Remember in last week’s post, I mentioned liking a star shape that emerged from the quarter-square triangle design? Well, I decided to take that star, which is based on a 3×3 grid, and use it in its own design.

I separated the stars with some thin sashing, using small squares to fill in the negative space where the horizontal and vertical sashing meets.

Of course, you could fill in that middle square too.

But I also like the idea of filling the empty square with a different colour, to mix things up a bit. This is my favourite version. This is also a bit of a quirky colour palette for me, but I really like it.

I think the design works without the sashing, but only when the blocks are coloured in a way that distinguishes each one from its neighbours… otherwise I think it looks too busy.

The design works in a more limited colour palette, too. Here I’ve used 2 colours plus the background, and just alternated the central 4 half-square triangles with the outside 4 quarter-square triangles to add a bit of interest.

And if you have the same reservations I do about using white/light backgrounds for quilts, you can use a dark background instead.

This design could be made into a quilt using half-square triangles, squares and quarter-square triangles. Plus a bit of sashing – or not!