Delaware Quilts

Comet Star or Perpetual Motion

This isn't a new block, but one that I decided to change the background color to and add it to my star quilt, and when I did I realized it made a great star. A friend told me the spinning motion made it look like a comet, so I'm calling this my comet star. The traditional name is perpetual motion.

For a 12 1/2 inch (12 inch finished in a quilt) Comet Star or Perpetual Motion block you will need
      from your star color one, cut two 4 7/8 inch squares and one 4 1/2 inch square
      from your star color two, cut two 4 7/8 inch squares
      from your sky background cut four 4 7/8 inch squares


This block is made up of a lot of diagonal half squares. (You can find directions with diagrams for making diagonal half squares by following this link. .)

You need to use all the star color 4 7/8 inch squares with the sky background 4 7/8 inch squares to make diagonal half squares. You will end up with four color one/background diagonal half squares and four color two/background diagonal half squares.


Now you just sew all those diagonal half squares together. Make two sets like this


and one set like this


Assemble as shown in the diagram here and your perpetual motion block is complete. It should measure 12 1/2 inches exactly.




Here are the cuts needed to make Comet Stars in many different sizes (smaller & larger):
      Cutting your squares 1 1/2 inches (1 7/8 for triangles) will give you a finished block of 3 inches.
      Cutting your squares 2 inches (2 3/8 for triangles) will give you a finished block of 4 1/2 inches.
      Cutting your squares 2 1/2 inches (2 7/8 for triangles) will give you a finished block of 6 inches.
      Cutting your squares 3 inches (3 3/8 for triangles) will give you a finished block of 7 1/2 inches.
      Cutting your squares 3 1/2 inches (3 7/8 for triangles) will give you a finished block of 9 inches.
      Cutting your squares 4 inches (4 3/8 for triangles) will give you a finished block of 10 1/2 inches.
      Cutting your squares 4 1/2 inches (4 7/8 for triangles) will give you a finished block of 12 inches.
      Cutting your squares 5 1/2 inches (5 7/8 for triangles) will give you a finished block of 15 inches.
      Cutting your squares 6 1/2 inches (6 7/8 for triangles) will give you a finished block of 18 inches.
Finished means after the block is sewn into a quilt.

Comet Star © Delaware Quilts February 2006
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Updated June 4, 2020

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