Star totes - Building Blocks Tuesday

I finally settled on 2 blocks options for my upcoming paper piecing class next month.

The first I am calling the 8 Carat Star.

I love the way that Alison Glass purple looks with the other prints.  I may have to order more of it.

I am sure this block is very similar to many PP stars out there.  Frankly, I think it would be impossible to not come up with this design if you are starting from a basic four patch in EQ7 and trying to create radiating triangles without needing more than 8 templates.

The second, I am calling the Velvet Star.

This one looks really great in a quilt layout too.  I may put that one together for a pattern over the summer (IF I can figure out how to make EQ's templates play more nicely with the printer; I've been having a lot of trouble with this).

For my class, I am having participants choose one block or the other, and we will be making this cute little tote with a couple of adjustments.

I made this tote strictly as a prototype, but then it started looking really nice.  So, my 2nd daughter claimed it as "hers".  Those handles are just the right size for her, but not so much for a grown woman.  They need to be longer and that is definitely one of the adjustments for the final pattern for the class.

I will be making another sample for the class soon, but I need to finish up a few minis for swaps, etc. first.

What blocks have you working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up