Flying String Stars

Strings are among the humblest of scraps.  Long skinny strips of fabric of random width get tossed into the bottom of scrap baskets and forgotten.  With a little time and effort they can be turned into fabric again.  That fabric can be pressed flat and cut into any shape.  I wanted to turn my strings into stars using flying geese made from 2.5 inch strips.  These geese are 4.5 inches long, so I squared my strings to squares of this size.  I used my GO cutter, but before I had this nifty tool I used a simple square up ruler and it worked just fine. 
If you don't have strings (or don't save them), think about using 1.5 inch strips for this pattern.  You could use 2 or 2.5 inch squares as well by just increasing the size of the square and the geese.  I've seen similar stars done with postage stamps in the middle as well as crumbs or novelty prints. 

Step 1: Collect together all your blue strings.  Don't they look like pretty blue spaghetti?
Step 2: Choose 2 strings that are about the same length, make sure at least one edge of each is straight.  Place the straight edges right side together and sew using a standard seam.
Step 3: Choose another string the same length or cut a longer string down to this size.  Sew it onto the original strings, again with right sides together.  Continue until your strings are about 6 inches in width. 
Step 4: Iron all the seams in the same direction and make sure your string fabric is nice and flat.
Step 5: Use a bias square ruler or similar tool to cut out squares that are 4.5 inches large.  This can be done with the strings running from side to side or diagonal.
Step 6: Prepare flying geese units using your favorite method.  I chose a companion angle and easy angle ruler in order to cut both portions from 2.5 inch strips.  The white geese will form the background and the blue portions will serve as the star points.
Step 7: Add 4 2.5 inch squares of background fabric and sew the subunits together as you would for a nine patch.  Notice the orientation of the flying geese in the picture. 

The string fabric can be cut into any shape.  I also made a diamond star using a different GO die. There were a lot of seams in the middle so next time I think I'll alternate strings with plain blocks so that they will lie flat.