We discovered a way to distort blocks in EQ the other day and it seemed mean not to go and play with the Ohio Star blocks we’ve been messing about with the rest of the year.
Just a gentle distort of the star points to begin but then we gradually went more wild!
Not sure we would want to make any of them and the resulting quilts weren’t anything to write home about either – but we had a fun half-hour!
I’m still playing with EQ and Ohio Star blocks this month. Some time ago I made a couple of quilts putting smaller blocks into the plain corner and centre squares. When I made the second quilt I decided to turn the centre slightly and add four more stars.
But we could use Sawtooth stars – first putting them into an Ohio Star block
and then putting Ohio Stars into a Sawtooth Star (and turning the quilts on point as well).
But why stick with boring squares? You can make the block as a diamond instead
and use it in Baby (Tumbling) Blocks
You can always use one of the Ohio Star Variations and put lots together to make a really complicated looking quilt – these use a 3 x 3 setting of blocks to make quilts about 48 inches square
Or how about 8-Pointed Stars with Ohio Star blocks in the points? Changing the colours in the blocks, or putting 4-patches in the corners and centres, as for the Tumbling Blocks quilt, can change the look of the quilt
If you would like to play with diamond Ohio Stars you can download templates here. The Eight Pointed Stars will finish at about 50 inches square without a border and three Tumbling Block diamonds will make a unit 15.5 x 18 inches
Having messed about with Ohio Star by adding borders and/or different bits in the corners I then seriously messed with it by splitting up the triangles and then the centre square.
I’m not sure I would want to actually make many of these but there are some interesting possibilities here – especially if you change the colours. I’ve stuck with the default colours of the original block but it might have been better to play with colour as well as shapes – next winter perhaps when the sun isn’t shining and there aren’t so many jobs to do in the garden.
I haven’t given you any patterns for these but with the aid of squared paper it shouldn’t be too difficult to draft them for yourselves. If you get stuck drop me an email (I do check my mail every few weeks, just in case) and let me know which one you want and what size so I can ask EQ to come up with the cutting plan.
Looking back at some of the ‘messing about’ with EQ8 and Ohio Star a few ideas for adding things in the blank squares of the block came to light. The default Ohio Star block in the EQ library is this one
Adding different elements to just the corner squares we get these (although there’s scope for more, which we’re sure you will find). You can download some cutting instructions for these variations here.
And then turning them into quilts produced these
Sashing helps to separate the blue star points and making cornerstones the same colour as the added bits increases the illusion of another star. Piecing and colouring the sashing would perhaps aid this further.
This week sees the final star block (for now) as next week the Summer Mystery will start – on Wednesday July 1st. The Needs List is available here and you can read a little more in the post here.
This block is called Castor and Pollox (these are the ‘twin stars’ in the Gemini constellation) and is probably best cut out with templates and then hand-pieced. You can download the templates for a 12 inch block here.
The block looks quite different with a dark background
And the difference when put into a 4 x 4 straight-set quilt is even more noticeable
I then had a little fun with the Electric Quilt magic wand and randomly recoloured the quilts to see what difference the brightness of the stars made or the changes in background –
But what about adding sashing between those blocks?
Or putting them on point? First with partial blocks in the corners and sides
Then with plain blocks at the sides and corners
And then with just a central medallion on point
You can download a quilt to colour and play with here.
There are quite a few blocks called Blazing Star so this week we will look at a few of them. But before that, there’s this block – called Star and Dot it is, if you like, the precursor to the Blazing Star family of blocks.
It is made from four triangles rather than squares which means you can have a bit of fun with the colouring –
which makes a difference to the look of the quilt
You can download the templates to make an 8inch block here and a quilt to colour here.
My next block actually is called Blazing Star and you see that it is closely related to the Star and Dot block.
and when put in a quilt looks a bit like this –
It does look a lot like the Star and Dot quilt. What would happen if you made the inner split star from lighter fabrics and the outer star from a darker one?
