All Roads Lead Home At Christmas - SAHRR Quilt Finish

This quilt is the result of the Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR) hosted by Home Sewn By Us the first part of 2021. During this event, various bloggers suggested borders to add to an initial block of one's choosing.

I chose as my starting block the Lynx Star by Lucky Penny Quilts, and it is a block I made in November 2020 after being inspired by Pieceful Wendy's block. That is the original block in the photo above, and you can read about my process of completing it right here.

The round robin began in January, and every couple of weeks various bloggers posted a suggested border to add. I made it through Round 6 before the quilt size started getting larger than I had intended. I ended up taking off one of the borders I had added because of some flaring issues I had, but I am very happy with the final result. All the suggested borders were lovely, but my favorite was prompted by Chris at Chris Knits, who suggested piano keys!

I found a great panel in my stash for the backing, and I used the quote on it as my quilt name. I pieced it with a dark sparkly snowflake fabric I found at Joann's (see Roseanne, I like sparkly too!) and some of the red checked fabric from the front border. As much as I love the front, the back is my favorite part of the quilt - it's just so cozy!

My "signature" meander quilting (haven't mastered anything else yet!) was done with Longmire, the HQ Simply Sixteen. When we purchased Longmire, the store where we bought it gave me a generous store credit, which I recently applied to the purchase of the Quilt From the Back Kit! This will enable me to use an occasional pantograph for something different, while I (hopefully) master more free motion stitches.

I liked the panel selvage so much, I left it on!

We both love the back so much we decided we needed a Christmas quilt on our bed!

Quilt Details

Main Pattern: Lynx Star by Lucky Penny Quilts (pattern is under revision and is not available at this time)

Finished size: 45" x 49"

Fabrics

Front: Various Christmas fabrics from stash

Back: Holiday Lodge Panel by Deb Strain for Moda and sparkly dark print from Joann Fabrics

Binding: White and off-white sparkly snowflake print from Joann Fabrics

Superior Thread

Piecing: 50wt So Fine Genoa Gray #503

Quilting: 40wt Magnifico Shiver #2164

 

I hope all your roads lead home at Christmas!

Vintage Christmas Pillow and Peppermint Twist Blocks

This Christmas pillow features Lori Holt's Vintage Christmas cross stitch. I believe I started this after Christmas last year and finished during the summer. This morning I put a backing of plaid Christmas flannel to make it cozy.

In my last post I mentioned the Peppermint Twist pattern by Margot Languedoc and how I wanted to use the blocks to surround the Lynx Star block that I had just finished. I started the blocks, and I really like them! Margot has a clever way of making the smaller twists as cornerstones with the sashing, and I love the effect. Instead of incorporating these blocks with the Lynx Star block, I may put Lynx Star on the back of this quilt so that each side can be a "star"!

There are a LOT of HSTs to square up (one of my least favorite tasks!), but when the block goes together it is worth the tedium.

I'm using mainly Aurora fabric from Moda, the same as I used for Lynx Star, as well as some gingham from my stash.

At night I'm working on a stamped cross stitch table topper called "Village in the Snowfall" that I purchased from Herrschners. The kit came with plenty of white floss, but I decided to try one of DMC's twinkly threads - Mouline Etoile in Blanc - and I like the hint of sparkle (hard to see in the photo!)

Lynx Star Flimsy

Last week Wendy at  Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life posted her beautiful test pattern results of Lynx Star Quilt, the newest pattern released by Lucky Penny Quilts, I was inspired to buy the pattern. I finished the flimsy yesterday.

Just so you know, I have PRC disorder (Pattern Reading and Cutting disorder), and as I progressed through the pattern there were many thoughts about putting it all away until next year. My seam ripper may still be stuck in one of the seams. Visualizing how this piece sews to that piece and fits together into a block and how this block fits with that block is something I struggle with, and I think that contributes to my difficulty with patterns. Encouraging emails from Wendy kept me from quitting! At any rate, when I reached the "putting it all together" part, my joy returned, and I finally saw the big picture. The pattern has instructions for baby, throw, and queen sizes, and mine is a 30x30 baby-sized.

My original thought was to use it as a Christmas wall hanging or table mat. Now I'm planning to use it as a center block with another quilt pattern around it. I've started this Peppermint Twist pattern by Margot Languedoc. I still have fat quarters left from the main fabric pull for Lynx Star, and I am debating Christmas-y white or light grey Grunge for the background.

Toby may be the most helpful cat on the planet. When I start cutting fabric, he throws himself down on it and purrs and flops around blissfully. He and the other three kitties are happy this week, because the noisy scary "mans" are not tromping through the house. We have taken a break from renovating until after Thanksgiving.

Wherever you are today and whatever you are doing, I hope you are enjoying your Sunday as much as I am!