Rifle Paper Co. Holiday Nordic Star Quilt

My patterns are in the works for a very long time before they make it into your hands. Back in February 2021, when I already had this pattern in the works and I was working on writing the instructions, I fell in love with the Rifle Paper Co. Holiday Classics collection. I’m already a big fan of Rifle Paper Co. fabrics, and this one was no exception. I love how classic and victorian it feels, all while having whimsical Nutcracker references.

Shop Nordic Star:

No sooner had I seen the collection then I mocked up a holiday Nordic Star quilt. All the heart eyes for this one you guys. Instead of using the ombre fabric requirements in the pattern, I wanted to make each block out of a different fabric from the collection. This would allow me to use this collection to its fullest.

If you want to do this too, you’ll need a 3/8 yard cut of fabric for each block. You can find more detailed information in this post.

Even though I wasn’t using every print in the collection (there’s an astonishing 29 prints in the collection and Nordic Star only has 20 blocks) I bought a half-yard bundle with plans for using up the remaining 1/8 yd of the prints I did use, as well as using up the remaining 1/2 yd prints.

Because the throw size Nordic Star has 20 blocks, and the coordinating lap size of Wonderie has 21 blocks, I chose an additional print from the collection to make the final Wonderie block. I love how well this collection lends itself to an ombre gradient, even though at first glance you wouldn’t think it would. I set the blocks to go from dark red to dark green, with lighter colors fading into the neutrals of the collection.

With the remaining fabrics, I’m planning a Starlite quilt. Starlite is already so scrap friendly that it lended itself beautifully to using up all the bits leftover from this holiday Nordic Star quilt. I knew that I wanted to use the reds and greens for the stars: very Christmas, very traditional. Very different from the other holiday quilts I’ve made in the past, if I’m being honest! This left me with the decision to either use all the blue prints as the “chain” part of the quilt (Color 3) or the remaining white/cream fabrics. I mocked up both and ultimately liked the white ones better. In an effort to make sure the chain wouldn’t get lost among the background fabric, I chose a light blue fabric for the background. In person, this fabric has a slight green undertone that matches really well with the holiday fabric collection.

I did purchase extra of the Festive Stripe fabric from the collection to bind my Nordic Star and Wonderie quilts. Note that the stripes on this fabric run selvage to selvage, meaning if you want to use it for binding, you’ll want to purchase at least a yard and cut it parallel with the selvage or be okay with LOTS of binding ends.

I decided for the Starlite quilt not to buy additional binding. My plan is to use a fabric from the collection that didn’t make it into any of the quilts or create a scrappy binding.

I have yet to cut into these fabrics because I’ve been hard at work on my blue Ombre and Unruly Nature Nordic Star versions, but it is my next project! I’m fairly certain when I’m done there will be some prints I haven’t used at all – the light blue prints spring immediately to mind – so I will need to figure out a project for those at some point. However, three quilts out of one 1/2 yard bundle seems like a pretty amazing amount to me, and I’m really, really excited about this one. Fingers crossed I can finish them all before the holidays!

Shop Related Products: