Winter is officially here, the longest day of the year has passed and we are headed back to the light. But that journey still extends through a few more months of cold and snow. So, we Midwesterners are always hungry for a dose of color to add some zest to the gray days. Well, here is a kick of color to get you through the last week of the year. These projects are all made with fabric from my Cool Breeze collection for FreeSpirit, designs so cheerful that they’ll make you grin in spite of the gloom.
First up we have this graphic lap size quilt, 48” square. The pattern is based on a traditional square in a square block with sashing and borders. It combines all three color ways of the Cool Breeze fabrics.
The block begins with 6” fussy cut Butterfly square (cut 6 1/2”). The butterfly is surrounded by half square triangles from the Dapper Dandy design. The dandelions are then framed by half square triangles of Plaid fabric, fussy cut so the stripes change color with the right angle of the shape.
These blocks are framed with fussy cut sashing of Over-the-Top Dots. The blue color way of Pinks make the border along with some more fussy cut butterflies in the corners.
The piecing is very easy, it is the fabric which makes it look so fancy. And the beautiful quilting my Carol Ann McCandless is the icing on the cake. She has a steady hand and a good eye! She has also perfected the technique of using two threads through the needle of her long arm machine to make the heavy line of stitching that I love. Wouldn’t this make a happy baby quilt?
We liked this little quilt so much that we had to make some matching pillowcases, too! The body of these cases are Cool Breeze fabrics and the others are “vintage” Sassaman from my stash. If you have your own Sassaman stash, you will find that the fabrics play together nicely from season to season.
But wait! A good quilt top deserves a good backing, too. Here is the back. It was pieced with 6 1/2” strips of Plaid fabric in all three colorways. Then the pieced strips were cut again into crossways strips and rearranged before they were sewn back together. After that the side borders were added. I think I like the back as much as the front!
Holy cow, we can’t stop now! Here’s a super pieced pillow to top it all off.
The four blocks are composed of fussy cut squares of the Pinks fabric, blue colorway, for a kaleidoscope effect. The blocks are framed with sashing.
The pillow top is quilted with 12 weight Sew Sassy thread. The back has simple overlapping halves and some nice big buttons for closures. It is bound with bias strips of the Plaid fabric. Diagrams for both the quilt top and the pieced pillow are below. The pillowcase pattern can be purchased in is my webstore.
All fabric is from FreeSpirit
Cool Breeze Butterfly Quilt top yardage:
Butterflies – blue, pink – PWJS 086 – 1/4 yard each
Butterflies – yellow – PWJS 086 – 1/2 yard
Plaid – blue, pink, yellow – PWJS 090 – 2/3 yard each
Dapper Dandies – blue, pink, yellow – PWJS – 1/4 yard each
Pretty Pinks – blue – PWJS 087 – 2/3 yard
Over-the-Top Dots – blue – PWJS 089 – 2/3 yard
Over-the-Top Dots – yellow – PWJS 089 – 1/2 yard
