18" Illinois Star Quilt Block

So, I'm mildly obsessed with Carol Doak's 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Stars.  I found it at our local library, and promptly decided that I needed to make something like 75% of the quilt blocks.  Ali wisely suggested that maybe I should pare this stupid ambitious plan down, so I'm starting with just one block  for my picnic/sampler quilt.  That block is the Illinois block (all of the 50 stars pick up a state name from the book).

Illinois Quilt Block

This one gave me a bit more grief than the last square; someday I'm going to just accept the fact that there will be a ton of fabric that goes to waste when paper piecing.  I currently try to use small scraps and inevitably have to unpick and resew everything when my fabric doesn't have enough overlap.  Someday, I may even learn which corners have to match when I'm sewing large sections of the block together.  That day will be an awesome, awesome day.

Even with all of my mistakes, this block still is my (new) favorite.  Do I say that every block?  Regardless, this thing is gorgeous.

Only two 12" squares until I get to make all the easy, little blocks.