My Christmas quilt top is finished!  I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the entire quilt before Christmas, so I was happy to finish the main section on Christmas Eve - all that was left for the top was the borders, which I finally finished today (New Year's Eve).  I'm happy to report that this quilt top is my last finish of 2013!

Here it is:

It measures about 62" by 71 1/2"

Here are blocks 6-8:

I think the wreaths are my favorite.  I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed with the busyness of trying to meld different fabric lines.  This block only has Kate Spain fabrics (well, except for the little bows and the background).

The trees.  Have you noticed how every single block has a little pop of yellow?  Of course, I had to find a way to include the yellow here.

And finally, the cups.  I was a little annoyed at how much fabric was wasted in making these blocks, but I can totally understand the reasoning (no bias edges to sew).  And it was AWESOME making an entire quilt from a pattern and not having to do a bit of math by myself, so I'm not going to complain.  :)

Here is a shot on my design wall sewing room floor (hence the funky colors) of all the blocks sewn together.  Eek!  Almost there! 

I didn't have enough of any of my fabrics for the borders, so I made this pieced border using nearly all of my Kate Spain cuts and some more yellow.  I hope I don't regret putting a relatively skinny fussy cut/directional print on the very outside edge.  Hopefully it doesn't skew too much when it is quilted.  I really wanted to use those cups somewhere!

Looking at it now, I can see it's pretty busy.  I probably should have used more solid fabric, but I still LOVE it!  The colors are PERFECT!

I'm going to use my tone on tone (almost solid, right?) red and green deer/tree prints for the binding.

Now for the REAL dilemma.  BACKING!  I need your help!

I bought this flannel sheet set for super cheap at a yard sale a few months ago.  Apparently it was only used once.  Anyway.  I originally thought I could use it for the back, but now I'm not so sure.  I'm afraid the different red will clash horribly, and the color will show through the light background.  What do you think?

My second option is to use this kind of ugly (in my opinion) neutral yardage that I ended up using for my first skinny border when I completely ran out of background fabric:

OR I could piece together all the scraps from the quilt top with the neutral yardage for a scrappy pieced back:

What would you do???

And how would you quilt it?  I'm considering some "custom" quilting - something unique for each block, but I'm also leaning towards an all over pattern so as not to distract from the overall quilt design.  What do you think?  Even though Christmas is over, I'm not sick of this quilt quite yet.  I think I'll try to finish it in the next month or so and have it ready to go with PLENTY of time to spare for next Christmas.  :)


p.s. This pattern comes from Fat Quarter Shop's Deckade the Halls Quilt-Along. 

I recently read a really good article about keeping things simple at Christmas time when you have young children (read it HERE).  This year I ended up choosing to take a break from making gifts, which freed me up to spend my sewing time sewing for ME.  It's been amazing.  After so much focus on my Etsy shop, I needed to sew something for myself.
Our trip to Las Vegas (see previous post HERE) was awesome!  While the hubby went to his training, I spent my days entering WAY too many giveaways for Sew Mama Sew giveaway day, and I made a lot of progress on my Deck the Halls quilt.

Here is the first block, Gingerbread Men:

SO much cutting!  I spent almost the whole first day cutting background pieces for the entire quilt.  I wanted to make sure I was going to have enough, and I barely made it - I did have to piece together a few scraps to get the last few tiny squares.  This isn't even all of it:

Progress shot.  I was having lots of fun!

 I finished the gingerbread men and these stars while still at the hotel.  I was about half way through with the ornaments too.  However, I came to realize that my "scant quarter inch" wasn't quite as scant as it was supposed to be.   All my blocks were coming out just barely too small!  Even though I have tested my quarter inch seam before and I use a quarter inch foot.  I've decided it was a combination of not being diligent enough with the quarter inch foot, using a soft padded ironing board in the hotel room, and using thicker thread than normal (oh yeah, and having to use 1 1/2 inch squares that were pieced together from scraps).  I've been working on it, and my blocks are getting better and better.  Whew!

Here are the ornament blocks I finished at home:

And the stocking blocks.  I bought the white mug fabric before I settled on a background fabric and originally decided not to use it at all in my quilt, but something made me change my mind.  I hope it doesn't stick out too badly!

And the present blocks.  Love the fabrics!

Here are all the blocks together so far.  Only three more to go!  


Note:  All of these blocks are from Fat Quarter Shop's Deckade the Halls quilt along that took place earlier this year. 

Linking up:

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and entered my Sew Mama Sew giveaway!  I got so many ideas for new books, I don't even know where to start!  :)


The WINNER of the texty fat quarters is:




 AlidaP!  Check your inbox for an email from me.  Congratulations!