Octagons + Squares

This week I am spinning a web of star blocks. Fancy, twirly, glowing stars on dark green, teal and blue backgrounds. Each block invites an individual color composition.

But the real design challenge comes in putting multiple blocks together. I have never worked with octagonal blocks before. At this large scale (18” finished), I can embrace the idea of filling the spaces in between the octagons with squares and joining the work with y-seams. But which squares?

I love, love, love the Petaloutha print from Anna Maria Horner’s Brave collection, so my first thought was to fussy cut that lilac flower. But I also noticed that the Pruned print has squares of greenery at precisely the right scale for my joining squares. By chance they are also a quite suitable shade to blend with my background colors. Hmmm - which one then?

While I mulled it over, I sewed another Tangential Star block - a new favorite! This one has a saturated emerald background and splashy star colors. The fabrics are Bell Ringer from Brave and two Love Always by Anna Maria Horner basics.

You can find more Brave fabrics at The Confident Stitch and Fat Quarter Shop.

So, the Pruned print it is. I ultimately settled on this one because it is non-directional and more subtle. As a non-directional print, it will look correct from any angle, just as the stars themselves. As a subtle print it will serve as a design accent rather than drawing energy away from the stars.

Oooh! I think this is going to be a pretty quilt!

For those of you who take the Angled course this September/October, I will add some notes for how to use the included Tangential Star pattern in this octagons + squares patchwork setting. I think you will want to have that too, in addition to the original Tangential quilt option.

Can you see yourself sewing this quilt?