St Patrick's Day Plus

This St Patrick's Day throw sets Plus blocks — the traditional Cross — so plum velvet pluses sit on candle cream like dark shamrocks, without a stitch of green. Forty-eight eight-inch blocks, six across and eight down, are divided by one-and-a-half-inch ribbon-gold sashings, cream squares at every crossing. A two-inch cream band and a three-and-a-half-inch plum frame close the edge. Finished size is 66½ by 85½ inches.

Cut nine squares for each Plus: five plum for the centre and arms, four cream for the corners. Sew three rows of three, then nest the middle seam so the arms lock. Press toward the plum so the cream corners stay flat against the gold.

Ribbon gold is the coin-coloured path; cream holds the light; plum is the St Patrick's Day motif and the outer wrap. A maker who enjoys nine-patch rows and will square each eight-inch Plus before the sashings go on will manage this throw. Fold it over the hall settle after Mass in March, or keep it on the window seat where the parade passes. Buyers receive yardage for the three solids, cutting for the eight-inch Plus, the sewing order, and the 6-by-8 layout.