Have you ever approached a holiday and wondered why you didn’t have a neat new quilt to show off? I decided this year, I was going to make a Christmas quilt way before the holiday so I could finish it in time.
Use up those scraps!
When I have lots of scraps, I drag out my handy-dandy Accuquilt Go! and cut them down to consistent sizes. I usually start with the 5″ square and move down from there. This time around, I wanted to get a head start on Christmas by making a Christmas Gift Quilt. I searched high and low, and just couldn’t find a block online that would accommodate my 5″ blocks.
So, instead of spending more time looking, I opened up my other handy-dandy helper, my EQ 7 program. (Now I know you will all be tempted to start sending me links to this block, but to be honest, I am glad I had to start from the drawing board!)
In order to create the quilt I wanted, I actually had to design the block from scratch. I didn’t want my gifts to float around in air. Instead I wanted them to look as if they were sitting on a shelf or windowsill.
**note: After posting a picture of one of my finished blocks, a good friend informed me that Missouri Star Quilt Co. has a video tutorial for a similar block. Oh well, there is a good chance that it would not work with my 5″ Christmas square collection. Yep, they even use 5″ charm packs!!!! The proof is below 🙂
So, anyway – The finished design looks like this; however, I used stock fabrics to get the feel for the finished product, I did not scan all my fabrics. This is how I usually work out a project because fussing too much can take so much fun out of it all!
As soon as I had a plan, I started making blocks and laying them out how I wanted them. In the end, there were three ribbon colors over a variety of box prints. I decided to forego the cornerstones and did simple sashing instead. I like the clean, windowed look it provides. Finally, I used a large print for the final border and am so happy!
Again, I did not buy any fabric for this project, it all came out of my little stash 🙂
The last part of this project is to quilt and bind it. I love this part! The pattern I chose for quilting is this simple tree design by Willow Leaf Studio.
I really love the simplicity of this quilting pattern for the Holidays!
As a finished product, this quilt turned out very nicely – I can’t wait to throw it over the couch this Christmas!
Have you started any Christmas projects yet?