The results of a six-day journey through the technique, and I wanted to post the final results of my beginning experiment. You will see two blocks that I jeery-rigged to make something similar to the same size, which none of them are, but more on that later ... for now, peruse my samples, which I have placed three by three for ease of transmission, and note that I placed them in the same direction so that you could follow the colors through the path ... though, none of the blocks are probably in their original position ... shall we begin? (There are six pictures in all, since for some reason, I ended up with 16 blocks!)

And, the last ... wanted to point out that I began with a twelve-inch piece of fabric ... 15 of them - - well, actually, I guess 16 pieces. Each of the joins, not having that 1/4 inch seam allowance started eating up the fabric ... and, I am guessing that my final size will be nine inches ... but, consider this! I can create further differences by that angle I start making the first straight cut ... I would do this again, I just have to figure out on this one if I want to put a sashing between each other.

Did you find the one that had two of the same fabrics in it, in two places?
That is what happened after I shuffled the deck, and before I figured out how to add fabric to a piece that had been too small, that I didn't know was too small before I started shuffling ... when I came to the second piece that was too small, I put it on the bottom of the whole pile ... viola! two of the same fabric in one block ... when I came to the third pile that had the same problem, I just left it, figuring if nothing else, I could use it as seed on a doll quilt or something ... and, then I came up with the jeery-rigging (is that how you spell that word?) ... but, I have looked and looked, I do not find any that are exactly alike. Keep in mind that even though I didn't have fifteen pieces in each stack, I only had ten stacks to shuffle, I shuffled every one of them, and ... it worked - - I do not have any two that are exactly alike ... some have fabric another doesn't have, but ... you get the idea <g>
And, I am seriously just considering turning the blocks on each other ... the sashing would not add to the mystique I am thinking .
Have a good time, kids! <wave>

I don't know when I am going to remember that H on the end of your name, but I wanted to encourage you in your using up the scraps quest.
One of the things I have found helpful is to immediately take the scraps from a project and start another one. Of course, I like really scrappy, so I dont care if colors clash ... and, if I have to think about where to put which pieces, I get so stymied that I just might as well quit!
Maybe I am afraid that if I use up all of my scraps, I will forget how to make a real quilt! And, so I buy lots of whole pieces because I want to someday make a scrap quilt that has all the same background ... I feel drawn to the churn dash .. and, I saw a book about making scrap quilts, probably should have even bought it, when the cover showed nine patches, where each nine patch was matched, but the neighbor was different ... instead, I goof off on something else <g>.
Are you familiar with these two sites:
http://quilterscache.com/

http://quiltville.com/

the second one especially is a good scrap organizer and stash buster ... she has a whole ring of like-minded talent, so there are lots of links.
I will be watching <g>

Good Job Omak...I can not believe the time and effort you put into this...
And even though you had to do all the cutting and sorting, and still didn't get the star...I do like what you achieved...

I finished the first part of my project with the first set of stars...
The key to this was to start with 12 fabrics...and that way you get 11 different fabrics in each square...and I only had to do FIVE cuts...

I am going to try to post pictures...so we will see if this works...

2nd photo

3rd photo

4th photo

5th photo

I thought you weren't supposed to sew them after cutting? ( I mean until you do all the cutting) Don't you do all the cutting first? I bought a pattern called pointless wonder ..I did it years ago..I should get that out? you make a star doing this and I thought you just cut rearranged fabric and then sewed them all together? maybe you are doing something else? I have no idea.

6th photo

7th photo

Charismah...

This is what I wanted..the stack and wack....
the five cuts with 11 different fabrics...
And I could not find the pattern or the shuffle process...
I was calculating with 11 fabrics..which did not work..had to use 12..

well it looks perfect! mine were a bit different but the same kind of look....it will be a great quilt and now you are done with the blocks! hurray!

I GET it!
I am going to do that next!
In my process, I did all my cuts first, and then shuffled and then sewed it all back together.
What Sno did, now makes sense to me, and it sure looks like he PROVED his theory ... so, now we have TWO ways to do the same thing, but ... sno! are you going to post all twelve blocks that you got? So we can see for sure?
I know ...
oh, ye, of little faith!
however, I don't see why it wouldn't work ... so, in short ... cut one, take the smaller piece, move one piece to the bottom of the deck ... sew both pieces together ...
Make second cut, move two of the smaller pieces to the back, sew both back together ...
Make third cut, move THREE of the smaller pieces to the back ...
when you consider that I was working with FIFTEEN different fabrcis (well, 16, then!) I only made enough cuts to create TEN stacks ... so the most I ever shuffled were ten stacks ... not all of the fabric, and still ended up with 16 different blocks ...
So, tomorrow, I am at Workday at the Post, so nothing will get accomplished on this front ... but, on Wednesday, I most certainly will do this star thing ...
and, yes, Charismah ... I do believe that Sno is making a pointless wonder star ... but, since he can't remember the name of the pattern he was seeing ...
If I knew where MY pattern was, I would drag it out, but I never hold my breath of finding what I am looking for, unless it was just misplaced in the last five minutes.
I can hardly wait until WEDNESDAY!!!
Thanks for your pictures, Sno ... this has been a fun challenge ...

