A Christmas Quilt - And This One's For Me!

Back in July, I won a Christmas in July giveaway by Valerie @re.engineered.  Valerie made a 'Starry Christmas' quilt top using fabrics from the Blitzen line by Basic Grey for Moda and she decided to giveaway her remaining fat quarters and scraps and here's what I won.

Seemed like the right time of year to make something with my winnings but where to start?  I decided first to sew up a piece of fabric from the scraps and take it from there and this is the first section.

I loved it and didn't want to cut it up so instead I sliced some strips from the fat quarters - I started with 2" strips and with each round increased the strip size by 1/2", which looked like this.

I decided to stop adding strips once the amount of fabric I had left in the remaining sections of fat quarters was enough to create the backing and binding and here's how it ended up.

Using Aurifil 40/2 4129 - Turf Green, I fmq'd the whole quilt with stars the same width as the strip being quilted so the stars get larger towards the outside edges.

I've added a scrappy binding and my long label.

Time for the rolled quilt photo.  This photo didn't turn out too well - the quilt's unrolling and it's slightly blurred - but I couldn't resist it because look who's watching in the background, Tatty's growing out her fringe (that's her bangs for my American readers) and is currently sporting a Hugh Grant flop!

Here's another go at that rolled quilt photo.

And a final photo on the sofa.

I am so in love with this quilt, I had no idea I wanted or needed a Christmas quilt but now I can't live without it.  I'm so taken with the idea that this quilt will come out of storage every Christmas and become part of our family tradition just as all our other decorations have - a very big thanks to Valerie for sending me her leftovers and speaking of leftovers look what's leftover this time - not a lot!!!

And the latest news on my foot injury, well I'm on the mend, still having physical therapy twice a week and went back to work at the quilt store in Manhattan this week, though I'm only doing half days and I'm working at the back cutting desk/checkout as there's a high seat there that I can make good use of.

As you can see from all my latest posts my injury hasn't interferred at all with me sewing - in fact, what I have realised is that I'm a bit odd, you see I can sew with each foot equally and sometimes I sew with both feet on the pedal at the same time just to balance my hips out.  Now I thought everyone could do this but I quickly discovered from your comments on my Tula Pink Quilted Tote post that isn't the case so what I'd like to know is can you sew with only one foot or with both feet or does your machine have a pedal-free sewing function like my Bernina 440QE has - what would you do if you injured your sewing foot?  

Can't wait to hear your stories :D

Post Update at 1st January 2014:

WOW!!! There's been a fabulous response to my Christmas Quilt post and I'm thrilled many of you like my Christmas Quilt enough to want to make one yourself.  After a sudden rush of traffic to my blog today, I've discovered the quilt has also been featured here on Free Quilt Patterns - the problem being that this post isn't actually a detailed tutorial for the quilt just my brief 'how I did it' notes.

Obviously it's too late now for me to take 'as it happens' photos and create a tutorial so instead I've taken out the tape measure and had a look at the quilt and I'm listing here the widths of each section which, along with my notes above, may help you to put something similar together yourself.   

 My Christmas Quilt - Measurement Guidelines

NB: I'm quoting the cut strip sizes but each sewn visible strip is 0.5" narrower than the size given as 0.25" is lost in the seams on both joined sides.

The quilt's overall size is approx 46" x 47".

There's a scrap section measuring approx 22.5" x 23.5" in the centre made up of 1.5" to 2" rectangular and square pieces.

Then I have added the following borders:

2 rounds of 2" strips
2 rounds of 2.5" strips
1 round of 3" strips
1 round of 3.5" strips.

I've finished the quilt with a scrappy binding made from a 2.5" strip.

My finished size was limited by the amount of fabric I had available - if I'd had more I think I'd have continued two rounds further, maybe more. NB: If you add additional rounds then increase the cut width of the strip by 0.5" with each round.

I hope you find these notes helpful and I'm sorry for any disappointment you've experienced at this not being an actual tute!

Wishing you lots of fun making your version and I'd love to see a photo when it's finished if you'd like to share?!

Chris @made by ChrissieD :D 

Post Update at 7th January 2014:

 My son's partner, Ana, reminded me that I sent her some phone pics of the quilt as I was working on it - here they are!!!

detail of the back of the central scrap section

piecing the back

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