Cheers!

I’m cooking with wine tonight to celebrate finishing TWO quilt tops. The first was the Mystery Quilt from American Quilter magazine, which I won’t show here because I have to send the picture in to the magazine after it’s quilted. The second is Danica’s Christmas quilt, hot from under the needle. Here it is:

I used two Moda charm square packs (pre-cut 5” squares), additional fabric purchased in Illinois, Tennessee and Missouri, plus a few pieces from my stash. The center is called “X-Rated,” a Schnibbles pattern by Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co. (But I added 3 more rows and columns.) The little squares are 1½" finished, the rectangles are 4½" x 1½". The center has 525 pieces, for heaven’s sake!

I saw kisses rather than X’s, so I got the idea to add appliqué O’s for hugs. Every time I make a quilt with blocks set on point like this, I swear I will never do it again. My math worked out on this one, however—the setting triangles were all the right size. All would have been well except that I ran out of the dark green fabric in the border and had to piece two of the final sections with scraps. This quilt was a lot of work—I’m not gonna lie….

I have a few more marathon sewing days ahead. I would like to have this quilted by Saturday, but that’s probably optimistic, since I’m still making some Christmas presents, too. And my back hurts, perhaps from sewing, but more likely from carrying my outdoor flowerpots to the compost and dumping out the spent soil and dead plants. So, you see, I really need to cook with wine tonight, and I’m not putting it in the food!