Ohio Star Marathon

A few blocks are simply too perfect not to make in mass quantities. I have long sung the praises of the 9-patch and have countless quilts and quilt tops featuring it.

Another block that lends itself to all manner of fabrics, colors, and adaptations is Ohio Star. Again, it is a block I've used in dozens of quilts and never grow tired of it. That's a good thing, too, because I have undertaken a project that could possibly require 90 of them!

My runner husband and son would say "it's a marathon, not a sprint."

I have made a few of each color just because I wanted to see how they played together. I am loving the combination (see earlier post here) and now I am in the process of cutting all the parts for a marathon day of stitching hourglass units and then building the star blocks.

 

I need two sizes of blocks: for the hourglass blocks, I am cutting 4.5" squares. For the plain blocks, I am using 3.75" squares. This results is a block that is 10.5" unfinished. All that above is some of the cutting for blocks; I am sure I will be doing more. Does it surprise you when I admit that I have lost track of the count, and now I am just flying by the seat of my pants? (This is my norm.)

 

With the 4.5" blocks, I layer a white onto one of the colors, draw a diagonal on the wrong side, and stitch on either side of the line. This is old-school; so many machines have laser lights to mark the stitching line, while others follow a line on their machine table. I know this takes time, but this method works for me.

Of course, the two HSTs that come from the step above have to be turned into the hourglass block, so more drawing of diagonal lines is required.

At last, we get the sub-units, and we are good to go for the construction of the blocks.

I may come back soon with a more complete breakdown of making these units. It's pretty basic, but for any new or beginning quilters out there, the step-by-step might be useful.

I spent a good portion of yesterday cleaning in my sewing room. To look at it, one might not see any change, but anytime I came to something that was a scrap, I cut it into the units I have been amassing. And, when I came to anything that fell into the category of "mending," I actually DID it, then put it back where it belonged so it no longer cluttered up my space. Working this way doesn't show instant results. It will take days of very focused effort to improve the orderliness of this space.

Hope you are staying safe and doing something creative!
Happy Quilting, Friends!