You can download the templates to make an 8inch Blazing Star block here and a quilt to colour here.
If the outer star points are split then you get another block called Blazing Star (sometimes) or Flaming Star among many other names.
If all those points meeting makes you feel dizzy – you can always add sashing between the blocks – problem solved!
You can download the templates to make an 8inch Flaming Star block here and a quilt to colour here.
If you fancy a further challenge: Nancy Cabot took the Flaming Star block and made the star points narrower – and then called it Blazing Star
This is what the quilt would look like (without sashing)
And you can download the templates to make an 8inch block here and a quilt to colour here.
As for making the inner star in pastels –
Not so sure about that rust fabric when it is more prominent!
The Swamp Angel block is a variation on the Ohio Star. Generally speaking it is coloured so that the star shows and the corner triangles can make a secondary pattern.
But you could colour it quite differently – forget that it is a star and just colour the shapes and look what happens.
Then you can put several together to make a quilt. Who would have thought that this was a Swamp Angel block quilt?!
Download a quilt to colour for yourself here. If you fancy making the block then you can download the rotary cutting instructions for a six inch block or for a 9 inch block.
This block is just called Two Colours according to Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia which seems a shame – it looks as if it could do with Star in there somewhere.
The original block is a sort of 8-Pointed Star with lots of set-in seams which is fine for handstitching but a little trickier when machining and you can download the templates to make a 12 inch block here.
However it is the work of moments to add a few extra seam lines to make a block that is easy to rotary cut and easy to machine piece – and the rotary instructions can be downloaded here.
It also gives opportunities for different colourings too.
Put in a quilt (with alternate blocks coloured as ‘rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul’ it can look quite acceptable.
But then . . . what if . . . ? We add another few seams and turn those corner squares into triangles? Download the rotary cutting instructions for this variation here.
And then put that block into a quilt?
Want to have a play yourself? Download a ‘quilt to colour’ here – print it out lots of times and have fun adding lines and changing the block around. What else could you put in those corner squares?
A long time ago (2012?) Barbara (Chainey) and I taught this star at one of our ChrisandBarbara evening classes. We then did some blog posts about it and they have been some of our most viewed posts ever. We still get enquiries about the pattern now.
You can download the templates to make an 8 inch block here and the original worksheet from our class here.
But what about a quilt? You can have fun with the colouring – two different backgrounds perhaps, or mix the colours up in alternate blocks, or put the blocks on point . . .
Download a quilt to colour for yourself here.
There is a pattern to make a Christmas table runner using a variation of this star, adapted for foundation piecing, available over on the Meadowside Designs Payhip shop – currently yours for only 50p!
Come back tomorrow for a needs list for the Summer Mystery starting in July – giving you plenty of time (hopefully) to raid your stash or contact your local quilt shop for a top-up of essentials via the postman.
Another week, another star. This week it is the Interwoven Star block – the name obviously coming from the fact that the star points appear woven together at the centre.
You can colour the block in a variety of ways – just one colour family and a range of lights and darks; on a dark background or a light background (that can really change the look of a block).
You can make it multi-coloured as well.
There are lots of tricky angles in this star block – so it can’t be rotary cut unfortunately. But you can download the templates or the foundations to make a 12 inch block. It isn’t difficult to make once the pieces are cut – just remember to make it as four large triangles rather than the squares that we usually do.
But what about quilts? Here are the blocks in the three colourways above and just straight-set.
But if you flip (ie stitch a mirror image of half the blocks) then you can get quite a different pattern.
And you can play with colour and settings yourself if you download the colouring sheet – cut it up, glue it back together again or just sit and colour – print it out as many times as you wish and just play.
Advance notice – only a few more weeks of stars. Starting in July will be a Mystery quilt sew-along. One ‘clue’ each week on a Tuesday. We’ll let you know what you will need once we’ve worked it out, but think scraps!
meadowside-designs 