the star stitch
I love the classic star stitch, especially because there is no tricky “batting weaving” involved: it’s kind of like treading water in place, but with a running stitch (emphasis on “kind of”).
To start, grab your needle and thread; I like to use a Sashiko needle and cotton 12wt thread. Bury your knot as you normally would for quilting, bringing your needle up to where you want the center of the stitch to be.
Make your first stich (for the sake of example on the diagram below it’s to “3 o’clock”). Come back to the front of the quilt at the center.
Take your second stitch directly opposite your first (to “9 o’clock” in the diagram). Come back to the front of the quilt at the center.
Repeat until you’ve made the eight “arms” of the star. You can go in whatever order makes the most sense to you: I like to do “3 o’clock” first, then “9 o’clock”, “12 o’clock”, and “6 o’clock” before filling in the rest of the arms (generally in a haphazard order). By making a cross along the perpendicular, I find it makes it easier to fill in. But that’s just how my brain works, you do you!
This stitch is super easy to riff on: make the odd arms longer or shorter, or double down and do 16 “arms”. Just twinkle-twinkle and shine bright!
