let's get started!

Fabric Requirements for a 12" Finished Morning Star Quilt Block:

• Light/Ivory: 4 - 3.5" squares, and 4 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles
• Medium 1/Red: 8 - 2.5" squares, 4 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles, 4 - 1.5" x 3.5" rectangles, and 4 - 1.5" x 4.5" rectangles
• Medium 2/Gold: 1 - 4.5" square
• Dark/Navy: 8 - 2.5" squares

Sewing Directions:

Flying Geese Units:

Step 1:

Using the LIght/Ivory 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles and the Medium 1/Red 2.5" squares, make four Flying Geese units as shown in the picture below. You can find my tutorial for making Flying Geese blocks at https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-flying-geese-block

Step 2:

Using the Medium 1/Red 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles and the Dark/Navy 2.5" squares, piece together four Flying Geese units as shown below.

Step 3:

Pair up one Step 1 unit and one Step 2 unit and sew together so that the Medium 1/Red fabric makes a chevron design as shown in the picture below. Press seam allowance toward the Medium 1/Red-Dark/Navy unit. Repeat for a total of four units.

Corner Units:

Step 4:

Now we can work on the Corner units - easy peasy. Match up one Light/Ivory 3.5" square and one Medium 1/Red 1.5" x 3.5" rectangle and sew together as shown below. Press the seam allowance toward the Medium 1/Red fabric. Repeat for a total of four units.

Step 5:

Now you can add a Medium 1/Red 1.5" x 4.5" rectangle to an adjacent side of the Step 4 unit as shown in the picture below. Again, press the seam allowance toward the Medium 1/Red fabric. Repeat for a total of four Corner units.

Putting It All Together:

Step 6:

From here the Morning Star (aka State of Virginia) block goes together like a simple Nine Patch block. Lay out the Flying Geese units, the Corner units, and the center Medium 2/Gold 4.5" square as shown in the picture below.

Step 7:

Now you can sew the units together into three rows as shown in the picture below.

Step 8:

And press the seam allowances away from the Flying Geese units as shown below.

Step 9:

Now you can sew the three rows together and you're all done except for the pressing!

Step 10:

Press the seam allowances. I pressed the seam allowances toward the center of the block so that when sewing blocks together, the seams would nest. However, I think the block would lay flatter if the seam allowances were pressed away from the center of the block. So it's your choice how you want to press.

Conclusion:

The Morning Star block was a fun block to put together. It went together fast and I really like the band that forms around the inner star - it really makes the star design shine!

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial for the Morning Star quilt block! If you like it and want to see more, simply click HERE to sign up for my newsletter plus receive a free PDF quilt pattern called "Chained Weathervane".

Happy Quilting!

Elaine