christmas village bold blocks quilt

 

today is the day! bold blocks quilt is available and ready for a sew along!  head on over to allisonramsing.com for more details about getting the pattern, timeline and more on that straight from the designer allison herself :)

once the kapow! quilt pattern test was over, i was totally on board to test another (and clearly put off all my own projects even more).  i saw the "better not pout" line of fabric while cutting orders one day at the shop and couldn't help but fall in love with these cute houses and need to find something to make with this.  allison sent out a call for pattern testers, and once i was chosen, i KNEW i had to incorporate them.  I picked a wintery/festive variety to include, and then BOOM.  it came to life!

the simplicity of these blocks and the way the layout makes them look askew without being overly chaotic.  i stuck closely to the pattern this time, and didn't get too fancy with adding more colors to the quilt at all.  i purchased exactly what the pattern called for, and while my cutting instructions changed from the recommendations Allison gave, i still had enough fabric to use (both the blue blocks as well as the yellow background fabric were cut directionally) i considered doing the same poinsettia quilting i had done on previous christmas quilts (which you'll FINALLY get to see sprinkled through this month) but the more i thought about it, the more i wanted the prints and the quilt's layout to be the focus and not be overwhelmed by the quilting.  i used one of my favorite pantographs "loop the loop" with jade green glide thread and i'm SO happy with the results.

i decided to use glide in particular because it was new in our shop and i had been getting a lot of questions about it from customers.  i was able to use a mini spool for the quilting (plus winding three gamill bobbins for it)  and still had plenty of thread to spare in the end.  i have also heard it is good for piecing, so i will have to give that a shot sometime as well!  my current projects are far from jade green, so i'll have to find something soon to give it a go with :)

i went with blue grunge 108 for the backing, since it was a perfect "solid" tie in without having to add even more print to the back.  after talking with customers and hearing about how "nobody wants to cuddle up with a cotton backed quilt, they want minky" i ALMOST took the plunge, but at the same time... i don't know if i'm ready to jump in to that quite yet.  maaaaybe soon.

i also had a huge struggle trying to decide on binding.  i asked instagram, and got a lot of responses.  i wanted to steer clear of red to keep this more "wintery christmas" instead of IN YOUR FACE obvious christmas.  that way, it isn't awful if it stays out just a little bit longer beyond christmas.  i even purchased a stripe from this same line of fabric, but when i got it home and next to the quilt... i hated it.

so back i went the next day to get a bit more of the holly leaves to finish up the quilt, and it is perfect.

someday i won't feel like i have to include a quilt tag photo on each and every post...
but today is not that day.  i'm still pretty obsessed with them.  and i also managed to remember to fold this one out of the way when i was top stitching so that it wouldn't have a green line through it.  it's the little things, guys.  mentioning green lines, i DID sew on my binding with the glide thread, and it worked like a breeze for that as well.  nothing wigged out at all beyond the weird spots my machine occasionally catches ALL thread, so there was nothing specific to glide that i had to grumble about.  and now that you've made it to the bottom of the post, rosco is here to remind you the quilt along starts TODAY!  go get yourself that pattern (it's on sale through my birthday, even!) and join in the fun.  allison has some great prizes in store, and i'll be rummaging through my stash to see what i might come up with for my very own quilt along version.  this holiday one has a home already, but the recipient doesn't quite know it yet.  will it be you?
guess you'll just have to keep checking your front porch every so often this month!

pattern information: bold blocks by allison ramsing

quilt count: 142