My friend Colleen joined the Reach for the Stars club a couple of months ago. It’s not an official club, rather an informal group of quilters around the country working on a queen-size sampler quilt that appeared last fall as a series quilt in the pages of Quilter’s Newsletter magazine. Instructions are coming over the course of seven issues.

You may remember from a previous post that Colleen is using William Morris-inspired fabrics. Take another look at her center medallion:

Colleen recently finished her first block, one of 14 that will surround the center medallion:

Like her medallion, this block will be set on point, so here it is in that position:

Colleen lives out in the country and has a huge garden to tend. I suspect that at this time of year it’s going to be difficult for her to find time to sew. We may have to wait a bit for her next block — but I think it will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, anyone who wants to join the club is most welcome!

Of the 14 blocks in my Reach for the Stars sampler quilt, Block 12 was by far the easiest to make — just five squares and four four-patches — yet I spent an inordinate amount of time fussing over it.

I spun my wheels initially just trying to decide which fabrics to use. I’m using several blacks, greens, and aquas and two different focus fabrics (from the same line), trying to spread them evenly throughout the quilt. Eons later (or so it seemed), I had my motif isolated from the focus fabric of choice and had settled on the white-on-black dot and the pale aqua batik.

Going with the original block layout, my block 12 looked like this:

I knew I was going to change this layout. Because Block 14 is sashed in black, I was pretty sure that black in the corners would prove overpowering. I tried switching the position of the four-patch units:

Better, maybe . . . but still too much black with the sashing to come.

I auditioned a green square in the center in place of the black:

Nope. Too light.

What about a square of black in the center of the green?

Ah, that’s better. I can live with that.

Here is the block all sewn together. . .

. . . and here it is sashed and positioned on point, as it will be in the finished quilt:

Still too much black? Maybe. When I added the block to my design wall, it looked . . . I don’t know . . . heavy compared to the other blocks. What do you think?

I also auditioned it in the center spot:

It actually looks pretty good there. Maybe my Block 12 just became Block 13!

Today I have the pleasure of sharing photos of three blocks made by Sherri Crisp of Knoxville, Tennessee. These blocks are part of Reach for the Stars, a queen-size sampler quilt that is also being made by several others. It’s almost like a Block of the Month (BOM) project, except that those of us making the quilt are getting instructions every other month from Quilter’s Newsletter magazine. We started last fall and, if everyone stays on track, we  should have our quilts pieced by the end of the year.

The April/May issue of Quilter’s Newsletter contained instructions for Blocks 7, 8, and 9. Here is Sherri’s Block 7:

Look how dramatic this block is set on point, as the directions call for:

Block 8:

Notice how the star shape changes when the block is set on point:

Sherri is paper-piecing most of her blocks, and I must say it shows. Look at those perfect star points!

Block 9:

Block 9 on point:

Now just imagine these blocks added to the ones Sherri made earlier:

Keep those blocks coming, Sherri — that is going to be one gorgeous quilt!

Jennifer Varney of Hudson, New Hampshire — one of several quilters I have become friends with over the last few months through our shared desire to make a sampler quilt called Reach for the Stars — revised her center medallion recently.

You may recall from an earlier post that Jennifer plans to arrange her center medallion and blocks in a straight set, rather than on point as called for in the original quilt. Jennifer’s fabric choices include some elegant border prints and metallics in a palette of pewter, soft blue, gold, and black. Before I show you the revision, take a look at her original medallion block  (and take note of the four corner squares):

Nothing wrong with that medallion at all! In fact, it’s beautiful. Now take a look at the revised block:

It’s better, isn’t it? Jennifer used the same fabric in the outer blocks that she used in the first version but fussy-cut the squares to highlight a different motif in the fabric. I agree with her that the change brings more light and balance to her medallion.

Directions for Reach for the Stars are coming in serialized fashion from Quilter’s Newsletter magazine. Thus far the magazine has provided directions for 12 blocks (plus the medallion). Jennifer fell a wee bit behind on the blocks but for a very good reason: she was getting another quilt ready for her local guild’s spring show — and it won a second place ribbon!

Allow me to present Lady Guinevere’s Quilt, designed and made by Jennifer Varney:

Jennifer fussy-cut border prints and pieced them into Night and Day blocks, which she then set on point. The outer edges of the quilt feature a gilded tapestry-look border print.  Lorri Wurtzler of Seventh Heaven Quilting in Nashua, New Hampshire custom quilted Jennifer’s quilt. Here’s a close-up of Lorri’s beautiful quilting:

The finished quilt measures 53″ square.

Congratulations, Jennifer! Now: back to work on Reach for the Stars?