What do you do when you offer to make your friend a quilt for their new home, they ask for a Christmas quilt and none of the patterns seem quite right? You design your own! And that’s exactly how I designed my first published quilt pattern.

First, I made a trial block with some some scraps of Christmas fabric from my drawer full of Christmas fabrics. I love working with scraps; every one of these fabrics has a special meaning or memory. For this reason, I wrote the pattern to facilitate making a scrappy quilt, as well as making a version using yardage, fat quarters or even a layer cake!

Next, I couldn’t resist seeing how it would look with other colours and fabrics. My cover quilt is made with fabrics from the collection Stellar by Rashida Coleman-Hale for Ruby Star Society (Moda Fabrics). To make the pattern pop, I made sure to add enough contrast between the fabrics in the nine patch center of the gifts / stars.

Finally, I made the Christmas version for my friend using fabrics from the Merry Merry collection by Kate Spain. When my youngest saw the quilt blocks up on my design wall, he wanted to know if this quilt was for our home (unfortunately, no), so I had to start another version for my own family using some hoarded Polar Magic fabrics by designer Lemonni for Figo Fabrics from my stash. I fell in love with that collection last year and am so happy I get to use it now!

The You’re a Gift quilt pattern is now for sale in my Etsy shop.