Hey Everyone, welcome back to Story Time Monday.

This little Christmas quilt was a kit that Michael bought for me many years ago on a visit home one Christmas when we were still living in Yell0wknife. Definitely a few years ago. The shop he bought it at sadly is not open anymore.

I was thrilled that he had bought me quilting items on his trip home and promptly put it in a drawer to make down the road. Well, I down the road it went and across an ocean or two and then down another road. It ended up in the Australian Outback still sitting as a kit.

One of the year’s in the Outback I was talked into organizing The Festival of Trees. I also decided that there should be some wall art for this festival and set to work making Christmas themed wall hangings.

Finally this little kit made it out of the drawer and onto the quilting table. I am not sure what the pattern is called or who the designer of it is. The fabrics were a combination of brushed cotton and regular cotton which was a bit different but gave a nice effect. I discovered a fabric missing from the kit – something kind of major – the sashing. To my stash I went and found the perfect red fabric with a blue stripe in brushed cotton.

The background for all the appliqué were paper pieced which I do enjoy so I had lots of fun creating this part of the quilt.

The appliqués were added and the blanket stitch was done prior to putting the quilt together. I left the snowmen’s arms for the end when everything was done and hand stitched them in place. I was doing this at a friend’s house and she didn’t approve of my stitching and as a result she sewed all of the arms on. I do have to say that Sarah does gorgeous embroidery and her blanket stitch is so even it looks like it was done on the machine.

The quilting was lots of fun and I played with some free motion in the blocks and walking foot for all of the rest. The stars in the border were a replica of the star just a bit smaller. I used a tissue paper template to quilt them and then connected them with straight lines.

The tiny little 8 pointed stars in the cornerstones of the sashing are the smallest 8 pointed stars I have ever done. They can be done in any size.

Close up of quilting

This is on of the only wall hangings I have left in my possession that I made for the Festival of Trees which by the way was a huge success and looked great. Over the next few weeks on the countdown to Christmas I’ll highlight some of the other wall hangings I made.

Happy Quilting!