Hi everybody! I have had a request to put my Star Block drawings on here, so here they are. There are a few other blocks mixed in to. Hope you like these ideas. Some came from Quilter's Cache, some from magazines, and I made a few.

The first 6 are done on a "Planning Pad" that I got at Wal Mart. I like to use it better than the regular Grid/graft paper, as the lines are plenty dark enough to see, (darker than they look in these pictures), but not so dark like in the last 2 pictures. On them I used grid paper that I used when I was still doing Cross Stitch and Plastic Canvas. I made alot of my own patterns then too.

Enjoy!
Marilyn

Wow, thanks for posting these, they are so cool.

You did a lot of work there. Thanks.

Marilyn, thank you SO much! I've been hankering for some new things to try, but didn't want to commit to paper piecing just yet. These are just the ticket. Thanks for being so generous and sharing your designs!

Those are so cool. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you everybody! I'm glad that you like them.
Marilyn

Thanks for sharing these with all of us

Thank you for sharing. These are fantastic!

That is a great display! I have a question about making stars. What do you do to keep the points when you stitch a star block into a seam? I would love to make a star quilt, but until I can learn how to not loose the points, it is out of the picture. I can make the ones in Alex Anderson's book, "keep quilting." Those use flying geese, and those were okay for me when I was practicing once.
Send me a pm when you have a minute, please.
Marta

Thank you for taking the time to do such a wonderful job designing these. I'll make you my designer any day :thumbup:

Hi Marta,
Just sent you a long PM. Hope it helps. Write again if I can help.
Marilyn

Thanks, great designs!

Thankyou for posting, alot of time went into those. Appreciate all your efforts.

WOW, that's alot of work. Thank you so much for sharing your patterns and ideas.

that is awesome! Thanks so much.

thanks for sharing. Is it ok if we print this and use them?

Yes, of course. Some of the patterns came from Quilter's Cache, so if you go there, they have the complete free patterns. You can do a search for them by name or there is an alphabetical order list of all the names.

Marilyn

Love your stars. Thank-you for sharing the patterns.

Tell us all, lol, we want to know too!!!

Tell us all, lol, we want to know too!!! About the points on the stars, that is.

Are you serious? I probably wouldn't be much help.

thank you so much for posting those. Penny

Thanx. These are great. Lots of beautiful stars in one place!

You all are quite welcome. Glad you like them.
Marilyn

I just posted some pictures of some of these blocks that I did. Just my favorites, to show you what some of them would look like when they are made up. Here's a link to that post.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-42307-1.htm#949348

Hope you like them.
Marilyn

Marilyn, Great patterns. Now I have to get up the courage and try on of them. I usually keep to the simple things, but want to expand my expertie on different patters.....thanks again for greatl patterns.

Wow, indeed, thank you so much for sharing. I had no idea there were so many styles to the star.

Beautiful!. Thank you for putting this together and sharing it with us. I will have so much fun with these patterns!

Marilyn, thanks for posting these drawings. You are awesome! Are you going into pattern making? You should! You could get more quilting money! LOL Thanks for sharing! :lol: :mrgreen:

Thank you very much! I am thinking about designing some quilts and blocks and seeing about selling my patterns. I made the Carpenter's Star pattern that is here under tutorials, and the Field of Diamonds pattern. I also made the Missouri Star that is shown here, but I made a regular pattern out of it as I don't PP.

I have made patterns for things for the past 20 years. I have designed my own patterns in knitting, crocheting, macrame, and plastic canvas. I just started quilting a year and a half ago and have already been making my own patterns in quilting too.
Do you think my patterns would actually sell???

Thanks for the compliments and the vote of confidence. My daughter says the same thing. I talked to her Friday and she wants to design me a website of my own to show and sell my quilts and patterns, do tutorials, etc. We're going to go for it!
Thanks again!

Marilyn

Yes, I definitely think your patterns would sell! I agree with your daughter - go for it!!!!! Let us know here on the Board when you get your website up and running! Will be looking forward to that! Good luck!

I love your ideas too!! I am going to be making a quilt for my daughter who lives in Ohio, and thought I'd like to use your Ohio Stars. Since you are going to be selling your patterns, do you want me to buy them, rather than use the ones you posted?

Hi wildyard. Thank you! No, anyone can use the ones that I posted. But next time I make a pattern like my Carpenter's Star or something, I'm going to try to sell it. Wish me luck!
I'm really glad you love my ideas. I really appreciate it when I know that people like my ideas and patterns. Enjoy the patterns.

Marilyn

Hi wildyard! I'm not sure that this will help alot, but this is what I have told others.


When I make my stars I try to keep all my points too. First of all, make sure that you sew a steady 1/4" seam so that when the block is made, you have your 1/4" seam allowance from the points. I've had to rip out some seams and re-sew them to get them right.

Then when I am sewing the blocks together, I put a pin through the point (back to front of material) then match it to the point on the front of the other star, (front to back) so the right sides are together. Then, leaving the pin in place and level,
not tipped up or down or sideways, which would make it off when you sew it, put another pin in about 1/8" to the right of the original pin to hold together for sewing. Then you can remove the first pin. When sewing, sew just past the star points before you remove the "holding" pin, so they can't move
before they are sewn.

You can also as I sometimes do, after pinning the pieces together, tack the points together with needle and thread. Then you can look at it and make sure the points are still there before sewing.

I hope this helps.

Marilyn

When sewing, sew just past the star points before you remove the "holding" pin, so they can't move before they are sewn. Quote.

Thanks, I find your explanation very clear and helpful!! When I get to that part of my "to do" list, I will know just how to do it. Smiles.

Hi wildyard! I'm so glad that this helps. I wasn't sure if it would or if this is what everyone does already. LOL I'm still new at quilting and sometimes it shows.....alot.
Marilyn

Wow! I don't have the patience to do that and applaud you. I used to use graph paper alot but now I use patterns from magazines and the only time the graph paper comes out is if I need to make a part, pattern, or template that won't fit initially. Do you use EQ6? I'm sure you've mentioned it but don't remember who does what here. The ladies in my guild are getting into EQ6 and my husband has been encouraging me to look into it but I don't know how much I'd use it. If so, do you have windows 7 and does it work with windows 7? I'm within a year count down to a new computer but want to make sure the software I want to use will work with windows 7. If so, which version of 7 do you have? Guess I should just do a search of the board and see what's been posted as my questions have probably already been answered there huh. LOL. Thank you Marilyn. I'm in awe of your creativity. You do stunning work!

I have a friend who does these little drawings, well not so little. She buys the fabric she wants to use plus extra. With the extra she hand draws the blocks she plans to use and then cuts and pastes the pieces into different areas of the block until she finds the layout she really likes and then that's the one she uses. She put a month into doing this with a quilt that she is now currently working on and it will be stunning if/when she ever finishes it. She tends to have a lot of UFO's for some reason. She's a perfectionist and if the least little thing goes wrong, that's the end of the project. The shame is that she'll get them half way or further along and then put it away but she loves working on it while she works on it. In the few years I've known her, she has started many projects but never completed one; not a one.

Hi Grammy Patty! Thank you! Yes, I have EQ6. I have been so busy working on my "Experimental Bargello" though, that I haven't messed much with it lately. Yes, I have Windows 7 and it works great! Thanks again for your compliments and your interest in my posts.

Marilyn

Thank you!!! :D:D:D