We have a new Christmas quilt in our house this year.
This large quilt was finished earlier this year, but I wanted to share it at Christmastime. It hasn’t been on a photo shoot outdoors yet, but here are some shots and its stitching story.
The design is from a Barb Adams and Alma Allen book, Where the Cold Wind Blows. The pattern Mistletoe and Holly looks quite different in their version, but the appliqué basket is their creation.
I had this fabulous toile-like fabric that looked a bit Christmasey to me, with lots of green and brown and red. Wanting to leave big swatches of that intact in the background, I chose to do minimal piecing.
I did like the pieced stars that Barb and Alma had included, so I pieced a few stars.
One it was assembled, it needed a bit more color, so I inked my initials and their title Mistletoe and Holly in red.
It needed a bit more red, so birds flew in and landed in some spaces.
I was teaching paper foundation piecing, so used that technique to add a spiky border.
I quilted it on my Juki with a combination of freemotion echoing and several filler designs.
I chose to give my version the title A Christmas Garden. It measures 60” x 78”.