vintage

Aran Star Pillow

I am more than a little smitten by the intricate cable designs of Aran knitting. Needless to say, I had to design an Aran Star as part of my knitting star quilt pattern set. This was the first block I made with that background fabric and all was well. Then I made the Fair Isle star block with the same background fabric, but scaled it to 94% by mistake. By that time I was completely out of that fabric since I only had a fat quarter to begin with.

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I couldn’t use just the one block, the Fair Isle Star, with a different background on the mini. So I remade both of the blocks with a completely different background and made pillows with the discarded blocks. Quilting was a little tricky on this block. I had to play with the lines quite a bit before I was happy with the design.

Orphan blocks make great pillow cases and they are easy to store too. If I get tired of this set, I can always make new ones and change them out for a new look. I set all the pillows on the corner of the day bed in my husband’s office, leaned against a body pillow. I will make a more decorative cover for the big pillow, but this is already one step closer to making the home office a little more pleasant. I like to spend time there as well, since my favourite bookshelf is in that room. This way I have also made myself a very comfortable corner in that room to settle down with a book. I have a quilt in the making for that bed, I will share the designs for it very soon.

Behind Blue Eyes

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The alternate stars with the blue background actually worked a lot better on the mini.

I had to share this photo of Mr. Montague one more time. His quilt is also on the same bed where the pillows are and he still loves to sleep on it. So it all worked out really well in the end!

-Soma

Fair Isle Star Pillow And Drawing Cards

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Last year, during my attempt to learn a little about the history of knitting, I designed a few star quilt patterns that were inspired by traditional knitting patterns. I had picked up a set of Grandma’s House fat quarters earlier, which I used to make these stars for a mini quilt. Unfortunately, once I finished making this block, I realised that I had printed it at 94%. So I had to remake this one for the mini and ended up with an orphan block.

Purchase Fair Isle Star Pattern

This year I am taking care of almost all my orphan blocks and some of them are being turned into pillows for the guest bed in my husband’s office. Apart from making the office a pleasant place for him to work from, I also have a selfish reason for this. My favourite bookshelf is in that room, so sometimes I like to read in there. The guest bed will be much more comfortable with all the pillows in the back. Once I had gotten over being upset at my own mistake, I knew that I would love to turn this Fair Isle star quilt block into a pillow. I am working on the other matching pillow this week.

Here is another set of index card drawings from the icad project