Hi friends!
Today in our Exploring the Basics post, Tammy and I are chatting about star blocks!
I love star blocks, don’t you? There are so many different star blocks in the quilt world- it would be hard to chat about all of them!
I am going to share about just a few different star blocks so we can look at the what units you can use to create stars!
Half Square triangle (HST) star blocks
Some star blocks start with HST units. One that comes to mind is a simple block called the Friendship Star.
The block is a 9 patch using squares and HST units.
Now of course, you can always tweak a block and add a little something extra like Tammy and I did in the A Road Trip quilt- check out Tammy’s post to see how we tweaked it!
A Pinwheel block also uses HST units. Another easy basic quilt block that looks great!
Need information on making HST units? Click here for my blog post with tips!
Quarter Square Triangle (QST) units
A 9 patch block that uses QST units is the Ohio Star block.
A wonderful, traditional quilt block that might look complicated but really isn’t; it’s just squares and QST units!
Need QST tips? Click here for my blog post.
Flying Geese (FG) Star blocks
FG units are great building blocks for stars. A popular quilt block that uses FG units is the Sawtooth Star.
This block is also called Evening Star and Variable Star.
I used a variation of that block in my quilt Crossroads.
Want tips on making FG units? Click here for my blog post on them!
Quilts
Tammy and I have created a few quilt patterns together and all of them include stars!
In our quilt Luminous, the blocks all use HST units, or QST units or FG units or a combination of units!
In Novalie, we took one of the blocks, changed the size, recolored it, cropped it and exploded it! It went through quite a transformation!
For Astria, we took a block and kept adding elements to it to create different versions of the main block.
So while some of these quilts may look difficult, if you know how to make HST units, QST units and FG units- you can make easy and complicated star blocks!
Tammy is chatting about some different star blocks so be sure to click here and head over to her post to check it out!
I would love to know- what is your favorite star block? Tell me in the comments!
Next week in the A Quilter’s Alphabet series, Tammy and I are up to the letter R! See you then!
happy quilting!
Kate
I belong to the Darting Needles Quilt Guild and I am looking forword to your zoom lecture Thursday.
Warmly, Toni Reh
I’ve always liked the friendship star block. My next stop is to check out that pattern!
Kathleen,
Me too! So glad you liked the quilt!
What is the pink and black fabric from the large star in the Stella quilt pattern? I have to have it!!
Shari,
I know, right? So pretty! Sorry to say, it is actually a line from a few years ago called Petal and Plume by Bari J for Art Gallery.