A pdf download of one of my most popular quilt patterns, so you can start work on making your version straight away - no waiting for a paper pattern in the post!
 
Please download your pattern within 30 days of purchase.

This festive quilt combining sparkly seasonal prints with Japanese fabrics can be the highlight of your New Year celebrations - or make it in different fabrics to use at any time of year! The design is ideal for displaying large print fabrics, and I chose motifs for my original quilt which included pine, plum and bamboo (the traditional 'three friends of winter) with snowflakes, stars and other wintry prints. The main block is a simplified “Court House Steps” and is quick to piece. The quilt is tied and quilted in big-stitch. Finished size approx. 78in square.

'New Year's Eve in Yamagata City' is the quilt block design that my friends in Yuza Sashiko Guild use for their beginners' sashiko samplers (see the last photo), and it would be suitable to make an 11 x 11 block quilt using 121 squares from my 'Sashiko 365' book too - the block centres are the same size!

This quilt is seriously fat quarter friendly - apart from a few narrow border strips (which could be pieced), all the other blocks are made from a total of 27 fat quarters.

To make a quilt that is similar to mine, you will need -
nine fat quarters feature fabrics (for block centres & pieced border)
nine fat quarters dark fabrics (for block edges & pieced border)
nine fat quarters light fabrics (for block edges and pieced border)
plain borders (these can be pieced & scraps from the dark fabrics can be pieced to make the inner border) – two (1½ x 66½in) & two (1½ x 67½in) inner border; two (2½ x 76½in) & two (2½ x 80½in) outer border
cotton sewing thread to tone with fabrics
2 oz wadding (or another wadding of your choice) 80 x 80 inches
backing fabric slightly larger than 80 x 80 inches (this can be pieced)
approx. 160 yards thick thread in various colours for tying and big stitch (I used Medium Mercerised Cotton, hand dyed by Stef Francis, but any of my fine 4-ply or 3-ply sashiko threads would give a similar effect, or try 100m 6-ply medium mercerised cotton)
9½ yards binding (or ½ yard 44in wide fabric, if you make your own binding)
 
The pattern includes full colour step-by-step diagrams for making the blocks, plus an assembly diagrams for the quilt top, which could be printed off and coloured in as a reference guide for your fabrics. One is in greytone with the block reference numbers, and the other is an exploded outline only diagram, showing the construction order I used.

Basic quilting ideas are included - my quilt was very simply tied in the middle of each block, with big stitch quilting added down each block border strip (stitched as lines across the quilt rather than around each individual block), with a simple zigzag pattern in the border. It would look great longarm quilted with a pantograph pattern, but the quilt may be completed with whatever quilting design and binding method you like best.

Skill level - easy intermediate - the blocks themselves are very simple, but the fabrics need a little organisation! This quilt design includes making half square triangles using an easy method.

The quilt may be sewn by hand or machine.

Written permission is required to copy any part of this pattern or to use it for teaching. Purchase of the pattern entitles you to make any number of quilts for your own use or gifts, and up to ten quilts for sale. It is not intended for commercial production.

File size 20.1MB - 10 pages