Cozy up in the cold

With this week's Polar Vortex (is it 2014 again?), sharing a toasty winter quilt seemed appropriate. Kymberly Pease used the cool hues of our Winter Blues collection to make North Wind, a monochromatic half-square triangle beauty that you can curl up under on chilly days. Find the pattern in the winter 2014 issue of Easy Quilts magazine.

"North Wind" by Kymberly Pease; quilted by Kristen Hoftyzer;

featured in Easy Quilts Winter 2014

Q. What attracted you to the Winter Blues fabrics? How did you choose which shades of blue to use for this quilt?

Kymberly: After accepting the pattern Fons and Porter asked me to make a quilt using aqua and navy. Since this quilt was going to be in the winter issue of Easy Quilts, I fell in love with the Winter Blues fabric line. I like that these fabrics make a winter quilt that is okay to stay out past Christmas.

Q. Tell us about making a monochromatic quilt.

Kymberly: Most of my quilts are monochromatic. I struggle with choosing fabrics that compliment each other. I find it much easier to choose a single color and play with different shades of that color.

Q. Tell us about your pattern--did you play around with the block placement before settling on the final design? 

Kymberly: Last year I started working on the Farmer's Wife quilt. I began playing with several of the blocks to see how they worked on their own. After reading "Vintage Quilts" I liked the idea of twisting blocks to discover secondary patterns. I began experimenting with the Flock block and was surprised when the pinwheels popped out at me.

Q. What do you like best about the quilt?

Kymberly: I love that this quilt looks so much more complicated than it is. It's almost like the quilt contains a secret since it's all made from a single block that gets lost in the secondary design.

Q. Any challenges in making this quilt?

Kymberly: I think the biggest challenge with this quilt was working on the deadline. I had a month from getting the fabric before I needed to send it back. Ideally I would spread all of the triangle trimming out over a couple of weeks, but instead I sewed and trimmed 300+ triangles in a couple of days.

Q. Can you talk to us about the machine quilting? 

Kymberly: Since we were working on a tight deadline Kristen (my longarmer) and I wanted to choose a simple design. I like how the stippling softens the sharp lines of the block.

Q. What do you envision this quilt being used for?

Kymberly: I've had this quilt on my couch ever since it came back from Fons and Porter. It is so comfy to curl up at the end of the day while watching t.v. with my family.

Q. Anything else you'd like to share about this quilt?

Kymberly: I've heard some people say that they love this quilt, but don't have the skills to do it. This really is a very easy quilt that anyone can make.

See the entire Winter Blues collection here.

Learn more about Kymberly here.

Find the kit for this quilt here.

Find Easy Quilts here.