Eastern Oregon Blocks Series - All 7 Quilts

The seven quilts are shown in the picture above. There was a bit of wind, so I was unable to take a photo with all seven sitting flat against the fence. I mostly wanted to show this picture to demonstrate the relative size of each quilt and the colors.

The quilt sizes are:

- kaleidoscope: 40"x 46"

- ladders to the stars: 59" x 60"

- star of Bethlehem: 43" x 43"

- sagebrush perspective: 43" x 45"

- willow: 43" x 50"

- crop circles: 34" x 46"

- which way: 42" x 56"

I have a bit of fabric left from the start - but, in general, I used the majority of the original fabric collection.

In the end, I think each quilt has its merits. I am happy to have tried so many different designs and surprised by the results. However, it does not seem possible that a person would look at any of the quilts and see Eastern Oregon.

Finished: The First Three Quilts in the Eastern Oregon Series

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Quilting the Star of Bethlehem Quilt

The Star of Bethlehem quilting will follow use concentric stars and parallel lines that continue to the edge of the quilt.

The pinned quilt:

Quilting:

The fully quilted result (from the back):

This time, the quilting process took approximately three hours to complete.

eo-3 Star of Bethlehem - top assembly

The top assembly for the original Star of Bethlehem design calls for:

• eight star points
• four large triangles
• four squares

The junction between the two star points that would meet at the apex of one of the triangles or a corner of a square  is called a 'y-seam' and I have quickly learned that I need much more practice before I attempt this. So, I split both the large triangle and the square into two pieces.

Now, the assembly process changes to: 

1. stitch together one corner right triangle, one star point, and one side right triangle.
2. stitch together two of these right triangles to make a square.
3. stitch together the four squares.

The key is to make sure there are four each of the two orientations possible for the right triangle assembled in step 1. 

Also - solid pieces need to be cut with an additional seam allowance for the center seam between each solid piece.

Once I worked this out, I was able to sew the top together. It is 'okay'...not 'great'.

eo-3 Quilt layout

I went the lazy route and waited until the star points were assembled before deciding on the background fabric. I also decided to play with the orientation of the eight legs of the star.

The options; grey or white background, red or black center. The four picture below show the different options. The pictures do not include the entire quilt; I was trying to take the pictures without enough distance from the quilt.

It seems like the best of the four options is to have the red center and the grey background. It might have been nice to have a yellow or cream colored background, but I did not want to purchase more fabric. 

eo-3 Star of Bethlehem Point Assembly part 3

The eight points are assembled by sewing the diamond strips together, matching the seams. This is where you get to find out if the diamond strips were truly cut with a 45 degree angle.

Above, one of the points is shown. My seams did not line up very well...but out of a combination of stubbornness, curiosity, and not wanting to waste fabric, I went ahead with the quilt anyways.

The picture above shows how I ironed the seams. 

eo-3 Star of Bethlehem Point Assembly in Pictures

This post is basically the same as the prior one, but showing photographs of the assembly process.

First, pick the strips by the color list shown in the previous post.

Sew the strips together with a 2" (ideally) stagger between strips. The photo above shows how the strips were ironed.

The photo above shows the top side of the strips.

Clean up the edge by cutting the strips at a 45 degree angle from the long edge.

 

Cut the individual diamond strips by cutting the fabric every 2" from the edge.

Above shows the five categories of diamond strips in piles of 8 strips each.

eo-3 Star of Bethlehem - Point Assembly

The quilt has 8 star points. Each star point is composed of six rows of diamonds.

To assemble the star points, the strips of fabric are sewn together along their length, staggered by 2". Once 6 strips are sewn together, the piece is cut at a 45 degree angle every 2 inches.

The result is a number of strips of diamonds with the same sequence of colors:

Each diamond point needs six strips, or a total of 48 strips in the quilt. 

The goal is to use all of the colors in the series. This will be achieved by assembling the strips in five different arrangements:

1. all dark, 8 strips
2. red/yellow/light/light/medium/dark: 8 strips
3. yellow/yellow/light/light/medium/dark: 8 strips
4. light/light/light/light/medium/dark: 16 strips
5. medium/medium/medium/medium/medium/green: 8 strips

eo-3 Cutting list for Star of Bethlehem Quilt

The quilt calls for strips of fabric to form the star and a single color around the star.

Strips 2" x 44"

• 10 medium
• 12 light
• 2 red
• 6 grey and black

The star is surrounded by a solid material:

• 1, 19.5" square
• 4, 14" squares

I am not sure about what color the solid will be.

Next quilt...eo-3 Star of Bethlehem

I have wanted to try a Star of Bethlehem quilt, but with a more modern design. The traditional pattern is an 8-sided star composed of strips of diamonds. If you search, you can find templates with a different number of strips for each point. In this case, I want to use 6 strips per point.

The traditional design uses an approach similar to an Around the World quilt - where the colors in the neighboring strips are shifted over by one diamond. This has the net effect of an almost circular color pattern in the star.

For the third quilt in this series, I want a few differences: first, to use all of the colors in the Eastern Oregon quilt series and second, to have all of the outer diamonds be a dark tone (black and grey).

Seven Quilts - Yardage

The question today is: can seven quilts be made with ~17 yards of fabric?

I want to make smaller quilts - crib-size. My sewing area is small, and I am not really set up to do the quilting on a large quilt with my sewing machine.

A baby quilt is usually somewhere from 42" to 60" on a side. To just cover the surface of something 42" x 60", you would need at least 2.5 yards of fabric.

So, for the 7 quilts, the sizes will have to be smaller than this - or I have to include the use of a white or other neutral 'background' fabric. I am actually going to use both of these strategies.

I have plans for four of the quilts using traditional designs:

eo-1: Kaleidoscope
eo-2: Ladders to the Stars
eo-3: Star of Bethlehem
eo-4: Irish Chain

These quilts are all similar in size - but use varying amounts of the seventeen colors. The Irish Chain is mostly background fabric.

I purchased a stone gray Kona cotton and white Kona cotton for background fabric. The gray will also be used for binding.

For the quilt backing, I bought some wide (144") fabric in a muted red hue.

The remaining three quilts, I hope, will be more original designs. I tried to plan all 7 quilts in advance, but kept hitting a wall with these. I have been struggling with both a lack of confidence in my skills and a lack of experience with quilt design. I thought I would make the first three quilts, and then take a break to design the last three. I will probably make the Irish chain quilt with scraps at the very end.