For the longest time, this block felt about as unreachable as the North Star.

At one point before starting the block, I’d written down “The White Whale” as a possible blog article title, but I decided pretty quickly that this was not the literary allusion I was going for. Rather than obsessively pursuing a white whale of a block, I was more into obsessively avoiding the block based on its fearsome reputation.

Procrastination is kind of my thing, but I outdid myself dragging my feet on this block. Harrowing tales of other quilters had me really afraid to even get started. But the quilt wasn’t going to be done until I tackled this beast of a block, so I decided to just go for it.

Up to this point, I’ve only used the Avery label technique on triangle blocks, but if there was ever an opportunity to use it on a square block, this seemed like the one. Both the tiny pieces on the center star and the odd shapes of the larger star points called out for the kind of precision piecing you can only get with pattern pieces attached directly to the fabric.

So, feeling thankful for that long-ago suggestion from fellow Dear Jane quilter Linda, I printed out the pattern pieces on Avery label paper and got to work.

It would have been a great time to dig into my scrap tin and use up some of the leftover scraps from the previous yard of red fabric. Unfortunately, I started this block on vacation, throwing my supplies in my suitcase at the last minute and not packing the tin, so all those tiny pieces were cut out of yardage.

The center star is 1” from point to point, and there’s a lot of stuff crammed into that square inch. I had my Avery labels to increase precision, but I was also concerned about reducing bulk in any way I could.

To this end, I planned my route through the pieces so I could start attaching the next piece at the same spot I finished attaching the previous piece:

This way I minimized the number of thread knots that might bulk up that square inch. You know you’re working in miniature when the width of a thread knot threatens to derail your project!

Even with all these measures, there is a lot of fabric, thread, and Avery label stuffed in that square inch (at least the Avery labels come out at the end):

Next I sewed those red “filler pieces” around the center star. From the pattern pieces, it looks like there is technically a need for a set-in seam, so it was not totally clear where to start.

I ended up starting with the filler piece at the top. It is longer than the center star so that it can overlap with the piece on the right, but that was the shortest overlap between the four filler pieces, so it seemed like it would be the easiest to deal with.

I made sure to line up the left edge of the filler piece with the left edge of the center star. Once that top filler piece was attached, I added the filler piece on the left, then the bottom, and finally, the filler piece on the right.

Since the overlap between the top and the right filler pieces is approximately 1/16”, I decided I could probably get away with not even stitching that overlap closed. The two pieces would be held together on the other end of that tiny gap when they were sewn to the pieces of the outer star.

The final hurdle of this block was the outer star points; they look enough alike that it’s easy to get them mixed up and put them in the wrong spots in your block.

So, before cutting out the outer star points, I marked on each Avery label piece where it went using compass directions (e.g. this is the NW point), to make it easier to keep all the pieces in the right places.

The Avery labels made the outer star construction a breeze – in fact, the construction of the entire block was far less daunting than expected when done with this technique. The dreaded G6 block was not so insurmountable after all.

Fresh off the success of this block, I quickly knocked out sashing on two blocks, plus 18 triangle motifs on the rainbow quilt, to meet the UFO Challenge goal for December:

I’m relieved to have finally tackled this block, and pleased to not be facing the challenge alone. Instead of just one North Star, I’m being guided on my Dear Jane journey by Linda (of Avery label fame!) and thousands of other fellow quilters.