Winter Star

Pieced By:

Cassandra Philpot

Quilted By

Monika McKinlay of Make IT Quilted

Description:

The Winter Star began life many moons ago, February 2019 to be exact. Cassandra’s love of blue had her pulling out from her shelves as many shades of it as possible when a new die arrived and had to be tried out. Of course then she found all the shades do not go together in a single quilt nor enjoy the same contrast background so the blues ended up in three sets, with their own white equivalent. Then they were put away to be worked on some other time, when some setting inspiration had struck. This year, following the onset of Covid-19 restrictions, she thought she would set the blocks on point and do alternate blocks of a related style but simpler. With the help of EQ8, it was possible to draw up alternatives and see what the full layout would look like. Paper templates were printed, fabric cut, blocks made, sashing attached, then borders added. The whole quilt now perfectly reflected the winter season that she and her family enjoy on the ski slopes. Close friend Monika was then given the task of quilting the piece to set off the blocks and the theme.

Monika chose digital designs to play on the wintery cold winds by using swirls in the sashing and spirals in dark blue blocks, snowflakes in large blocks and corner stones, as well as extending the snowflakes into the borders to provide continuation of the blocks. Stars are extended into infinity on the corners of the quilt. The corner stone snowflakes are stitched in gold to give the quilt a touch of sparkle. The majority of the quilt uses thin Glide60 thread to provide texture and let the fabrics show their patterns. Stitching-in-the-ditch gives the blocks a nice frame to display the patchwork while straight lines radiate out on the borders. Just in time for the snow in the USA!!

Quilted On:

Computerized Quilting Machine

Pattern Source:

Traditional Design in Public Domain

Techniques:

Cut with Accuquilt block on board system. Machine pieced. Computerised quilting with pattern design and modification including SID.