Hey everyone! Are you pumped and ready to rock on Block #1 of the Moda Blockheads 5 Quilt-Along? If so, you’ve come to the right place! This week’s block is brought to us by quilt designer, author, teacher, blogger, and fellow Moda sister, Betsy Chutchian. She describes her block “Bright Star“ as being inspired by a beautiful antique quilt that her great great grandmother made way back in the 1800’s. I thought that was especially cool because if you know me at all, you know I love to find inspiration in the antique quilts of times past. I’m always so impressed by what quilters of those times were able to accomplish with minimal tools and supplies. It really is amazing!

As the name suggests, just like all the blocks in the first round of the Blockheads 5 series, “Bright Star“ is a star block. As far as difficulty level goes, star blocks can be either super simple to do or be more on the challenging side. Typically, they look harder to make than they actually are thanks to all the points and half-square triangles involved, but don’t worry. Tackling a couple of big, bad, scary half-square triangles is nothing a package of my custom designed Primitive Gatherings Triangle Papers can’t handle. For this block you will need 1″ Triangle Paper, specifically designed for 5″ charms. Fresh out? You can stock up on our website by clicking HERE!

I really like this block because the possibilities for fabric placement and construction are basically endless, making it super easy to add your own personal style and flare. As always, I highly recommend starching your fabric before cutting it. Aside from using Triangle Papers, this is my number one hot tip for conquering the beast we call half-square triangles!

For something new, I’ve decided to go with solid fabrics in more muted colors for my blocks this year. I am using our custom collection of Sundown Bella Solids, which you can find on our website to purchase by clicking HERE! What do you think so far? Let me know what route you’re taking in the comments. It’s always fun to see what everyone else is doing.

Is this your first time participating in a Moda Blockheads Quilt-Along or are you a Blockheads veteran at this point? Personally, I’m one of mayyyyybe two (Betsy too???) of the original Blockheads designers to complete all four quilts in the series start to finish so far – which reminds me. I never did show you my finished Blockheads 4 quilt from last year… Probably because I literally just finished it a couple of days ago. LOL!!! If you recall, for that quilt I used a Fat Quarter Bundle of my Urban Farmhouse Gatherings II series, paired with an orange Bella Solid called, “Ochre” (#9900-79). Check out the finished product! You can also watch the replay of my LIVE show from this afternoon to see all my completed Blockheads quilts so far by clicking the STITCH button at the end of the post!

Notice anything different from the original pattern? While I liked this quilt just fine the way it was designed, I felt like wanted to go a step further and do something different with the finishing. As you can see, my version includes an additional boarder that adds a little something extra to the overall look and feel of the design. Like what you see and want to do the same? You can download a printable PDF of the instructions for my bonus finishing layout by clicking the button below!

Alright everyone, that’s a wrap for today! I need to get back over to the retreat house for dinner with Doug Leko and his group before we get started on what promises to be a long night of stitching. Don’t forget! Tomorrow is Friday which means the next block release in the Twilight Stars Quilt-Along series releases at noon. You can find them on my landing page at http://www.lisabongean.com in the quilt-alongs section under the “Twilight Stars” button. A blog post explaining the details will post shortly after. Have a great night and I will see you soon! ~Lisa