Hudson Bay Point Blanket Quilt and Free Pattern

If I could figure out how, I'd move to a wintery cabin in the woods for the rest of my life.

Ok maybe not the rest of my life. But I would go there often.

I like blankets. I like making them. I like snuggling them. My faux fur and fleece throw from Target is one of my favorite possessions. Just give me a warm crackling fire while the icy wind howls outside and I am one happy girl.

I've loved Hudson Bay Point Blankets for a little while now, but when I saw the Purl Bee's knitted baby blanket version, I was pretty inspired. So I decided to make a quilted version.

*UPDATE: This quilt has now been listed in my etsy store*

When I told a few people what I was making, instead of responding with, 'ohhh, a quilted Hudson Bay Point Blanket, why didn't I think of that,' they just stared at me. Nobody had any idea what the hell I was talking about. So allow me to give a little background.

Hudson Bay Point Blankets were heavy wool blankets made in the 1700's and 1800's to be traded amongst fur trappers in Canada and the native Indian tribes that lived there. At that time they were highly sought after for being very warm in the brutal Canadian winters.

photo courtesy of vintagebutterfly94

The traditional stripes of indigo, yellow, red and green became popular and were easily reproduced with colorfast dyes of that era.

Now they are iconic collector's items. And guess what, the British company is still in business and still making blankets.

The smaller indigo hash marks along the right edge are actually a nifty little feature - they allowed those trading with the blankets to know the size of the blanket without unfolding it. That's why they are called point blankets. The more hash marks or points, the bigger the blanket. Cool huh? I think so, at least.

Instead of doing solid stripes, I pieced each stripe with three different solids. I wanted the final product to really read 'quilt,' so I was going for that patchy look. The green was a little tricky because it was more of a bluish kelly green [like the 'jungle green' Crayola crayon, the colors from a box of 64 will forever be the basis of my color identification]. I added in a few teal blocks with regular kelly green and I think, from a distance, the effect kind of works.

The back is a homespun looking maroon and tan gingham. I thought it added to the wintery-cabiny-snuggliness.

For the binding I used a navy plaid.

The quilt's dimensions are about 48" x 78". Perfect for sitting in the sunny grass.

This quilt, by the way, is what I made from my rainbowlicious stack of fabrics that I've mentioned a few times. Here is a picture of that stack, appearing for the record third time on my blog:

If you'd like to make your own Hudson Bay Blanket quilt, here are some quickie directions for piecing the top. Please leave a comment if you have any questions! Note: I did not include dimensions for all the piecing in each colored stripe. I honestly just did it randomly and stopped when it was the right length. So just piece a random strip, then trim it down to the dimensions listed below. Also, for all the A and B white strips, I actually pieced them together in 2 parts, since I was cutting crosswise on the fabric and could only get a 43"ish strip. But if you want you could get enough fabric to be able to cut 48" lengthwise and cut those pieces all as one piece. Make sense I hope?

CUTTING:
A: 6.25" x 48" [cut 2 from white]
B: 3.25" x 48"[cut 6 from white and 2 each from red, yellow, green and blue]
C: 41.5" x 33" [cut 1 from white]
D: 1.25" x 7" [cut 3 from dark blue]
E: 2.5" x 7" [cut 1 from white]
F: 2" x 7" [cut 2 from white]
G: 26.25" x 7" [cut 1 from white]

Use a 1/4" seam allowance.

Join one A piece and 7 B pieces, working from A in towards the center, in the following order: A, B[blue], B[white], B[yellow], B[white], B[red], B[white], B[green]. Repeat for other set of A and B pieces.

Join D pieces with F pieces in this order: D, F, D, F, D.

Join E piece to one end of F/D piece and G to other end.

Join pieced hash mark strip to short end of C.

Join one striped piece to each side of center white piece.

Colette Patterns Book Signing This Weekend!

If you live in the LA area, you should definitely come to Sew LA in Silver Lake this Saturday night [Feb 18th] at 6pm.

Sarai Mitnick, the founder and designer of the awesome pattern company Colette Patterns, will be there signing copies of her new book, the Colette Sewing Handbook.

This book is beautiful! It's chock full of sewing knowledge, gorgeous photos and cute projects.

Colette Patterns has released over 20 individual patterns so far. They're all very cute and unique with a touch of vintage flair. I have a Ceylon dress pattern sitting on my sewing table that I'm planning on wearing to the book signing [definitely have to get my act together and make that...].

