Twinkle Stars EQ8 Tutorial

I have a new block for you today -- which I am calling Twinkle Stars. 

The block essentially is friendship stars in two corners  with a couple of squares that intersect the friendship stars.. 

Super simple to draft and to piece. 

The block is asymmetrical -- which opens up the design possibilities.

With asymmetrical  blocks, I always like to experiment with the Serendipity>Shrink and Flip option.  You can find this option on the block worktable.  You also have the option to with the Symmetry Option on the quilt worktable.

The Twinkle Star block can be drafted in EasyDraw using a 12 x 12 size.  Set the snaps horizontal and vertical set at 12 x 12.  

When drafting the block, I chose to make all the diagonal lines part of a square unit -- essentially making them all half square triangles.

If you prefer piecing cheater corners (also known as snowball corners and folded corners), you could eliminate some of the horizontal and vertical lines on the quilt. 

When using that construction method, you will want to adjust the rotary cutting chart for the triangles (changing them to 2-1/2" squares) and the trapezoid (changing to rectangles that are 1/2" larger than the finished size of the patch).

The real fun was playing with rotation options.  There are two ways to add rotation:

• On the block worktable, use the Shrink and Flip Option.  (This is the one shared in the video).
• On the Quilt Worktable, use Symmetry.  I used this option on a couple of my alternate quilts.

Here are the Shrink and Flip Blocks created in the video.

Also consider playing with coloration of the blocks as well.  

For my blocks and quilts I used the At Day's End fabric collection by Sarah Maxwell for Andover Fabrics.  It is the free fabric download from Electric Quilt for June 2024.

Here were the quilts I created using the Twinkle Stars block.

The first two used a 4 x 4 grid with block sizes of 12".  For the first quilt, I used the Symmetry option to change the rotation of the blocks.

Twinkle Stars Layout 1

Twinkle Stars Layout 2

The remaining quilts using the Shrink and Flip option in the Block worktable.  This was the option shared in the video.   I used a 2 x 2 layout with a block size of 24 inches. 

​The last one is the one I chose to provide detailed instructions on in the video.

For these quilts, I decided to incorporate the friendship star block in the borders as well.  The basic friendship star block is one of the default blocks in EQ8 Projects -- so no drafting is required. 

For the border, I alternated the friendship stars with a block with 3 columns and 1 row (drawn with the grid tool).  With some coloring changes, it now appears there is a band running through all those border friendship stars.

Twinkle Stars Layout 3

Twinkle Stars Layout 4

Twinkle Stars Layout 5

Twinkle Stars Layout 6

As you can see, there are so many possibilities with this block.  I am curious how you will play with the design.  

Share a favorite Twinkle Stars quilt in the Learning EQ Facebook group.  I've set up a post just for these quilts.

Learning EQ Facebook Post for Twinkle Stars

Happy quilting.

​Kari

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