Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Ready for Winter: Icy Cool

Holiday projects seem to fall into one of two categories--either they're Christmas-themed (Santa, reindeer, Christmas trees, etc.), or they're winter-themed (snowflakes, snowmen, etc.).
While everyone loves a great santa or tree quilt, the beauty of winter-themed quilts is a longer shelf life (or should we call it couch life?). Once January comes around and you've put away the Kris Kringles, red-nosed reindeer and uncooked pasta and Elmer's glue ornaments made by little Susie, a winter quilt will still rest comfortably on the couch, ready for snowy night snuggling.

Sue Harvey and Sandy Boobar of Pine Tree Country Quilts designed this Polar Stars quilt with that theory in mind. Scarf and hat-clad white bears from the Season's Greetings collection cozy up with simple coordinates for a quilt you can happily use from December through February.

"Polar Stars" by Sue Harvey and Sandy Boobar;
featured in Quilting for Christmas

A red and white star block alternates with a framed polar bear block to create diagonal "stripes" of blocks--a cool design that makes the most of its fabrics. Using solid white as the background adds a modern feel to the pattern and gives it a snowy feel; plus the primary colors pop off of all that white.

(One more advantage to a winter-long quilt: more time to get it finished and use it! It's always a bit anti-climactic to run out of time to finish a Christmas quilt before December 25th...by the time January rolls around, you've packed away your Elf on a Shelf until next year...who wants to bind a Christmas quilt?!)

See the entire Season's Greetings collection here.
Find a kit for Polar Stars here.
Find Quilting for Christmas here.


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