By the way!
You really nailed that contrasting color thing.
Good job!

whew!!! Now my brain REALLY itches!! :roll:

Is that a good itch? Or is there something you aren't quite catching ... are you lost? Where do you get lost?
Or is it that you want to know a why it works? That, I can't tell you! But you have seen the results, correct? Somewhere there is a math person or something who will come along and explain how/why it works ...
Until that time, how can we help you work this magic?

Now for the final quilt center .... 36x36 considering what to do to make it bigger .... square does not suit human form, unless human is baby ... and, I can't seem to find anything baby baby about this quilt ...
TA DAH!

First of all I am a girl...not a he....
And yes I can post all 12 stars..so you can see that done of the fabrics repeated...

Your quilt is very fall like...sew a border around it, and make it a table cloth...it is very cute....

I am not making a quilt with my stars...
I make holiday bags each year for my nieces...I have always have sewn something very traditional and this year I wanted something cute and bright...and different...

Well, gee whiz! I don't know where I got the idea that you were a "he" ... but, I apologize!
What a clever idea! And, just think! You can do lots of shapes different ... and, I learned a whole lot ...
I took the quilt to Workday at the Post today, and my ninety year old friend, took one look at it and said, and LOOK! Not any of the blocks are alike!
I am trying to figure out how to get color placements, contrasts with sixteen or twenty different fabrics ... I want a bigger quilt <g> ... nothing greedy about me, eh?
I never looked at the quilt as in fall theme, but if that is the case, and I think you are pretty accurate about that ... then I can figure out all sorts of borders to do to make it into a lap robe ... Thank you! <wave>

My mind is still spinning over how you made the star blocks with so few cuts...it looks great, bright and beautiful :D :D :D
So next week I will have to give it a try following your pictures...sometimes that is the only way I can get it LOL just to jump in and do it!!!

omak, I love your quilt center!!! It will look awesome as a fall lap quilt 8) 8) 8)

Thank you both for sharing this pattern and it's variations with us!!!

It HAS been fun, hasn't it? <g>

I'm pretty sure my head is going to explode trying to follow this link!!!!

yeah, right ... only because you are trying to figure out when you get to try it for yourself! Knowing you as I do, you will be showing us something that will absolutely give a whole new meaning to the word "try" ...

Just had a thought ...
if we use the technique that Sno used, we can cut smaller blocks! It is one thing to cut a 1.5 triangle and shuffle the stack and then sew it back together, but!
If you start with a seven inch piece of fabric, follow her example, we could make teeny tiny little stars! Maybe I will try that! Just to see how little the stars could be! cool!

I think I made a mistake when I interpreted what Sno did.
I said - - third cut, move three of the smaller pieces to the bottom ...
Went back and read Sno's comments, and think that what was actually said was:
stack twelve fabrics
make first cut ... take smaller top piece, move to back of pile, sew together
make second cut ... take smaller top piece (ONE PIECE) and move to bottom ...
one piece moved to the bottom of the stack, always the smaller of the two (so that you aren't switching back and forth between bigger and smaller) ... after each cut.
sorry for any confusion ... has everyone got their itching about to explode heads back to normal yet?
shucky darn! Y'all don't know what "normal" is, right??? LOL

okay ... so, this is truly a story on what colors NOT to use, and these are squared to 9.5" ... I tried just shuffling the top ONE after each cut ... but, that didn't work ... and, twice, you will see that I didn't catch on to the fact that in two blocks I had duplicate fabrics ... I am going to make the teeny tiny little stars next, JUST to see if it can be done!

and the rest:

the last, I promise!
One of the things I noticed right away about this process is: Less cutting, fewer scraps, more square left ... out of all the trimming on these blocks (however many there are) ... I had eight pieces of strips, none more than six inches long that measured at least an inch .... not nearly as much waste with Sno's technique as the one I was trying to promote.

any pointers on color selection would be appreciated.

wow, beautiful Omak!

im already confused, think ill stick to cut and sew,lol,

Does anyone know how to calculate: if I want a 12 1/2" unfinished block, what size pieces do I start with? Like, 14" (that's just a wild guess). If I want a 9 1/2" unfinished block, what size pieces do I start with? I think you get what I mean. Thanks in advance for any help.

I have been looking for a pattern similar to this. the star is the same but rather then having all different colors I am looking for a positive negative effect. For instance I would have two quilts, one with all dark background and lite stars and one with dark stars and lite background. I am not sure this can be done with the shuffling method. The shuffling method, assigning each piece a number and placing them under the pile according to number, i.e. one goes under pile, for number two you would place two pieces under the pile, three three pieces etc should work.
I hope I haven't confused you.
Good luck

Wow. cool. I really like it.

I looked at the link on p1, and only read p1 of the thread.

Has anyone suggested using 7 fabrics instead of 11?

so, all the background would be 1 fabric?

You need a math person for this. I would just start with a sample square, muslin or paper and see what size {after sewing} a finished square would be or if you are worried about sashing and borders wait until the blocks are done and size them to the size block you have.

I like your blocks. A doll quilt with small stars would be awesome. The seam allowances might have to be smaller then a quarter inch. Thanks for sharing your idea and good luck.

I love your string quilt. I have a lot of strips sewn together but haven't had the nerve to cut into squares yet. Thanks for the motivation. I have seen the star quilt made in red white and blue fabrics but it was a long time ago so don't remember how they were arranged.

I like it. With sashing between the blocks it will pull it together and look great!