Easy On-Point Quilt Pattern

Like many pattern designers, I enjoy puzzles like Sudoku and crosswords.

Analyzing a quilt design is similar, but you don’t have to be a genius to figure out how to make any design with my step-by-step approach—and Inklingo!

Everything you need is at your fingertips:

  • Monkey’s Cheat Sheet
  • the Catalogue of Shapes for yardage requirements
  • the sewing and pressing instructions

Let’s do one now! I’ll use the blue and white quilt described in my previous blog entry. The pattern is simpler than it looks, and you can print the Cheat Sheet (below).

(By the way, it took me about 20 times longer to write this message and prepare the images than it did to quickly scribble everything I needed for this pattern on Monkey’s Cheat Sheet. I hope these notes help you with your next quilt, no matter what the design!)

 

Inklingo On-Point Quilt with LeMoyne Stars

LeMoyne Star Quilt – Queen – 82 x 82 inches

The quilt uses two shape collections:

Step 1  – Count the blocks.

There are 12 rows of 12 stars and 13 rows of 13 squares.

This example is easy for me because I drew it. (That always helps!) I also made my In Time of Friendship Quilt with this setting (previous entry).

See?

It looks more complicated, but that’s all it is—rows of stars, rows of squares. Isn’t it amazing how well camouflaged the rows are? It’s just because some of the setting squares are blue and some are white.

It usually isn’t difficult to find an approach that simplifies the way you look at a design. It will be different for Drunkard’s Path, Storm At Sea, Winding Ways, Hexagons, etc, but there are great tips in each of the Inklingo Design Books which show you how to cut up worksheets to break quilts into manageable sections.

From looking at the quilt and some simple multiplying we know we need:

  • 144 LeMoyne Stars (12 rows of 12 blocks)
  • 169 squares (13 rows of 13 blocks), some blue, some white*
  • 4 Blue Corner triangles (HST)
  • 48 Blue Edge triangles (QST)

*Of the 169 setting squares, 73 are blue (manual count), so there must be 96 white squares. Don’t bother counting. 169 – 73 = 96

I manually counted the number of of corners (4), and the number of blue edge triangles (12 x 4 sides = 48).

So far, so good. Are you with me?

The only part that might have been tricky was seeing how simple this setting really is. Once you see it as 12 rows of 12 stars and 13 rows of 13 squares, everything falls into place.

Anything you draw yourself will be easy.

Step 2  – Look up the fabric required for each shape.

Inklingo always gives you all the tools you need in the Catalogue of Shapes.

Write the answers in pencil on Monkey’s Cheat Sheet. It keeps everything organized.

Click for full size

You can print my Cheat Sheet and follow along.

For the 144 Stars:

8 blue diamonds for each star — 8 x 144 = 1152 (A calculator is handy!)

On page 47 of the free shape collection, I see that I can print 24 diamonds at a time if I cut the freezer paper 7.75 x 11.5, and it also shows me one way of getting 399 diamonds from a yard of fabric.


From the Catalogue of Shapes in the Inklingo Shape Collection

In theory, I should be able to cut about 1200 diamonds from 3 yards, and I only need 1152, but fabric shrinks, so it’s smaller than 36 x 44 inches. I also may want to allow extra for a mistake. Let’s plan for 3 yards.

So far, all of that is summarized neatly on only one line of the Cheat Sheet!

I look up the same info for the white squares and triangles for the LeMoyne Star blocks, and add two more lines to my Cheat Sheet.

For the setting squares (blue and white):

The squares in this quilt are a special case. I would probably not print the squares because this size is so easy to rotary cut—5 x 5 inches for 4.5 inch finished.

Some Inklingo quilters like to have the cutting and stitching lines printed for every shape. You can print the squares with Inklingo if you like, but the lines printed on the other shapes should be enough, especially if you are machine piecing the squares.

However, Inklingo helps me calculate the yardage—even if I decide not to print!

In the On-Point Triangle Shape Collection for 4.5 inch Squares, page 27 shows that I can cut about 48 squares from one yard of fabric . . .


From the Catalogue of Shapes in the Inklingo Shape Collection

. . . so I need about 1.5 yards for 73 blue, and about 2 yards for 96 white. (It looks a bit tight, so I should add enough for another row if the fabric is only 40 inches wide.) Thank you, Inklingo! The diagrams make it easy.

Now I just have to look at similar pages for the Edge and Corner Triangles and add the numbers to Monkey’s Cheat Sheet.

Step 3 – Add up the yardage for each color.

Once I have the yardage required for each shape, I circle the totals for blue fabric on Monkey’s Cheat Sheet. They add up to 5.5 yards. The un-circled amounts are white fabric, and they add up to 4.75 yards. I always buy a little extra to allow for cutting mistakes, mis-prints, and shrinkage.

I also need to add yardage for border, binding, and backing, as usual.

Step 4  – Refine the plan. Get creative!

Since I have such good information at my fingertips, I can be more creative.

I could decide to collect 3 yards of fat quarters or scraps for the stars, or make other choices regarding the rings of blue squares. Maybe each ring will be a different color.

The yardage diagrams in each Inklingo shape collection will help me whether I am buying fabric or trying to use bits and pieces from my stash. A visual guide makes a big difference, don’t you think?

Maybe I will decide that I want 4.5 inch Winding Ways blocks instead of LeMoyne Stars, or nine-patches, or the appliqué design that is included in the On-Point Collection.

Maybe some day I will be more decisive! LOL

But wait! There’s More!

  • Monkey’s Cheat Sheet will keep me organized at the cutting mat when I cut the freezer paper.
  • Monkey’s Cheat Sheet will keep me organized at the computer when I print.
  • The cutting lines on the fabric allow me to cut with scissors on-the-go, or with a rotary cutter without any measuring!
  • The illustrated instructions for sewing LeMoyne Star in the free shape collection take me step-by-step by machine or by hand and I always have a sewing line!
  • Inklingo instructions include a perfect pressing plan.
  • The On-Point Shape Collection shows me how to sew diagonal rows.

I’m ready to print, cut, sew.

Do you come home from quilt shows with lots of inspiration? Do you have designs spinning in your head? Now you know how to do it.

I think you can make the quilts of your dreams with Inklingo! Don’t you?

This is the fourth blog entry about On-Point Settings in 5 days! Whew!

Linda & Monkey

New to Inklingo? Order and download free shapes and start sewing in the next few minutes.Quick Start (Always FREE.) There are triangles, diamonds, and squares in the free collection—great for dozens of different blocks.

Inklingo for Beginners

Tilde’s 15 Minute Challenge

9 thoughts on “Easy On-Point Quilt Pattern”

  1. I had to laugh through the instructions, imagining you there
    chuckling to yourself as you wrote some of it…or was that Monkey putting his touch to the prose? That is a beautiful quilt Linda
    and I`m sure you took the mystery out of On Point settings for
    many people today.

    Reply
  2. What a great response! There’s something about this setting that gets quilters excited. Why do we love on-point so much?
    I am getting a lot of email today about the pattern too.

    Reply
  3. Linda, I love it!!! Here I go again… Thank you for taking the time to put this together. Sometimes we need a visual to inspire us!

    Reply

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