Christmas Trees Quilt

Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating!  Today I am showing off my new Christmas quilt before I take some time off for family and lots of eating....

This is the new Christmas quilt I made this year.  Made on a whim and inspired by a sneak peek Denyse Schmidt gave of one of her new quilt patterns on Facebook.  I made my own version using a couple triangle blocks with Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas line from last year.

I love it!  It turned out just as I'd hoped.  I display it hanging from a sleeve on a beadboard quilt rack my husband made.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Points A Plenty
Size: 30" x36"
Design: 2 triangle tree blocks done in EQ7, inspired by Denyse Schmidt's forthcoming pattern

Fabrics:  Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas and Kona pfd
Piecing: Me

Quilting: Me -  Stipple on my home machine

Completed Charmed Prints QAL Quilts

A Charmed Prints QAL finish!  I hope you have enjoyed the Charmed Prints Quilt Along.... today is the official day to show off your finish (or close-to-finish if you have a quilt top!).  I enjoyed putting this quilt along together and watching each person's take on the design pop up in the flickr group.  Thank you to everyone who is participating.  In my opinion, the best thing about this QAL was the ability to customize it.  Each person made their version completely unique.

Here's my finish:

Is that orange calling you?  It didn't start out as an orange quilt in my mind, but I love how the orange accents in the prints are picked up.  I think I have a new found love for gingham.

The Fussy Cut Feature Blocks:

STAR

GREEK CROSS

DIAMOND

PINWHEEL

If  you look closely, you can see I had a rotary cutting misfire here on my last pinwheel.  I couldn't bear to omit that little dear, so I did my best to salvage the block.  By far, the one with the most problems... but oh well, like my kids will notice?

The Flange:  This was a fun little skill to add to my back pocket.  When used in certain situations, I think it gives just a little needed pop.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Charmed and Fussy Cut
Size: 47" x47"
Design: Charmed Prints Quilt Along, designed by me

Fabrics:  assorted charms from GXQ Japanese Imports and Spoonflower Fabric Swaps
Piecing: Me

Quilting: Me -  Stipple on my home machine

Tutorial: Simple X Block

This is the block I used to make my Hello Sunshine quilt with Nicey Jane.  It's one I customized with EQ7 to be the size I wanted.  It's simple and elegant when paired with some great fabrics.  Here's a tutorial for the block in case you'd like to try it.

Simple X 

CUT:
1 - 10 1/2" square with your background fabric (Kona Maize in photo)
1 - 3 3/4" square with your center fabric (green/blue geometric print)
4 - 3 3/4" x 9" rectangles (floral print)

1.  Cut the 10 1/2" square across both diagonals to create 4 triangles.

2.  Sew a 3 3/4" x 9" rectangle to both the left and right side of the 3 3/4" square.  Press.

3.  Take the remaining two 3 3/4" x 9" rectangles and sew the solid triangles to the right-hand long side of the rectangles.  Refer to the photo for the triangle placement.

4.  Open the unit and press.

5.  Next sew the remaining two triangles to the left-hand long side of the rectangles.

6.  Open and press.  Your two units should look like the picture below.

7.  Now we are ready to sew the unit from step 2 in between the units with the triangles.  Pin one triangle unit right sides together with the unit from step 2, making sure to match the seams where the geometric center square meets the rectangle of the triangle unit.

8.  Open and press.

9.  Repeat step 7 on the other side of the block.

10.  Open and press.

11.  Trim off the excess material of the floral rectangles to square up the block to 14".

There you go.... done!