I am back with another finished Do Good Stitches quilt… actually the weather in Portland has been lovely these last couple of weeks so I had the chance to photograph a few quilts which I will share over the coming weeks… but first up…
These blocks were made by myself and my fellow Hope Circle Bee hive members. I love a good wonky star and this block was extra fun because of the low volume background.
Using blacks and dark grey for the stars meant that the fabric we used as the background could have more color and interest in it. The stars were going to stand out against just about anything we threw at them… so we went fussy cut, novelty print crazy. The background does make for a good game of I spy.
The only low volumes that were a little problematic were the black and white ones… and only when they were used in making the star points. When choosing your low volume fabrics for a project it is always a good idea to:
(1) double check that they read low volume…. I do this using the mono chrome setting on my phone camera. Some low volumes can be deceiving and are tonally much darker than they appear.
(2) check that the print does not interfere or intersect with the foreground or main fabric. I have had this happen when the low volume print have had a strong print with the same color in it as my foreground fabric (this is why the black and white prints could be problematic with this quilt).
Because of the structure of this block you have a bit of built in negative space to play with. The block uses 3 1/2 inch squares, so one side of the block is just negative space (you can find the directions for the block here)…
Scrappy wonky Star 12 inch block
This allows you to play with the layout of the stars on the finished quilt. The layout can be uniformed or more off grid, like I did.
I must admit I loved the randomness of the star layout in this top… I think it gets your eye moving around the quilt in interesting ways.
As always this quilt is heading out into the world to do some good… at our local Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. So many hands help make this beauty and I am constantly reminded how many good people there are out there in the world, trying to make a difference.
Quilt Details:
Block: 12 inch off set wonky star
Fabric: Scraps and more scraps
Size: 60″ x 60″
WOMBAT QUILTS 
I too love a wonky star quilt! Thanks for the low volume tips!
Love me a wonky star any day!!!! Adore the low volume fabrics – they add such interest! I love the way the stars are off-center! Got to remember this trick!!!! Thanks for sharing!
This is such a easy way to off set your blocks without any tricky seams
You can’t beat Wonky stars quilts and this is a terrific example of a beauty. Great idea to have the black and grey stars set against those neutral backgrounds. Brilliant finish.
Thanks Linda. This was a fun one to put together.
Looks great!
Thanks.
It’s great. I love the contrast of the dark stars on the light background.
Thanks Nancy. This is one of my new faves because of the low volume back ground.
Love your wonky stars, and you have a great variety of neutrals!! Wow!!
This is wonderful! I’ve got a crush on low volume fabrics these days and those stars perfectly showcase them here. Great tip on the low volume deception, I’m going to use your mono chrome phone tip! Thank you for sharing!
Oh that phone trick has saved my bacon a couple of times. Light grey print in particular trip me up.
Great looking , gives me ideas…good ideas. thanks for posting
Love the quilt (who doesn’t love your quilts!), but the choice of wall to photograph it against was inspired! I see Mr Wombat is still Pinkymeister…
Thanks Kate. You have to look close to see the pinkies but Mr Wombat insists on putting them out. You have met him, so you know what I am dealing with. Lol.
Well, quite!
I love how this one turned out!
I always love your wonky star quilts. This one is no exception – rather a certainty as I love black – have to keep this idea in mind 🙂 xo Melanie
I LOVE how this turned out!
“another do-good finish” is right! And you shared it with all of us–many thanks! Stars are my favorite!
That’s exactly what I noticed about the quilt. My eye immediately and automatically traveled around with the star layout. Great job!
Lovely quilt. I like how you flipped the dark colors to the forefront and the low colors as background.
Love your quilt and all of your work, but it is nice to see you blogging again. I followed you regularly, then you seemed to disappear and we all know life gets in the way sometimes…so I waited patiently in the background periodically checking your site. This am I was reading and the word Wombat came up and I thought…Wombat quilts, wonder if she is back? I am delighted to see you blogging again and am happy to catch up. Hope all is well, keep up your beautiful ways!
That is one knockout of a quilt, and I like that it is friendly and engaging as well as beautiful! Congrats on the donation: cannot imagine what a ray of sunshine this will have brought to someone in a tough corner. Kudos, ladies!
I love it, such a great combination of colours as well
Great website. Thanks for all the free patterns.
I love this quilt and am getting ready to start my 2nd ever quilt; it will be a wonky star Halloween quilt. I have lots of different fabrics, but mainly orange, black with a grayish tinge. Also some random purple and green splashes. Some prints are larger and some are smaller. I don’t understand “low volume” prints. Can you please go into more detail of what that is? Sorry, I really want to make this a special quilt for my adult son, he loves Halloween and requested it.
Hi Karen. Low volume prints are white/cream background fabric with prints on them (sometime pastels are also used). Low volume prints read very light when you look at their tone (I use my cell phone camera and the black and white setting to measure fabrics tone). I use them as an alternative to a white on white print or white solid fabric.
If you want to respond by email, feel free to do so. Thank you for your site, I find it very creative! ✌️🙂