jannimary: My Friend’s Christmas Quilt

This was my final completed project for July.

On our recent trip to Queensland my friend produced a quilt top from a cupboard and asked if I could do anything with it for her. Of course I could. We didn’t unfold it at the time, but I could see that it was a Christmas themed quilt with appliqué.

Last week I unpacked it to find a beautiful quilt top. The appliqué was completed with satin stitch that she worked on her domestic machine. It is so precise that I thought it must have been done using an embroidery machine. There is foundation paper piecing and mitred corners. When I asked if she had done it in a class her reply was that it was with “The Old Ducks” in a small town where they used to live. That was about 30 years ago. I'm guessing that the "Old Ducks" probably weren't all that old, as she was a young mum at the time. It was about time to get this quilt completed so that it could be displayed at Christmas.

I was given free rein to do what I thought best, as otherwise it would still be languishing in a cupboard.

The backing she had with it had a glitter type of effect added to it, so I didn’t really want to use that. Instead, I used a fabric that Mick had bought at a garage sale while I was at Baradine two years ago. There was plenty there.

The next thing to decide on was the pantograph. None of the ones that came with the machine appealed, so I bought one that is an elegant swirl with some holly. A Christmas vibe without being kitch. The thread is a matt gold, which worked really well.

Elly May did a lovely job.

I could have left the binding for her to complete, but thought it would be nice to return a completed quilt when we see them next. Mick took this very unflattering photo as I was hand stitching it down, while feeling under the weather with a head cold.