Utah Quilt Guild

This is an article that was written by Lorrie Ryther one of the board members of the Utah Quilt Guild.  Thank you, Lorrie for always writing such great informational articles.     STARS IN QUILTS Stars, stars, stars; and more stars. I am amazed at how many different stars there are that are used in quilts. To begin, let’s go back in time m ore than 3000 years ago when Egyptian kings wore star blocks sewn into their garments, symbolizing a chosen person.  Egyptian stars were similar to the Primitive Star with five points; some with different lengths. (Trivia - five points represent the four elements of earth, wind, fire, and ice with the top star meaning mind over matter.) (Primitive Star) Prior to the 1700s and then becoming more popular during the civil war (1800s), quilts with star blocks have gained in popularity. Every continent throughout history claims a block as their own, especially star blocks. Countries and different states in the United States, along ...

  This last memorial weekend, I went to the cemetery and noticed all the beautiful flowers and the pinwheels. I also put flowers and pinwheels on graves as do some of my quilting friends. The pinwheels were all different colors and different designs. Just like the pinwheels in our quilts. Pinwheels became popular in the 1800's when pioneers made their way west. They would see the vanes of water pump windmills and desired to duplicate them. They became to represent hard work, challenges, hope, optimism, transformation and change. They are practical and easy to make. Pinwheels begin with a four patch from half-square triangles.   In the past, we have gone over different ways of making HST to make one, four or eight.  We also discussed disappearing blocks. Pinwheels also can be made into different disappearing blocks: If you use 7" squares to make your pinwheel, you will end up with a 12" square. Instead of measuring and cutting in three's, you can cut in...