I’m so happy with the second version of the Vira quilt pattern that I made during the quiltalong back a few months ago. The first version was intended to be my own take on a non-traditional red, white, and blue star quilt. Because…why not? For this one, I decided to use blues for the stars. I have so many blues in my stash. Solids, prints, yarn dyes… SO many blues. It was easy to focus in on cooler blues instead of more warmer blues (those with an undertone of a bit of red, or other warmth).

But as I was pulling fabrics and inspiration for this new version, I realized that I was essentially using kind of the same palette as the first one, with color positions shifted a little. I decided to continue on with it and I love how it turned out. It is basically the same colors, but boy does it look different!

The same… but different…

This time, I didn’t randomly place blocks in the same way I did the first version. The blue stars darken gradually as your eye travels down the quilt. Which is such a fun way to play with color value. At the top, the light stars really visually “float” above the background, and almost seem to disappear. But down at the bottom, the darker stars feel heavier against the background. And the overall color of the stars gradually deepens as your eye travels from the top to the bottom of the layout.

As with the first version of Vira, the stars are all solids, no prints. They are small, and I think they work best as solids.

Have your own quiltalong this summer!

Did you know that I keep the content for all my quiltalongs available for you to revisit or start at any time? The Vira Quiltalong all lives on its own page. There are weekly videos, tips, and hints that are shared with you all along. All to help you reimagine the fabrics that are just sitting in your stash, waiting for you to get inspired to use them.