Keeping with my commitment to reduce my pile of UFOs, the next quilt top to load onto my longarm is my red and blue star top. The block is known as Star Of The East or Virginia Star.
I found the block in Jinny Beyer’s Quilter’s Album of Blocks & Borders and since her books do not provide patterns, I calculated the size of each piece so that I could rotary-cut strips for fast sewing. The star blades were made with a basic strip-pieced technique using rotary cuts on a 45-degree angle. The cranberry-red triangles and squares were all set-in pieces. A total of 12 blocks were made, and each block measures 18-inches. Each star block uses a different combination of blue cotton prints (there are about 20 different fabrics in this quilt top). The star blocks were machine-stitched together into this quilt top waaaay back in 1984 when I was pregnant with my second-born son, Ryan. (It sure has been folded up for a long time!)
The fabrics in this quilt include some of Jinny Beyer’s and Jeff Gutcheon’s first cottons, as well as some VIP and Joan Kessler prints. After I made this top, I had about 4 yards of the cranberry-red Cranston cotton print remaining. I am glad that I have held onto that fabric because I will use some in a wide outer border.
I plan to custom quilt this one, so I’ll need to design a large quilting motif for the open sections between the stars.
August 23, 2008 at 8:49 am
The color combination is stunning
August 26, 2008 at 10:04 am
Wow, what a beautiful block! After visiting your state, I applaud your Virginia Star quilt…great block, great state!