Gwen Johnson’s latest quilt starts with an eight-point star in brown, slate blue and a neutral pastel. Triangles come next and to finish, she surrounds the block with a frame of blue and brown.

Donna Sue Groves once mused that an old barn would look nicer if draped in a quilt. When she painted a quilt block design onto wood in honor of her mother’s beautiful handmade quilts, that simple idea ...