Another “Special Delivery” from Quiltmaker!

Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Vol. 14 debuts today, and not quite smack dab in the center of the cover is my block, “Star Route”.

Here’s a better photo:

“Star Route” by Anne Wiens 2016

This block is a combination and slight adaptation of two of my favorite traditional quilt blocks. A “Hole in the Barn Door”block, surrounded by a Sawtooth Star. I live in farming and ranching country in north-central Montana. Many rural residents get their mail by “star route” carriers.

I wondered where the term “star route” originated, so I consulted the USPS website. Long story short, instead of writing out “celerity, certainty and security” on the bid paperwork, postal clerks took to using three asterisks (***), and the contracts came to be called “star routes.” Follow the link for the long version of the story.

There are a lot of pieces in this block, but it isn’t difficult to make. It’s mostly half-square triangles with stitch-and-flip tips. It is a little time-consuming.

Here’s what the block might look like in a quilt:

Left: Crib size quilt is 42″ x 54″ and uses 12 blocks, with pieced border units.                Right: Lap-size quilt is 54″ x 66″ and uses 20 blocks with pieced border units.

You may notice that I added an orange triangle to the pink triangles of the original block. That’s because when I started setting the blocks together, I found that I had large pink diamonds forming, and they distracted the eye from the block centers. Those orange pieces are cut the same size as the blue pieces in the block.

Border Square 1         Border Square 2

These are actually square units, though they may not look like it on your screen.

Square #1 – The “green” square is the same as the star-point units in the block, substituting black for white in the half-square triangle.

Square #2 – The “pink square starts with a 3.5” black square. The stitch and flip pink corner is the same size as the one in the corner square of the block. The orange stitch and flip corner is the same size square as the blue square in Square #1.

You need two of Square #1 and two of Square #2 for each border unit.

You will need one border unit each block in the top and bottom row of your quilt, one for each block along the sides of your quilt, and two border units plus one more Square #2 for each corner block.

So that’s one way to use the Star Route block.

My Quilt Pro design software and I had a lot of fun playing with this block, and you will be amazed at when I came up with for the next Quiltmaker special issue Quilts from 100 Blocks. However, you’ll have to wait until the magazine comes out next spring.

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I have a copy of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Vol. 14 to give away. To be entered in the random drawing, just leave a comment on this blog, and tell me what town would we be sending your prize to?

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