Happy Blockheads Wednesday! Our featured designer today is Deb Strain, whose incredible hand-painted artwork becomes beautiful fabrics and panels for classic and traditional quilts. So it’s only fitting that Deb’s block is the classic and traditional Ohio Star! Not only is this a beginner-friendly block with a timeless look, but it’s a block that gives quilters of all skill levels an opportunity to have fun with fabric placement to achieve different looks. The center square of an Ohio Star block is also a great place to put your favorite fussy cut or novelty print!

You can find this week’s pattern here: BH5 – Group 2, Block 9 – Ohio Star by Deb Strain

Follow along with Deb!
Instagram: @debstrain

If you’re new to Blockheads, here are a couple of quick things to know:

• This is a free quilt-along. No sign-ups are required. Just download the pattern and you’re ready to sew!
• The PDF patterns will be posted on the Moda blog and in the official Facebook group every Wednesday by 8:00 AM CDT.
• You can also bookmark this page: Blockheads 5 main page to find a convenient list of all the patterns as they are released.
• If you’d like to sign up for our blog newsletter to get blog posts delivered to your inbox, you can sign up here: Blog Newsletter Sign-Up
• If you want to sew along with a virtual Blockheads community, head over to Facebook and join our official Moda Blockheads Facebook group. Our group is an active and vibrant community of 72,000 quilters and counting! It’s a great place to be inspired and share pictures of your Blockheads progress.
• If Instagram is where you prefer to hang out, be sure to follow us (@modafabrics) and the hashtags #modablockheads and #modablockheads5 to see the latest blocks from our designers and other Blockheads.
• Be sure to get your official Blockheads t-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, water bottles, and more from our pop-up shop HERE.

(Looking for a little more information about Blockheads? You can check out the Blockheads 5 archive HERE.)

 

Something new we’re doing for this round of Blockheads is a weekly video. You can follow along with me as I sew the block of the week and share my tips and tricks and talk about different construction techniques. I’ll post the videos on YouTube and share them here on the blog. You can watch this week’s video below:

In this week’s video, I’m sharing a couple of helpful rulers by June Tailor that make quick work of cutting strips and squares and marking, sewing, and trimming quarter-square triangles! Be sure to watch this video to see the June Tailor Shape Cut™ Slotted Ruler and the June Tailor Perfect Half-Square and Quarter-Square Triangles Ruler in action!

 

Deb is sharing some of her process and pictures from making this week’s block here on the Moda blog today! Read on to learn more about Deb’s inspiration for her Ohio Star block:

Hello Friends!

   Thank you so much for being a part of MODA BLOCKHEADS 5! This is my second year in the group and I am THRILLED to be joining in the fun!

   This is my block, the traditional “Ohio Star.”  Being from Ohio, it has always been a favorite of mine.

   I’ve used my fabric collection “Honey and Lavender” (recently arrived at your favorite Quilt Store) to create it and love how pretty it turned out!

   Have you been using the additional color blocks sheet that Moda provides with the blocks each week? I had so much fun playing with color combinations and placement before starting to sew!

   The block combination that I liked best used 2 light and 2 dark of the “C” square (instead of 4 light.)

   Since I am still a novice quilter, I am not really able to give any quilting tips or advice. So I thought you might like to see some of my hand-painted art that I created for the prints in “Lavender & Honey” instead!

   Can’t wait to see YOUR “Ohio Star” blocks!  Thanks for joining me and Happy Quilting!! ~Deb

Are you ready to see our blocks?

Lissa is using Nantucket Summer for her blocks. You can see a sneak peek of her block setting here!

Alison is making a fall version in 12” blocks and a patriotic version in 6” blocks. 

And I am making a traditional/repro scrappy fall version and a sweet/cottage-y Americana version in 6” blocks.

Now…off you go to press, cut, and sew! And don’t forget to share your blocks with us in our Facebook group or on Instagram (#modablockheads5)!