Scrappy Stars

I ran across this pattern about a year ago and was drawn to the scrappy look. I'm still not totally sure of the official name of the block, although I've seen it listed several places as "Stretched Star". I had seen this pattern in basic cottons, but for the purpose of this quilt I chose to use flannels. I just love the timeless look of flannels. Especially when making quilts for men.

The block is actually quite basic. It is formed by using a square piece of fabric and sewing two smaller squares across the corner. When pressed open, the smaller square replaces the corner of the original larger square. I found an awesome tutorial on Bonnie's blog that helped me with all the details.

I sewed together the blocks, and then I got stuck. It looked so plain and I couldn't

seem to figure out what was needed to pull it all together.

In January, I purchased EQ6 and began learning how to work with basic designs. Although I am far from knowing everything it can do, I found a similar block to the stretched star and used it work up a visual. Once it was on the page I could see what was lacking. The inner border was needed to frame the blocks before the larger border was attached.

I kept the quilting simple by using straight lines along the edge of the blocks.

For the border, I chose to vary the lines in the same size as the blocks. I got the idea from a quilting book that listed popular quilting patterns in the early 1900's. I'm pretty happy with the way the quilting turned out, especially when you see it from the back.

On the back, for fun I used a row of the waste triangles that were left over from making the blocks.

The triangles were teeny, tiny...but then again so is the recipient of this quilt.

This is my youngest grandson. Isn't he a sweetie?

Hopefully some day he will look at this blanket and remember that his nana loved him:)