I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going through a bit of a dry spell when it comes to designing. I’m trying to stop calling these periods ‘slumps’, because I think it’s natural for creativity to ebb and flow. But also, creativity begets creativity, and I haven’t been sitting down to sketch much. So rather than panic about the lack of new ideas lately, or worrying about where the next idea is going to come from… I’m just trying to do better when it comes to practice. I’m trying to sit down and sketch more often. Even if it doesn’t lead to anything, it’s a good reminder of the importance of creative play.

Anyway, as is often the case when I’m feeling a bit lost design-wise, I started playing with stars this week. And warm colour palettes. Yellows and oranges and pinks always make me happy.

When I create block-based designs, I try to ensure that individual blocks can accommodate multiple colours as well as a single colour. I think this one works!

It also works with a dark background…

…and in a greeny/yellowy palette.

I also like to see if block-based designs work with blocks coloured in an alternating palette or combination of colours. And, again, I think this design gets the OK!

To position the stars as close to each other as possible, without too much interstitial space, I’ve arranged these blocks on point with sashing. That could make them a little more difficult to piece (although I can see a workaround…).

Removing the sashing keeps the same general arrangement, but the blocks are now touching. This version would be much easier/quicker to piece, as the quilt top could be assembled in rows or columns of deconstructed blocks instead of joining whole individual blocks.

Connecting the blocks does give quite a different feel to this quilt design though. This three-colour version feels much busier to me. I find it harder to see each block on its own, without interference from its neighbours. This might just be a result of the colour scheme I’ve used here. It’s a bit easier to discern each block in the multicoloured version.

I like how the ‘connected’ version created secondary shapes between the blocks – stars within stars!

These designs could be made into quilts using basic units like triangle-in-a-square blocks, squares and rectangles.