Pattern

Purchase Twilight Star Pattern

I drew this star quilt pattern some time last year. I remember making this block shortly after designing it, but then it got lost among the ever-growing list of projects. Last weekend, it resurfaced and moved up to the top of the list of quilts I want to make this year.

The idea for this star pattern came to me shortly after our Norway vacation. One of my long-time dreams was to go to Svalbard, Norway, and that happened in 2012.

Esmark Glacier, Svalbard, Norway

We went to see the the Esmark glacier from there. The sharp edges of the ice formation and the colours of the glacier were the inspiration for this star. I imagine the aqua pieces in the block are breaking off and moving away from the middle. I made this one after I made the much simpler Morning Star. This star is a little more complicated, a little more adventurous, so I called it The Twilight Star.

Purchase Twilight Star Pattern

After I made that one block, I started thinking about making a quilt. I wanted to make a Nordic-style quilt, keeping the cool ice-colour palette from my original block. I used part of the original design from the star quilt block and drew a smaller border design. I also started varying the colours a little and this was the resulting layout:

I then expanded the quilt layout to make a larger quilt. I think I was having too much fun with the colours to stop at the small layout and was looking for an excuse to keep playing.

The Nordic Star quilt pattern is now in my shop and includes the star and the border patterns along with colouring sheets for both patterns. The star quilt block is 10 inch x 10 inch and the border block is 10 inch x 4 inch.

Although I will be making mine by directly sewing on the paper, freezer paper piecing would work really well with one as well. It’s quite easy to sew triangles and rectangular pieces. I have almost all of the fabric I need to get started with this one.

Happy Quilting,
-Soma

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Castles Quilt Pattern

Purchase Castles Pattern Set

A couple of years ago, Ruth invited me to a wonky house swap on Flickr. I was at a loss what to make because Ruth, Sil and Sandy are expert wonky house designers. After a short while of thinking over many ideas, I decided to make 12 castles. I have loved castles since I was a little child, reading about the brave men and women defending the stronghold. I have quite often arranged our travel plans around cities with castles in them. So it was an easy choice for me and my swap-mates loved the idea. Along with the 4″ blocks that I made for them, I also made these 10″ blocks.

Castle Quilt Pattern

I found these three fabrics of different colours with foliage prints on them. I used the same white for the sashing and the binding, and other two for the two borders. I was reading a short story at the time which may have influenced my choice of putting foliage around the castles.

I quilted the main part with a yellow variegated thread and the outer border with a teal variegated thread. I didn’t want to add extra colour to the inner border, so I used a white thread for that one.

Castles Quilt Pattern

back of the quilt

Last weekend we drove up Napa Valley to the Culinary Institute Of America. The college is in a magnificent stone building surrounded by lichen and moss-covered stone walls. I knew I had to take my castle quilt there for a photo since the day I first clapped eyes on it.

Purchase Castles Pattern Set

Once we found a quiet spot my poor husband crouched down behind the quilt while holding it up for me. I took at least 10-12 shots with a manual focus lens (a lengthy process) before I decided I didn’t like any of them. So he found a way to anchor the quilt on the wall. Although I said I didn’t like the photo, I decided to show the photo anyway!

Pink Magnolia

The campus of the Culinary Institue of America has many magnolia trees and all of them were in full bloom. We walked around the campus for a little while, admiring these gorgeous flowers before driving to Calistoga, the neighbouring city nearby, for some pastry and coffee. It was a perfect day!

Links to individual castle quilt patterns –

January

February

March

June