A Winter Star quilt in spring with summer riiiight around the corner?
Yup! This one is for my fellow quilters currently gearing up for winter in the Southern Hemisphere! Or, to inspire anyone tackling Christmas in July who wants to get a head start on holiday projects 😉 (I keep meaning to give this a try!)
The Winter Star Quilt Pattern is available for instant digital download in the shop.
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The story behind the Forest Talk Winter Star quilt
In all fairness, I actually made this quilt when it was the dead of winter and we were experiencing a polar vortex here in Montreal. It was some of the coldest winter days that saw me all snuggled up underneath this quilt while hand-stitching away. Everyone was complaining about the cold and I was snug as a bug in my quilt!
Who the Winter Star quilt was designed for
Well, not MY quilt, my mum’s actually. I totally designed this version of my Winter Star quilt pattern with her in mind and with the intention of gifting it as a Christmas present. The fact that it didn’t actually get handed over to her until Mother’s Day is an entirely different story altogether!
Instead, this is the story of how the Forest Talk Winter Star quilt came to be.
An unexpected Instagram win kicked things off
It all started when I won a fat quarter bundle of Cathy Nordström’s Crisp Forest Talk fabric collection for Andover Fabrics. It was an Instagram giveaway that I vaguely remember entering.
I never think I’m going to win these Instagram giveaways and usually participate because I want to support a fellow designer or because I’ve been tagged! So, to get the notice from Cathy that I’d won was super surprising.
Why those colours?
There were two colourways to choose from – green/purple or blue/red. I’m not usually a fan of red, but my mum LOVES red and since I hadn’t made her a quilt yet, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to do so.
With a quick email to Cathy with my fabric choice and mailing info, I got to thinking of what quilt design would be a good fit for the collection. The prints are super cute – especially those bunnies – what is it about bunnies?!
Matching fabrics with the right quilt pattern
My mum’s décor tends to be more on the traditional side and since it was a fat quarter bundle heading my way, I wanted a pattern that would use all the prints. My Winter Star quilt pattern was perfect on both counts. Based on the fabrics you choose; the pattern can look either super modern or very traditional. And the scale of the prints was perfect for the star block design.
How the fabric pull came together
The only thing left to decide was the background fabric and how to pair up those fun prints!
Once I received the bundle, which took quite a while since it was coming from Europe, I sat one afternoon and played with the pairings.
That was the fun part!
Getting to decide which combos looked best was so satisfying. When isn’t playing with fabric the best?! There were lots of ways I could have gone here, but I love the combos I ended up choosing.
Since I only had an FQ bundle, I needed some additional fabric to make a generous lap size. Plus, I needed some yardage for binding.
To help pull the collection together, I initially thought I would use a light blue Linen Texture fabric from Makower UK. Once I had it on the cutting table, it looked amazing with the collection, but I was worried it wouldn’t be my mum’s cup of tea. So, I opted instead for my trusty Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Flax by Robert Kauffman. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve found a project where that linen doesn’t work!
The one choice that was a no-brainer was the red Linen Texture fabric from Makower UK. Thankfully, my friends over at Madabout Patchwork were super helpful in bringing some in specifically for me. I couldn’t find the red anywhere and they worked with their supplier to get it in. That’s what I love about local quilt shops. They’re ALL about customer service. You can read more about why I love them here. See the full list of 50+ online fabric shops.
Quilting featured on the Winter Star quilt
There are quite a few quilting designs featured in this quilt.
It took me quite a bit of time to finish it all up, but it was a great reminder that the time invested in a quilt always pays off (at least I haven’t regretted my quilty efforts thus far!). I opted to play around with quilting in the negative space between the stars using a square diamond shape.
This involved quite a bit of thread burying (learn how to here), which is not a personal favourite task of mine (hence why my Molinari-inspired mini is still a WIP). But I’ve learned that if you bury as you go it’s not so bad.
I then added some big stitch hand quilting detail using DMC pearl cotton thread in size 8 between those quilted lines. This bit is what took me forever, but I love the look from the back. Don’t you?!
Quilt binding details
The binding was another element that I really enjoyed. I really love the classic combo of navy and red and feel the small scale of the Blue Crosses print really frames the quilt perfectly. I love when a binding choice works out!
And finally, you know me by now that I don’t consider a quilt finished until it’s been labeled. As always, trimmings from my project inspired this pretty little detail. You too can make your own – see all my DIY Quilt Label tips here (and get the free pattern).
Oh, and don’t toss those selvages, they really do eventually come in handy. Case in point – rather than dipping into my ribbon stash, I opted to dip into my selvage and thin trimmings! Here are the selvages from the backing fabric I used for the quilt. Nothing like a “free” ribbon that coordinates with your project 😉
Refer to the Quilt Binding Tutorial series to learn all there is to know about binding!
Materials featured
Here are the materials and notions I used to stitch up this Winter Star quilt:
- Winter Star Quilt Pattern
- Crisp Forest Talk Fat Quarter Bundle by Cathy Nordstöm for Andover Fabrics
- Forest Talk Blue Crosses
- Forest Talk Red Jumping Rabbits
- Forest Talk Blue Mountain Flora
- Linen Texture in Red from Makower UK
- Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Flax by Robert Kaufman Fabrics
- Aurifil Thread 40wt in Silver White for quilting
- DMC Pearl Cotton Ecru thread for hand quilting
- These needles for hand quilting
I love how this one turned out, I’m tempted to make another! So much so, I’m tempted to make another! I know I’ve said this before, but that’s what I truly love about quilting. You can work with the same pattern but have a completely different end result just by switching up your colourway. The original version I designed back in 2017 had a very Scandinavian look.
Download the Winter Star quilt pattern to make your own!
Happy quilting!
xo
Shannon
PS Adding this pretty to Finish it up Friday hosted by Crazy Mom Quilts and knocking it off my Q2 2018 FAL List!
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Congratulations on the pattern release. 🙂 I love the hand stitching details, and my guess is that your mom is going to love this quilt for years.
Thank you, Yvonne! I really love the hand stitching too! I just wish it didn't take so long – I'd totally want to hand quilt ALL my projects 😉
I love this version and I’m sure your mom is going to love it too! I’ve already made one quilt with your pattern (baby size), but you’ve now inspired me to try it out in a larger lap size. I’ve got a fat quarter bundle that’s been sitting in my stash forever and it would be perfect for it!
Oh, I can’t wait to see your new version, Izzy! Don’t you just love a pattern that uses up those fat quarter bundles?!
Just beautiful
That is SO sweet of you, thank you!
This so very pretty. I like the different colors you used! Good work!
Thank you so much, Carol! Thrilled you like the fabric pairings.