The Christmas Quilt

Cowgirl, liking all things Country, was the recipient of my first fully finished quilt.

In spite of her modern sensibilities and fashion choices, she loves all things homemade. These photos were taken two days after Christmas, before we left to go see Les Miserables. I Loved it! But mostly I LOVE this girl!

This is a lap size quilt. . . big enough to put over you when you're watching TV, which is where she said she's putting it. The six stars represent each member of our family. She gave me the charm pack, my first one, several years ago. I can't remember the name of it except that I know it was created by Moda. I started another quilt six years ago for her, but that turned into the patriotic table runners. That makes this the first official quilt I created and completed. 

 I created my own Christmas tree pattern to use for the quilting on the five inch burgundy checkered fabric. Easy and simple. I stitched it in green to help them stand out. I didn't use any patterns because there were no complicated squares, and I was grateful it all just worked out with the amount of fabrics I'd selected.

I hand appliqued, using the blanket stitch on each of the stars. I felt it just added more authenticity to the country feel I was trying to achieve.

 This star fabric I found and loved and knew Cowgirl would too. I used more strips from the charm packs, cut in half for the outside borders. I stitched 1/4 inch inside the charm scraps because I wanted to leave the star fabric untouched, and I wanted to add something unexpected to that outside border. I just can't make myself quilt in the ditch all the time. I bound it in the same green fabric I used for the backing. I loved thinking of Cowgirl the whole time I was making this. It came from my heart!