Mixed Berry Star
Not really sure why I picked this quilt for starters but it turned out to be a wise choice. I had enough to learn about quilting so using a piece of paper for a guide was a good thing for keeping me sewing on the line. You start with the 2 Equilateral triangles which you will copy on Velum or foundation paper ; one triangle has a Clockwise twist and one triangle has a counter clockwise twist. You make 6 copies of each triangle.
With this pattern you need to do a little planning ahead of time. You need to choose three color families ; I chose Blue, red and a background color. I chose an off white / beige moda fabric for the background color. On each side of the triangle you will sew a different color family. For the Blue color family you will pick shades of blue which will range from light blue to dark blue. The Red color family I chose was really more like a cranberry red rather than a bright red. Then I chose 6 cranberry fabrics which ranged from light to darks.
You identify your blue fabrics with the lightest blue being blue fabric #1. Next darkest blue is blue fabric #2 and so on until you have number all 6 fabrics with the darkest fabric in the blue family as # 6.
You identify your lightest Cranberry fabric as cranberry fabric # 1. The next darkest as cranberry # 2 and so on until you number all fabrics in the cranberry family with the darkest fabric being cranberry # 6.
You cut a 1 ½ inch strip of each piece of three lightest blue fabrics, the remaining darker blue fabric cut 2 1 ½ strips of Fabric. Repeat for the cranberry fabrics, one strip of the lightest three cranberry fabrics and 2 of the darker cranberry fabrics. Cut one 2 ¼ inch strip of the darkest blue and the darkest cranberry fabrics. This will be used for the center piece. The triangle in the center is piece one and in my case I use the dark cranberry color on all of my blocks. Place the dark Cranberry over the center triangle. Work your way around the triangle. Sew the lightest cranberry to the right of the start of the center triangle covering the triangle to the right of the center triangle. Turn Foundation paper to right and sew the lightest blue fabric and then sew the background color to the remaining side of the triangle. Next sew the next shade of cranberry next to the lightest shade and repeat this process circling around the triangle adding one color at a time.
Complete sewing all fabrics to foundation papers. Lay out foundation blocks in the pattern that you like filling in open spaces with plain block size triangle blocks of the back ground fabric.
Other color combinations which I have done:
"Log Cabin with a Twist " by Barbara T. Kaempfer Dec 1995 (Available through Amazon)