All Colette Patterns will be 20% off that night, AND if you wear something you've made from a Colette Pattern, you will get an additional 10% off!

There will also be drinks and goodies [macarons, eclairs, spiked tea, etc] and a fun photobooth. It's free and no RSVP is needed. I hope I'll see you there!

[p.s. happy valentine's day! I'm not feeling very valentiney this year but if you're doing something I hope it's extra special.]

Goodbye, Mr. Fox

On Saturday morning, I unexpectedly lost one of the dearest and sweetest parts of my life - my cat Fox.

This is a pretty long post with a lot of pictures, so the rest of it is after the jump...

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Balsamic & Brown Sugar

I love brussels sprouts.

I avoided them for a long time because of their terrible reputation. From movies, tv and general pop culture I associated them with those long parent-child torture sessions where they make you sit at the table for hours until you eat all your vegetables.

But then I tried them, and I loved them. They are quick and easy to saute. They taste great and have a nice little crunch. And they look like miniature Barbie-sized cabbages. What more can you ask for in a healthy vegetable?

So if we add a little brown sugar, a little balsamic vinegar, and a little bacon, things can only get better.

Gratuitous close up of brown sugar. Mmmmm.

I only recently realized you can buy bacon at the meat counter. I mean, single slice bacon purchase, where have you been all my life?? It's the perfect way to buy just a little bacon for a recipe and not be blessed with stuck with an entire package of bacon to use up. Maybe everyone already knew this. But I didn't.

This recipe makes a side serving for two people [the amount in the bowl is one serving]. So if you need more, just double and triple as needed. It would be a great side for a romantic V-day dinner! Also if you'd like it to be vegan/vegetarian, just omit the bacon and start right with sauteing the sprouts, it'll still be pretty good. I haven't tried it with veggie bacon, I have a feeling it just wouldn't be right. But try if you're braver than me.

So here's what I did [recipe follows at bottom]. First, cut off the bottom of each Barbie cabbage, then cut it in half lengthwise. The outermost little leaves will fall off. It's ok.

Then rinse thoroughly. I do this after cutting because we're getting rid of the outer layers anyway, so why spend time washing them?

Then dice the bacon and saute it in a skillet at medium high heat until just crisp. Pour out the bacon and grease onto a paper towel to drain.

Whoops, no picture. We all know what cooking bacon looks like, right?

Now heat olive oil in the skillet. Place all the sprouts with the cut sides down into the pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Saute at medium low heat for about three minutes, until bottoms start to caramelize and tops start turning a darker, vibrant green.

Pour vinegar over sprouts. I usually pour two turns of the pan. After the vinegar sizzles around for thirty seconds, flip all the sprouts over. Tongs are the best tool for this.

Take a second to admire the pretty colors. After another minute of cooking, add the bacon back in. Toss and cook for another 30 seconds.

Turn out into a bowl and serve.

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Balsamic & Brown Sugar

makes 2 side servings

Ingredients:

1/2 lb brussels sprouts

2 slices bacon

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp brown sugar, not packed

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt to taste

1. Cut off the bottom of each sprout, then slice in half vertically. Rinse.

2. Dice bacon. Saute bacon in skillet over medium heat until just crisp. Reserve bacon. Pour off drippings.

3. Heat olive oil in skillet. Place sprouts in skillet, cut sides down. Sprinkle with sugar. Saute over medium low heat for about 3 minutes or until bottoms start to caramelize and tops start turning bright green.

4. Pour vinegar over sprouts and shake pan to distribute. Cook for 30 seconds. Turn all sprouts over and cook for another minute.

5. Add reserved bacon to sprouts. Toss and cook for 30 seconds. Salt to taste if necessary [I usually don't add salt, remember the bacon is already salty]. Serve.

Sew LA Class Photos

Last night was the final session of my Square Knot Clutch class at Sew LA, and it could not have gone better!

Everybody was so happy with their clutch when they were finished, which made me even happier.

They were even brave / willing / gung-ho enough to add impromptu wrist straps. And they turned out so darn cute, I just might add it to the pattern.

If you missed this Square Knot Clutch class, don't fret, there's another one on two Saturdays in March that you can sign up for.

Thanks for the warm welcome, Sew LA!