I did something a little different for this week’s blocks. I didn’t have a lot of time last weekend, so I cut the pieces for each block out in advance and had all the pieces on the design wall ready to sew. I did this, because I thought I might have a few minutes here and there to see, but really I only had various bits of time to cut. I didn’t have any sewing time until late in the day on Friday. I am not sure if cutting in advance made any difference.
I added in the Michael Miller teal dot fabric, which I also used on the sewing machine cover I made a couple of years ago. I needed some more dots and I really wanted to use this fabric in a quilt I could admire regularly.
At least I thought I cut all the pieces! Part way through I realized that I still needed to cut out the last star.
Aunt Addie’s Star looks a little backgroundy to me, but I think it will be ok. What does “Backgroundy” mean? I think it means that that big square in the center gives a look of a lot of background and not too much star. I think it is fine, but I will have to look at it in context and see if I need to make others with more background or that see through look. One of the Rising Stars has background in the center.
I do have all the stars on my design wall and think they are looking fine together.
The Taj Mahal Star will go really well with the Austin Star from last week. It has, as you can see, the same kind of corner treatment. I need to find one more block or make another one of these two so the quilt looks on balance. I like, as I have said before, to use threes – three of the same blocks, three pieces of the same fabric, three design elements, etc to make the quilt look right. You can use 5 or some other odd number, but I use three as my starting point. I am pretty sure I talk about this concept in more depth in the Design Series. Perhaps the episode on Balance?
Finally, I made the Square in a Square Star. While I was cutting for it, I was thinking of the green dot I talked about in the last post about the Star Sampler. I decided to use it in the center of this star. I wanted to make sure that there was enough of it in the quilt so one or two pieces didn’t look weird. It works GREAT, because it is enclosed and not touching the background.
I also like the Square in a Square pattern. I think it looks really good in the Sawtooth Star format.
I finished all the blocks on Saturday and started cutting for the next Basic Star.
TFQ has already selected blocks for Week 4, so I need to get going on those.
Also, take a look at the original Quilt-a-long instructions. You can see all of my posts on this topic by searching the tag “Star Sampler.”
I love the backgroundy Aunt Addie’s star! The points will be twinkling when you put it with the others. And I also like the 1/4 square triangles as points, it makes it interesting! I agree with you on the square in a square, I love that center! And the green dot fabric looks great with the others, it makes the block bright. I’m really liking this project!:)
Thanks, Kati! It is good to hear when people are seeing what I am seeing.
I think the piecing in the corners of the Taj Mahal Star works better than the plain corner patch on the Austin Star.
I did this week’s blocks last night – they go together pretty quickly. Looking at them, I am starting to think of block variations that aren’t on our block sheet — a variation on the Chevron Star, for example. I’ll send you a sketch.
Can’t wait to see your block variations. I think the piecing does work better.