Stars Over Fairview Avenue Quilt-a-Long – Week Two

Por Bari Ackerman

Welcome to Week Two of the Stars Over Fairview Avenue Quilt-a-Long featuring Bari J. Fairview Avenue fabrics for Art Gallery Fabrics.

Week one can be found here. It is full of tips for cutting your fabrics.

This week we are making the center blocks.

This will involve making four-at-a-time flying geese units, economy blocks and then making the completed main center blocks. Next week we will sew all the blocks together.

I made this quilt very scrappy looking intentionally. But that means it's all easy to mix up. Keep referring to the quilt diagram as you piece your units together.

Download the Pattern

All of the instructions for actually making the blocks are in the pattern, which you can find here. And the individual pages of the pattern pertaining to these steps are pictured below.

Instagram Reels

On Instagram, you will find my latest reel (it will be posted at 9:45am on the 28th of January). It contains video of me making the Flying Geese Units. There will be a reel of the economy blocks on the 29th.

Making the quilt bigger

Someone did ask how to make this quilt bigger. It's easy! For every 12" finished main block you add, add two border blocks. And obviously, every block you add, means the quilt becomes 12" bigger. That's it!

This week's tips

All that said, this weeks tips will help you make precision easier (and more enjoyable) for you. Let's get started!

A note about consistent seams

Consistent seam allowance is just as important as accurate cutting — especially when working with Flying Geese, Economy and Star blocks where points need to line up cleanly.

A quarter inch foot is key

I highly recommend using a ¼” foot on your sewing machine. These feet give you a physical guide so your seam stays consistent from start to finish, instead of relying on eye-balling the needle position.

To keep seams consistent as you sew:

Let the edge of the fabric ride the foot, not the needle
Avoid pulling or pushing the fabric. Just guide it gently
Start with a few stitches, pause, and make sure everything is aligned before continuing
Chain piece when possible to maintain rhythm and consistency

Chain piecing is a sewing method where you stitch multiple fabric units one after another without cutting the thread between pieces. As one unit finishes, the next is fed directly under the presser foot, creating a “chain” of sewn pieces. More on that below.

If your seams are a hair off, don’t panic. Tiny variations are normal, and tools like the Wing Clipper and trimming steps are designed to bring everything back into alignment. Accuracy is built over the whole process, not from one perfect seam. I’ll also tell you here which bits I fudged and STILL got my points looking beautiful, when my accuracy was less than desired.

Chain Piecing (When I used it and when I decided it was a no-go!)

Chain piecing is a great time-saver, especially when you’re sewing repetitive units. Any time you’re making the same seam over and over again, chain piecing helps keep your stitching consistent and your process efficient.

In this project, I chain pieced the border pieces because there are two made with each fabric and easy to keep in order because they finish looking alike. It made the sewing go faster without adding any confusion.

For the center blocks, however, each block is different. Rather than chain piecing and risking pieces getting mixed up or rotated incorrectly, I chose to sew those units one at a time. Slowing down here helps keep everything organized and reduces the chance of mistakes.

There’s no rule that says you have to chain piece everything. The goal isn’t speed — it’s accuracy and clarity. Use chain piecing where it helps you, and skip it where it might create unnecessary stress. If you can keep the center blocks organized and chain piece, by all means, do so. I absolutely could not. Therefore, I chose organization first.

✨ Sewing smart always beats sewing fast.

Economy Block/Flying Geese/Sawtooth Star Assembly

If you’ve ever felt a tiny flutter of nerves when someone says Flying Geese, you are not alone. They’re one of those classic quilt units that look simple… until points start disappearing and seams feel a little bossy.

The good news? Today’s section of the quilt-a-long is all about tools, preparation, and a few small habits that make a huge difference. We’ll be using an easy technique to make Economy Blocks, then we will use the four-at-a-time method to make the Flying Geese unites and trim them using the Wing Clipper I. Last, we will combine the units to make our sawtooth star blocks.

The instructions in the pattern will walk you through the construction — but here are the why and how details that will help everything come together cleanly and confidently.

Why the Wing Clipper I Changes Everything

The Wing Clipper I is a specialty ruler designed to make accurate Flying Geese units quickly and consistently.

Flying Geese are inherently angular, which means accuracy matters. We are using the four at a time method which is widely used in quilting. And then the ruler I prefer, the Wing Clipper I, gives us two big advantages:

Consistent size every time
Built-in seam allowance that protects your points

Here’s how it works:

After your unit is sewn, it will be oversized.
You’ll then place the ruler on top of the sewn unit, lining up the markings with the finished size you want.
In the case of the Flying Geese for the main center blocks, the finished size is 3 ½” x 6 ½”.
Trim away the excess fabric on each side of the “goose” to get a perfectly sized unit.

