August 20, 2012

Christmas Quilt-a-long Quilt Finish


Hello there!  Today is my DD's first day back to school.  Right after she boarded the bus I ironed the fabric I'd been planning to use for the binding of the Christmas Quilt A Long Mystery Quilt.  Clearly by now the cat is out of the bag.  But I have a little surprise.  I made mine reversible.   Then I quilted it so that the back was on top.  Now the binding is all attached and I am very happy to claim a finish.  This year has been speeding by so fast I really haven't had the number of finishes that I expect of myself, but we all have our limits so I will be happy with what I have. 
Christmas Quilt-a-long Mystery Quilt Front
It took me a while to sort out how to make this Christmas Tree.  In the end I opted for making it the width and height I needed and allowing the angles to resolve themselves.  This method did create more waste but I believe the results are lovely.  The packages underneath the tree where something I hadn't planned to add but the tree with it's star on top just cried out for gifts.
Christmas Quilt Back
The quilting is stars and loops around the yellow star.  I quilted it to look like a night sky where you have to look just a little to see the additional stars.  While I did stitch in the ditch around the star I did not quilt on the star itself, I wanted it to poof just a little bit. Around the tree on the brown background fabric, I quilted swirls to resemble the air movement and wind blowing around the tree.    The two darker brown strips each have a strip of stars quilted onto them.  The tree was fun to quilt with hanging loops shaped to resemble hanging ornaments.  Sometimes I added little wiggle of a quilting line to change things up, just like you would see on a tree in your home.  The presents, considering I was dreading making them I am very pleased with how easily they went together and were quilted.  For the most part the packages are quilted with metallic gold thread.  Into the packages I stitched my quilt label, so unless you are looking you simply don't see them.

The binding is a red that I had planned for one of the main colors in Sue's mystery side of the quilt, but I felt the red just wanted to conquer the teal.  A shopping trip found new colors that suited the entire quilt beautifully.    Sue suggested  I save the red for the binding.  As I was sewing on the binding thrilled to see how well the brown accepted the red.  It sure gives everything a little pop. 


Have you been up to anything good lately?  

A special Thanks to Tiny for being my model today.

6 comments:

stitchinpenny said...

So glad to see you back, love the Christmas quilt.

Nat Palaskas said...

Oh, this is wonderful. A truly lovely quilt. I love the back best, an reversible quilt - Well done.

Heather Landry said...

I really love the presents under the tree. That just totally sends this quilt right over the top!

QuiltSue said...

The back of your Festive Mystery is just wonderful. Definitely a surprise, and absolutely wonderful.

Dana Gaffney said...

Oh my goodness, that is wonderful! I'm not sure which side I like better, I kept going back and forth between the pictures and still couldn't decide. I think if you count some of these amazing quilts twice you'll have a lot more finishes, this one definitely counts for two as does the lone star.

Vicki said...

Love the surprise on the back of your quilt, it certainly isn't the typical quilt back. The presents are very cute and it's nice to have a reversable quilt.