Stellar Sampler

Last month we featured Eccentric Star but this month we go back a step to Friendship Star and several variations of it – including both Eccentric Star and Ribbon Star from last month. You can download a pdf with all the ideas and instructions here.

So first here is a reminder of what Friendship Star, Eccentric Star and Ribbon Star look like

And this is Friendship Star in a straight set quilt and then with two different colourings of sashing between the blocks and finally set alternately with Ribbon Star.

You could make a 3D variation of the block by using folded triangles for the star points – and even add a contrast colour that will show when the edge of the triangle is rolled back (the rolled back edge is orange, possibly should have done one with a greater contrast to show up here!)

We then played around with the corners of the block and came up with these and also a quilt with the Sawtooth variation to illustrate why we gave it that name.

Then finally – what happens if you make your Eccentric Star star points with a striped (or strip-pieced) fabric?

If you want to have a go at making any of these you can download the PDF with cutting and brief piecing instructions, including both templates and foundation piecing papers for the ‘ice-cream cone’ corners. If you need assistance with any of the units or techniques you can find information on our sister blog (Meadowside Designs) on the tutorials page.

March EQ Doodles

Yes, it is nearly April but we’ve only just noticed that the links for the March Doodles somehow escaped.

Our March block is the lovely Tulip of North Carolina

You can download your own Quilt to Colour and if you want to have a go at making a block, or even a quilt we also have 12inch templates to download.

Enjoy! April Doodles to follow fairly soon . . .

Another block to try

Here’s another “Not Block of the Month” for you to try – the free downloadable instructions are here.  This time we’ve chosen a simple traditional block, Goose Tracks, which looks good if made using just two fabrics  – this is the vintage black & white version from Barbara’s block collection –

Barbara made up her version using 4 fabrics – two closely-related main red prints and two backgrounds – putting more emphasis on the rectangles from the centre of the block.  

You can see on the right hand side above that Electric Quilt was it’s usual helpful self – Chris drew out the block and put it into one of our shared files (thank you DropBox!) and Barbara just selected the block size – 12 inches finished – and hit the print button for a complete set of rotary cutting instructions.

You could make various changes and substitutions in your version – let us know how what you decide to do!

Try this block

We’ve both been doing our fair share of chopping up fabric and stitching it back together again over the past couple of weeks.  So much so that during the course of one of our high level conferences at C&B HQ

we decided we would try a Not Block of the Month which would give us yet another reason to chop up even more fabric and stitch it back together.  Fuelled by further caffeine here’s our first offering, the State House block.  It really isn’t meant to be a Block of the Month, more of a Try This Block you might like it.  There is no further agenda, just the free downloadable instructions here.  Our other starting point was Barbara’s collection of vintage black and white blocks -here’s the original for your reference –

Barbara picked up some Moda fabrics that had been lying around hopefully on her cutting table since before Christmas and in a very short time had put the block together –

but it’s always fun to investigate the possibilities before committing to the “proper” arrangement …

– although looking at this last pic she wishes she’d slowed down a bit and made a better job of that 4patch unit!  Oops!!  (Probably had the music turned up too loud again – Chris)

So, it isn’t a competition or a sewalong and there’s no pressure, deadlines or any of that guilt-inducing stuff, just a simple versatile block – if you decide to make your own version do share it with us.