Christmas quilt

I've taken 3 classes recently, but this is the only one where I've taken a photo of the project. This is the first of twelve rows (eek! twelve!) on a holiday quilt. There is lots of machine applique, which is why I took the class. It's fun but time consuming and there is NO WAY I will finish this before Christmas, especially as I want to get down to serious work on Val's quilt. But it was really fun choosing the fabrics. I love the snow-like sky in the background, and the swirls in Santa's robe and beard. (If you click on the photo, it will enlarge and you can see things better.) I couldn't find good fabric for the face, but my friend Glennys had some great blotchy fabric that she fussy-cut for her Santa's face and she let me use some. You would never have guessed to look at the fabric that it would have worked out so well. I outlined the tree in metallic gold thread with a feather stitch, starting at the bottom and working up on each side so the feathers would all point in the right direction. I plan to outline the star in some way, too, and stitch gold swags on the tree. Isn't that a cool fabric -- decorations already on it! The Santa has yet to be outlined, but I've decided not to do basic black. I'll try to follow the Santa colors at least somewhat. I am thinking satin stitch for part at least, otherwise a small blanket stitch.