At the risk of repeating myself, I make the same afghan and use an E hook and make mys stitches real tight. You could also try a D hook. I also leave very long tails to whip stitch the bottom rows only in the points together--makes it neater. Then I steam them flat and shape them at the same time. I place them on the field wrong side up. I pin the stars in place using long corsage pins or quilting pins. I place the stars so closely that the tips on neighboring stars are placed within the next star's points a little. And I stitch them on with ecru sewing thread. It looks good when done.

Thanks, I'll try that with the tails next time. I just cut the tail off and stiched the star at random with heavy weight thread and a big flat pointed sewing needle. On the back where the thread showed I took a blue marker and colored the thread. It was ok but could've been neater looking. Do the stars stay on by just tacking the points? I thought of doing that but thought in time they would buckle up. Think I'll try that for the next one. It won't be soon though. I didn't have fun tacking those 50 stars.lol! I tried to talk him into just the round 13 stars but he didn't go for it. lol! He took it to the shop to show the secretaries so it made me feel good that he thought it was good enough to show off. Thanks for your help.