Christmas Tree Quilt
64'' x 70''
Sometimes you get something in your head and HAVE to do it. I thought that about three or four years ago, when I cut all those blue and green squares for a quilt. Then life got in the way and I never made it. After my quilting mess a couple of weeks ago I got cranky. I didn't want to bind or quilt. I wanted to piece a top. And not just make blocks, contributing to one of my many other ongoing projects. I wanted to make a whole quilt top. So I looked to my quilts under construction for possibilities.
Conveniently, these blocks were cut and sitting in a pretty little pile at the bottom of my closet. And they always were intended for a Christmas quilt. It was meant to be.
I must have anticipated a layout like this, I can't quite remember. But I had enough blocks cut, with only a handful leftover, to do this.
My quilting disaster happened on a Thursday. On Friday afternoon, while the Garbage Truck napped and the girls watched a movie, I got all those rows together. By Sunday night, while Hubby was playing hockey, I got the top pieced. All that background fabric only accounts for 6 pieces. Some thinking was required to get there, but it wasn't difficult sewing.
The next Thursday I was back at the long arm and this was the first quilt on the machine. Just a straightforward simple meander. Big and loose and loopy. It was fast, a good warm up for the other work I needed to do, and perfect. I could barely see the quilting as I was doing it - Aurifil white on that dotted Robert Kaufman print - so there was no point obsessing over how to quilt it. After loading the quilt it took me about an hour to get it done.
Lucky for me I had some turquoise binding already made for a photo shoot back in the spring. So that went on that Thursday night. And two days later - a record for me - I had the binding done and the last threads buried.
What a sweet print for the backing. I don't exactly stash Christmas fabric. And the LQS I was at obviously has a pretty serious clientele for Christmas fabric. They usually have a huge stash, but most of it was gone when I went to the store to get something. But I really wanted to extend the holiday theme to the back. Something fun and pretty for the family. This candy print fit the bill. And I love the pink on the back.
While this is technically a quilt for the whole family, I did kind of make it for my little guy. He's coming up on 3 and currently obsessed with Christmas. He gets it this year and the waiting has been sheer torture for him. If you ask him what he wants for Christmas - which adults love to do to children - all he answers is "A Christmas Tree!" We don't normally get ours until the weekend before Christmas so this way he got one a little bit early.
And he's already taking advantage of it.
May you and yours have a wonderful holiday (if you celebrate). And may you find joy, peace, and love. Throw in some giggles and a romp outside for good measure.