The photo below shows me lining up a unit.

Even if your stitching isn’t mathematically perfect (whose is?), trimming with the Wing Clipper brings everything back into alignment. Think of it as precision with forgiveness — a combination I will always advocate for.

Matching Points Without Stress (Glue Basting to the Rescue)

When we start attaching Flying Geese to Economy Blocks, point matching becomes the star of the show—and this is where glue basting earns its keep.

How I use glue basting:

Place a thin line of elmer’s washable school glue with a fine tip (remember I said to get the glue tips from Cristy) at the seam intersection
Match points carefully and press with your fingers
Use a dry iron (no steam) to set the seam in place before sewing

That small thin line of glue does two powerful things:

It prevents shifting under the presser foot
It lets you sew calmly instead of wrestling fabric into submission

The fabric behaves. The points stay put. Everyone wins.

Tip: Once the seams are glued, use a heat erasable pen on the wrong side of the fabric to clearly show you exactly where to sew across the seam. I sew just under the point. Not too close that I cross over the point, but not too far away to end up with extra seam showing under the point. Do one on your machine then check your point. Once you see exactly where to sew, you’ll have perfect points every single time.

Press and Nesting Seams: Why this matters

Pressing is not just a finishing step—it’s part of construction.

Avoid ironing back and forth; instead, lift and press. This protects the bias edges in the Flying Geese and keeps everything crisp.

A few pressing principles for this section:

Press with steam to set each seam before pressing one way or the other
For Economy Blocks, I pressed the seams inward toward the center square
I pressed Flying Geese the opposite direction that I pressed the Economy Blocks so that I could easily nest the seams.

Note: Nesting seams is a technique where seam allowances from adjoining units are pressed in opposite directions. So they lock together when matched. Think of it like this: when you press to the left, for example, the bulk of that seam is toward that direction. When two seams are going the opposite directions the bulk is evenly distributed. That makes the pieces align more accurately and intersections stay crisp.

Nesting seams acts like a built-in guide as you sew, making it easier to keep units from shifting. Nesting, along with glue basting makes a winning combination.

This will apply also when you are sewing the entire block together:

You’ll see in the pattern that you will first sew a Flying Geese unit to each side of the Economy Block. Press the Flying Geese in towards the Economy Block.
You’ll then sew a square to the ends of the other two Flying Geese units.
Next you’ll sew the square/Flying Geese/square units to the Flying Geese/Economy Block/Flying Geese unit. Press these newly sewn units out toward the Flying Geese.

Nesting and glue basting every step of the way means you will be extremely pleased with your points! And, bonus … when you sew the block together and then the borders on, these will be much easier to match up as well!

A Note on Perfection (or Lack Thereof – I frankly prefer a lack of perfection every single time.)

Let me say this clearly:

✨ Perfect points are not the goal — confident construction and first and formost, developing a love of quilting is.

Tiny variations disappear when blocks are assembled, quilted, and loved. What does matter is developing habits that make quilting feel enjoyable rather than tense.

This week's post is about learning to trust your tools, your process, and yourself.

Up Next

Once your star blocks are complete, you’ll really start to see the rhythm of the quilt emerge — movement, balance, and that satisfying moment when all the geometry suddenly makes sense.

Take your time, enjoy the process, and I’ll meet you in the next step of the quilt-along.

Happy stitching,

Bari

Supplies

Click here for my favorite quilting supplies on Amazon. (Amazon link is an affliate link.) You can also find many of these at your local quilt shop.

I'm a huge proponent of glue basting. If you haven't already, I highly recommend getting a bottle of Elmer's washable school and my favorite glue tips from Cristy Fincher.

I support independent local quilt shops, both brick and mortar and online. I encourage you to shop local first. Therefore, I have listed shops by state and country. Happy quilting!

SHOPS THAT CARRY FAIRVIEW AVENUE (* - has kits)

UNITED STATES

CALIFORNIA:

COTTONEER FABRICS

CONNECTICUT:

COTTON CANDY FABRICS

IDAHO:

*OLIVE & ELLE QUILT CO (has kits)

LOUISIANA:

*SUMMER'S HAVEN STORE (has kits)

MISSOURI

GOLDEN GIRLS FABRIC CO