bright and merry juniper berry quilt

 this quilt has been a few years in the making, and now i'm super excited to say it is finally done!
and in true fashion, despite being the first christmas quilt started this year, it is the fourth and final one completed.  whoops!  but i have to say that even after all this time, it was well worth the wait.

i first saw the pattern in probably 2017 as part of a kit at fabric garden, a local quilt shop in the area.  they didn't have any patterns available solo, but they were able to eventually special order it for me.  after getting a pattern in my hands, it sat for awhile since i knew i wanted it, but didn't know what it would look like.  then, i found the backing fabric in 2018, which then set the tone for the whole quilt.

the bright colors reminded me so much of the tree lot scene in a charlie brown christmas.  i was happy to have an idea for a christmas quilt that had a traditional idea to it, but wasn't completely traditional in christmas colors.  i shop hopped around town to find a variety of colors and prints to make the trees unique, and then this project clearly sat for awhile since 2019 came and went, but still no christmas quilt.  i think this became one of my first projects for the 2020 UFO challenge, which was quite motivating early on in the year.  as you can probably guess, i fell off that wagon at some point.  i picked up the background fabric from thistle dew in january, which was after a great debate of what color to do.  i'm super glad i went with this icy blue that really helps the trees pop out.

when it came to selecting the borders, i knew i wanted them to be grunge, but also different than what was already in the trees.  i paid a visit to swifty stitches, since i knew susan had the stars which ended up being the perfect outer border.  the great debate for the inner border began, because i had just heard that glitter grunge was being released.  the green was the one color she didn't have on hand, and neither did any of the other local shops.  silver is more my vibe, but since she did have the metallic, i picked up the amount i needed just incase.  worst case scenario, i have more grunge in my stash.

while at quiltcon, i found and purchased some of the glitter grunge to audition for the inner border.
whelp.  i think you can tell the gold metallic won that battle, and now i have some glitter grunge in my stash!

i finally stayed with my plan, and quilted a wood grain free motion pattern on this quilt.

though, i couldn't bring myself to use red thread on the middle portion, or light blue thread on the borders, so i had to deal with a lot of color changes.  but it was so worth it.  

i just love the texture it brings to the quilt, and allows it to be a little more free and not exact.

okay, so FINALLY here's a look at the backing that started it all.
can you blame me??

i can't even remember how i came across it, but this alexander henry print was PERFECT in every way.

i did my usual way of breaking up a backing by including a stripe of the blue i had from the background on the front, which with that red bobbin thread really pops out that quilting. 

i also debated going for a bold binding, but with the amount of color going on in the trees, went ahead and got more of the grunge seeing stars in red to frame it up.  worked perfectly for the front of the quilt and the back!

this quilt took a lot of organization and planning when it came to the layout, but many MANY episodes of encore! on disney+ got me through it.  even though i had the top done in early spring, my procrastination (and other quilt distractions) got the best of me, making my own projects be the last ones done.  i'm SO glad that i was able to get it done before christmas and get use of it this year before putting it off for yet another year.

well, even though we're post christmas...it is still on my bed.

and while we may be rolling in to 2021 this week, i have no shame in my procrastination game right now.

honestly, i'm surprised my halloween pillowcases aren't out still...

pattern: juniper berry by antler creek design

quilt count: 146