Find the Sparkle Punch Quilt-Along main page here.
Read about Mo’s Sparkle Punch quilt here.
Now that you have all of your star components made, it's time to sew them together to make the quilt top!
Start by clearing a design wall or clean floor area at least 70" x 84".
Before we start, I just want to give a quick reminder that we're still working with 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" star components (center squares and points units). Making the quilt top will result in their being sewn together, but they should not be sewn together yet.
Download Sparkle Punch Quilt Top Layout
Use the Quilt Top Layout as a guide to arrange your sets of star components as you would like them to look in your finished quilt top, creating 24 rows of 20 components each.
The sets of components for the three-quarter, half, and quarter stars will end up around the edges of the quilt top, making the whole thing rectangular.
When I was arranging my block components, I found it helpful to start near the center and work my way out to the sides until my composition was 20 components wide x 24 components high.
If you want to create more negative space in your composition (i.e. not fill it in entirely with stars) you can replace as many as you want of the star components with 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" squares of your negative space fabric. Just keep in mind that, if you want your quilt to finish at 60" x 72", you'll need to create a grid with 24 rows of 20 squares each.
Once you're happy with the layout, pull aside the 30 star components (5 wide x 6 high) in the lower right corner, making sure not to disrupt their arrangement.
Note: All seams are sewn with a quarter inch seam allowance and pressed open.
Sew the 5 components in each row together, and then sew the 6 rows together to make a block. This is Block 4D.
Repeat this process with the remaining star components, creating a total of 16 blocks, and making sure not to lose track of each block's placement in the overall composition. You may find it helpful to label the blocks 1A, 1B, 1C, and so on, as shown above.
Sew Block 1A to Block 1B to create a row. Sew Block 2A to Block 2B to create a second row and sew this row to the bottom of the first to create the Upper-Left Quadrant of the quilt top.
Sew Block 1C to Block 1D to create a row. Sew Block 2C to Block 2D to create a second row and sew this row to the bottom of the first to create the Upper-Right Quadrant of the quilt top.
Sew Block 3A to Block 3B to create a row. Sew Block 4A to Block 4B to create a second row and sew this row to the bottom of the first to create the Lower-Left Quadrant of the quilt top.
Sew Block 3C to Block 3D to create a row. Sew Block 4C to Block 4D to create a second row and sew this row to the bottom of the first to create the Lower-Right Quadrant of the quilt top.
Sew the Upper-Left Quadrant and the Upper-Right Quadrant together to make the Upper Half of the quilt top.
Sew the Lower-Left Quadrant and the Lower-Right Quadrant together to make the Lower Half of the quilt top.
Sew the Upper Half and the Lower Half together to finish the quilt top.
And that's it! Your quilt top if finished.
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The next quilt-along post, Making the Quilt Back, will be on January 25.
