Brilliant Star

My good friend,Crispy, came to the rescue and identified this block as either Brilliant Star (Nancy Page) or Pointing Star (KC Star) according to Brackman's book.  Thank you, Crispy!  And today while digging through some more of Grandma's templates I found an envelope with another hexagon template marked "used this for RNA quilt" (a fraternal organization she belonged to) and a date in 1987 corresponding to the same date she had marked on the cut out pattern pieces.  She also wrote "pattern from Workbasket" so my guess as to where she got the pattern was correct.  Of course she might have used hexagons for many patterns, but with the same date marked on both sets I found and also the "RNA" notation on both sets, I know they belong together.

Today I counted the number of block sets she has strung together and get 67 give or take a couple.  I could make a good sized quilt from all of these. 

I pieced a few more last night and had already figured out what Crispy also suggested...getting good points is definitely about the pressing too.  And I discovered that Grandma's pieces weren't as badly cut as I had thought.  Guess I pulled one that was a little off and assumed they were all that way.  But she actually did a really good job with her cardboard templates and scissors.  And I marvel at what a good job she did piecing the larger blocks since I see no drawn sewing lines.  She obviously just eyeballed a quarter-inch seam line.  I can do that sometimes, but in a block this complicated I really need to draw the lines on at least one of the two fabrics I'm joining. 

I think these are cool fabrics..mostly from the 1950's and 60's.  I'm sure not all are 100% cotton but I'm going to use them anyway, just as Grandma would have done.  I recognize so many of them but I'm always surprised at the number of solid fabrics she collected for the star points.  We had a very little shop in our small town that sold fabric.  Not a lot of variety and I sure don't remember Grandma buying much there.  So I have to wonder how she came by all of the solids. 

I plan to share the blocks as I make them, hoping that others will enjoy looking at these vintage (and sometimes funky) fabrics.  If you get bored with that, let me know and I'll quit posting them.  I'm also labeling these posts so you can always search for "Brilliant Star Block" and pull them all up. 

These are the blocks I've done since last night. Still not prefect points..but passable for me at least.

Couldn't really find a good way to orient this stripes..so it's just....well.....interesting!

I love this plaid

I wasn't sure how to press this block but finally decided on this

Would anyone do it differently? 

Off to do more piecing.  I should be cleaning up my sewing room.....but piecing is more fun.