The Almost-a-Quilt of Good Intentions

       I have been enrolled in an ongoing quilt class at Cottonpickers', my local quilt shop.  The class is called "Marti and Me".  As a member of the class, each month I am taught new quilting techniques and how to use the Marti Mitchell acrylic templates.  Since I've been enrolled for a number of months I've accumulated quite a few sets of templates to go with my ever-growing collection of acrylic quilting rulers.  These calibrated pieces of plastic make the quilting of intricate designs so easy.  And one of the goals is do execute the design without any set-in seams.
      As I was sitting at my sewing table the other night, completing an assignment for my next class, and surrounded by a pile of acrylic templates, I thought of Aunt Tillie and Grandma.  Boy would they have been amazed to see the tools I was using.  They probably wouldn't have bought them for themselves because templates cost money. But all the same, they would have been amazed.  And I could say the same for the rotary cutter.  These are tools I use everyday.  But when I first learned to quilt they weren't even around.
      II remember a number of years ago I  wanted to make a quilt that was more intrcate than my eggplant quilts.  I decided that my quilt should be just like one of Aunt Tillie's quilt.  I had every confidence that I accomplish this goal!!  I would change the design just a little from one she had made me.

        This is how the block was designed to turn out. The fabric would be a coordinating solid and print with a lemon yellow background.  There were 24 pieces to each block and they were shaped using 3 cardboard templates and cut with dressmaking shears.  I remember tracing and cutting every piece individually.

      As I recall, the center, six-point star was fairly easy.  All straight seams.  It was the spokes around the star that were difficult because it was loaded with set-in seams (the place where three pieces come together).    

   Now, this is where I should display a picture of the finished quilt.  But Alas!!  That's as far as my good intentions got.  Today I have a nice little pile of THIRTY-ONE completed blocks ready to put together.  Why didn't I ever finish it?  Probably for the same reason I have 7 quilt tops hanging in my closet ready to be put together.  

You know, it would make a really pretty quilt.  I should finish it. 

I wonder how Marti Mitchell would construct this block?