Christmas minkee quilt

Most of the quilts I make are not for me, often for readers of my blog. So how do I post my activities when I want them to be a surprise? At least this quilt is meant to be enjoyed during the holiday season, so I sent it early and now I can put it on my blog!


Jay's Christmas quilt - The Story: A couple months ago I went to an estate sale. It was my first one ever! The quilt guild sent a notice that the homeowners, one of whom was a quilter, were moving into a retirement home and were getting rid of quilting items. I went to see if there was any fabric for Project Linus, and indeed there was -- I bought 3 boxes of fabric for a total of $12! Some had to be discarded and a couple things were not appropriate for Linus, but the rest was a real boon. The holiday panel was in the box and we don't do Linus holiday quilts, so I pulled it out to use. I thought it would be good to practice my quilting on a big panel. And it would be nice to have a holiday quilt. Then I thought it would be a nice holiday quilt for my mother, who likes holiday decorations but doesn't have a lot of space. A quilt over a chair would be festive without taking up table or shelf space, and could be easily stored in the closet. So I decided to use it as a gift for her, probably lined with flannel to make it warm and cozy.

Then I discovered minkee! It's wonderously soft and cuddly (see my previous posts) and washes like a dream. Alas, I had no red minkee and was regretting it, when a new quilt shop in Mahomet opened and they carry lots of minkee. So I bought red for the panel. I didn't have the panel measurements with me so I guesstimated how much I would need and added extra for insurance -- and ended up with only 1/2" more than I needed! I pinned it to the panel with safety pins, lots of them, then quilted the printed red sashing with wavy free motion lines. Finally I put on a binding made of holiday cotton print, and that was it! It was fun and fast.

Here is a closeup of the pictures on the panel. They are holiday scenes in subtle tones -- but don't worry, I compensated for the subtlety with the red backing! Merry Christmas!