Sunday, December 2, 2012

Design Wall Monday

 Saturday I decided that I needed a Christmas quilt, but I don't exactly have much time to make myself one.  Then I remembered that I had won a jelly roll a few months ago and it would be perfect!  I like the colors, but next time I do a postage stamp quilt I am going to make sure there are no directional fabrics!  The trees made color placement hard!  My only other complaint is that there are no penguins.  What kind of Christmas quilt doesn't have any penguins? (I love penguins, you should see my house!) I thought I had some that I could use on the border, but only found a blue which did not match.
First I sewed my strips in groups of four.  I should have cut my strips in half to give myself a bigger variety in my strips.  All but two of my trees are in the bottom rows!  Ugggh!
After sewing my strips I ironed them, then cut the end to make it even.
Next I cut them in 2 1/2 inch strips vertically to give me a small strip of four squares.  I then tried to place them in order, my main goal was to try to not have two reds right next to each other, since it was the darkest color.  I also tried not to place two of the same blocks next to each other.  (tried is the key word here)
 Next, I chain stitched two strips together.  This can get tricky because your blocks can get out of order if you are not careful, but as long as you don't have the same blocks next to each other, it's no big deal.
 I forgot to take a picture of the next strip, Sew these two strips together.  This gives you a 16 square block.  Four across and four down.
My bobbin was acting up which is unusual, so I unscrewed the face plate, and this what I found.  Yuck!  I forgot to clean my lint out after I finished my Dresden plate quilt!
 Here are the rest of my blocks.  I have made a total of 21 so far!  Not bad for two days work, which included canning cranberry sauce, going to the Antique Mall yesterday and then church all day today!

I must admit though, that I am way behind in reading my blogs!  Sinc3e I was using a jelly roll, I went to Moda for ideas, and found this pattern that I used.
Do you think I should add a border?
I really want to finish this quilt tomorrow if possible.
Did I mention the other reason I decided to make a postage stamp quilt?  I am starting a quilt along at my church and the first "class" (I'll be doing a lot of informal teaching) will be Tuesday.  We are doing the Great Granny Square, you can see the blocks I started cutting out for my quilt here.  Siouxsie asked if she could make another quilt and tried to describe it, I sent her a picture of a postage stamp quilt, and that was what she wanted!  Of course I had to make one for myself so I could teach her how to do it!  Talk about an easy quilt to make!
I'm also, kind of maybe, thinking about adding a frayed edge penguin applique in the corner?  If I did, should I use a red, green or white Christmas fabric, or a black fabric with white polka dots?  Or would that make the quilt too busy?
What are you up to?
Missy

11 comments:

  1. I would add a calming border. Still Christmas like but maybe a small, non competitive patterned border? And definitely add a frayed penguin to the corner, on the border. When you were describing it, that is what I saw. And I love how it looks in my head! :)

    Heidi
    HeidiRider@aol.com

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  2. What a great, fun, Christmas quilt. I keep saying I'm going to do one. This year my goal is a pillow. Who knows, it may grow into a quilt! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  3. you may have to add a border to get it finished by christmas

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  4. sweet fabric. I did christmas fabric post cards out of scraps. we had a sew in and I made 20 cards but still had scraps I am thinking a crumb quilt with them?

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  5. Love your little quilt! Great use of the fabrics!

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  6. I got a kick out of seeing your fabrics; I just finished a disappearing 9-patch today using exactly the same Kate Spain fabrics with some additions. I never thought about "missing penquins" on Christmas fabric, but you may be on to something.....thanks for sharing.

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  7. How about cutting penguin silhouette(s) out of a dark or matching material to (machine) applique to the front of your postage stamp quilt? You'll have the penguins you want and you can match the fabrics you already have.

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  8. I love your quilt, so festive! I have a stack of Christmas fabrics that have been in my stash for years, this may be the perfect way to finally use them! I like Sarah's suggestion about a dark colored penguin silhouette, that's what I was thinking also. Good luck with your class!

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  9. Looks beautiful Missy and congrats on starting a QAL, you will be wonderful at it. Thanks for sharing.
    Freemotion by the River Linky Party Tuesday

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  10. Whoop whoop for a great Christmas quilt, Missy! And I've made two postage stamp quilts this year, both with no borders, and they looked great that way. I think it makes it look a little more contemporary. And you could always put your penguin print on the back!

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