Ready for your next Blockheads 5 assignment? Debby Maddy fans and Blockheads 5 stitchers alike will be happy to hear that she is this week’s Moda MBH5 artist contributor! As an avid seamstress, Debbie has been a quilter for over 35 years, and has an undying love for all things fiber art. While she enjoys embroidery, appliqué, needlepoint, pulled thread, and drawn thread work, Debbie is most widely known for her beautiful Shibori-inspired fabric collections, a process of which she has spent an extended amount of time studying under some of the most prestigious artists in Japan, England, and the United States.

Debbie says she loves the fact that the theme for MBH5 is stars because she just so happened to begin her quilting career with patterns designed around exactly that… Stars! She considers star patterns to be on the easier end of the spectrum, and recommends them for novice quilters who want to gain confidence in their skills before moving on to more complicated set-in seams. As you can see in her design, “Indigo Light” is a rendition of the traditional star pattern that features a fun pinwheel center. The block consists of squares, flying geese, half-square triangles, quarter-square triangles, and of course, something Debbie refers to as, “quilting star joy!” Ooo! I want some!

If you’re following along with my exact process for these blocks, please note that I made a couple of small changes to the instructions for “Indigo Light” because as you know, I prefer to avoid unnecessary trimming when I can. By cutting units exactly the size that I need to begin with (rather than oversized as the instructions suggest) I am able to skip trimming all together. These are the changes that I made:

And as always, for my MBH5 blocks I’m using Bella Solid Silver (9900 183) for the background of my quilt, and Bella Solid American Blue (9900 174) consistently throughout the entire thing. For any additional colors I’m using a combination of the soft, muted collection of Bella Solids that we put together for this project called “Sundown,” along with a new playful and vibrant Bella Solids collection called “Cozy.” Both collections are available for purchase on our website by clicking the buttons below!

What an awesome combination of colors! It’s like if the Rainbow Brite doll were a fabric line… Anyway, If you have any questions regarding these blocks, or anything else for that matter, please feel free to leave me a comment here on the blog! You can also visit the Blockheads 5 Main Page for more information on Moda Blockheads 5 and how it all works by clicking HERE. I also recommend hooking up with the virtual Blockheads community for even more support by checking out their Official Moda Blockheads Facebook Group.

The end of the day tomorrow will also bring the beginning of the end to yet another crazy work week – and yes – I’m really looking forward to it! I would say that Thursdays are probably my busiest day in the studio, mostly because I usually have meetings to attend in the morning, guests at The Gathering to “sewcialize” with, and of course, there’s my LIVE show and CommentSold back to back in the afternoon. I know it probably doesn’t seem like a lot of work to sit there and shoot the breeze on TV, but believe me – it takes more out of a gal than you’d think! Let’s just say that the whole crew is pretty exhausted by the time we’re done with LIVE shows for the week, and oh so glad the next day is Friday. It brings a new, and very accomplished meaning to, “T.G.I.F.!”

Speaking of LIVE shows, I hope you’ll join us for all the fun tomorrow starting at 1:00 p.m. CST on my YouTube channel, STITCH with Lisa Bongean by clicking the STITCH icon below! Then, catch CommentSold right around 2:15 p.m. via the Primitive Gatherings CommentSold app, which is available through your usual app marketplace (Google Play for Android, and App Store for iPhone). I’ll be showing off my current works in progress, getting you up to speed on a few new events coming up at The Gathering, and giving you an exclusive sneak-peek of the June 2024 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting featuring ten page spread on your most favorite quilt shop and retreat center on the planet (that’s us!!!). Trust me, you’ll be bummed if you miss it so TUNE IN! I’ll see you there! ~Lisa