Who Wore It Best, Panto Edition: Snow Crystals Quilting Design on Two Holiday Gift Projects

Can you believe Christmas is only SIX days away?? Today I'm sharing two small Christmas quilts made by two of my favorite clients, Julie and Olivia. Even though I have lots of different snowflake designs in my library, we happened to chose the same Anne Bright Snow Crystals B2B design for both of these projects. However, I tailored the scale of the design, thread colors, and batting choices very differently to complement each project so they are interesting to compare side by side!

Those Trees Throw Quilt: Metallic Thread & Wool Batting

57 x 69 Those Trees Throw Quilt, pattern by Zen Chic Moda available here

For Julie's Those Trees 57" x 69" throw quilt (pattern by Brigitte Heitland for Moda Zen Chic is available here on Etsy, affiliate link), we used fluffy Quilter's Dream Wool batting for its lightweight warmth and fabulous loft.

TGIFF: Lazy Day College Graduation Quilt Finish + Two Christmas Finishes for Clients

 Hello, there, quilt lovers!  Happy FRIDAY!  Do y'all realize that Christmas Eve is only two weeks away?!  Hanukkah is over and done with for 2021, and Kwanzaa, Ōmisoka and New Year's Eve celebrations (and the resolutions of the new year) are sneaking up on us quickly.  This will be my last time hosting TGIFF (Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday) in 2021!  I'm looking forward to seeing what all of you have finished recently, whether it's a completely finished quilt or garment, a finished quilt top, or just a finished block.  ALL finishes count!  The link up is all the way at the bottom of today's blog post, because first I have a special finish of my own to share with you.

Alex's College Graduation Quilt

90 x 93 Lazy Day Quilt from Quilts! Quilts! Quilts! book, 3rd ed. (affiliate link)

This is my nephew Alex's college graduation quilt.  He graduated this past June, and I tried to give him cash, but he asked for a quilt instead.  💓💓💓.   

Simple Piecing, Double Batting, & Modern Curves Extended Width E2E

Of course, I wasn't able to attend his graduation in person thanks to Plague Protocol...

Big Alex Graduates from UC San Diego, June of 2021

I didn't want this to be another of my seven-year quilts, so I found this easy pattern in the book Quilts! Quilts! Quilts! by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, 3rd ed.  (By the way, the 2nd edition of this book taught me to make my very first quilt -- I noticed the newer 3rd edition when browsing at Barnes & Noble and bought it because all of the projects have been updated to appeal to modern as well as traditional quilters, and the new projects looked like they would be great for quick gifts).

The Bachelorette, BOM Edition, But With a Married Quilter Bachelorette Who Just Can't Decide...

Y'all, I need HELP!!!  Australian pattern designer Sarah Fielke is relaunching her popular BOM (Block Of the Month) programs from previous years, ALL of them, running simultaneously in 2022.  I have admired her designs for several years but have never done one of them before, and I can't decide between three of them.  So I am going to show you the three BOM quilts, and then I am asking you to help me decide by either commenting here on the blog, or if you get my blog posts as an emailed newsletter, you can just hit reply to that email.  If any of you are planning to join one of these BOMs for next year, please let me know -- I'd love to have "virtual company" on the journey!

Down the Rabbit Hole (BOM from 2017)

Okay, here is Bachelor BOM Number One, the first of Sarah's patterns to catch my eye because I am totally smitten by the huge folk art style rabbits in the outer borders.  They remind me of William Morris and The Velveteen Rabbit and the fable about the Tortoise and the Hare:

Down the Rabbit Hole by Sarah Fielke, BOM from 2017

Happy Days (BOM from 2016)

Bachelor BOM Number Two would be sure to hold my interest over the year because it involves such a great variety of techniques and skill challenges.  Do you see the sweet singing birdie with the sixteenth note to indicate that he's singing?  There is appliqué, English Paper Piecing, Hawaiian appliqué in this project...  Never a dull moment and only Happy Days with Bachelor Number Two!

Happy Days by Sarah Fielke, BOM from 2016