A Quilter’s Guide to Angles

The LAST thing we quilters like is M-A-T-H….and Geometry is for the birds.

Somehow I got an A in Geometry. I couldn’t tell you a thing I learned in Geometry…I always thought it was a cheater class…if you proved your theorems, you were right. UGH.
Here’s the thing about Geometry: An angle is an angle, regardless of its size.  If you have a 2″ hexie and a 4″ hexie, the angle is always 108 degrees!  The same is true of diamonds, and triangles…pentagons and octagons: the angle is the same regardless of the size!

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I love repeating shapes (strange because my patience for recreating the same shape is abysmal. I’ll spare you stories…basically, I can’t stand making the same thing twice. My saving grace is making the same pattern with different fabric…somehow that’s different 😜)

I’ve been playing with the shapes in the Christmas Star EPP.  It’s incredible that the same shapes can be arranged and re-arranged to create loads of different designs.  Just when I think I’m done, I ‘see’ new variations.

Here are a few that popped up when I was playing, and re-arranging.  They are all in the Christmas Star EPP Pattern Bundle.  Since I’m always updating, when you purchase, I’ll send you pattern updates so you always have the most recent variations.  Who knows how many we’ll “end up with”.

The variations started with the sunflower, that ‘appeared’ from the gnome flower variation…

I was trying to put the above right block together from memory, and this appeared! A simpler version of the above.

It won’t have the same impact with the secondary star cross shape…but it would still be interesting!

Then this!  What a pretty octagon variation!!!

Then this!

This would be really fun with lighter and darker low volume fabrics.  The triangles, are half square triangles…so you could easily use those instead of the triangles.

Then this!

When the corners of the above variation are joined together, they create a Nordic Star (which is in the star on the left)

So at what point are these variations new patterns all together?!  I don’t have an answer for that.

I do encourage you to look at the templates you have on hand…can they be used instead of purchasing speciality rulers?  I have a blog post about fussy cutting with simple rulers…while they may be “easier” they certainly take up valuable sewing room real estate…and aren’t always necessary.