Good morning, everyone! It’s Cindy reporting in from Ohio on this sunny August day. Sandy and I are excited to show you the final version of our Rustic Christmas FREE Pattern.
The great thing about this FREE PATTERN is you have several options for finishing your paper pieced blocks. Want some cute mini pillows to bring some charm to your home? Give this FREE PATTERN a try!
Maybe you would like a cute banner for your fireplace! Give this FREE PATTERN a try!
How about a cute wall hanging, table topper or table runner? Give this FREE PATTERN a try! Our pattern includes the dimensions for several different runner lengths.
Click on the link below to download our FREE PATTERN
We’ll also be posting this pattern to FAVE Quilts . Be sure to check this website for free patterns. It provides great eye candy and inspiration for all kinds of quilting projects!
We interrupt our Christmas in July/August paper piecing project to present a palette-cleansing scrappy, double Irish chain, low-volume quilt finish.
Cindy and I were estate sale shopping last year (or the year before — is your concept of time messed up too????) and I stumbled on an old quilt in need of some love. The quilt was in pretty rough shape, but it just called to me. I bought it for the tag price of $5 because I loved the uniform bold blue squares and the clever quilting. I mention the quilting because what looks like many small white pieces, is, in fact, large muslin pieces quilted to mimic the size of the blue squares. Clever, right?
Tattered, but still beautiful
I knew I wanted to replicate the pattern, but I couldn’t muster up enough dark blues to make it work. So I decided to go with a scrappy, low volume approach. I went through my pre-cut stash of 2″ squares and pulled enough to build the quilt.
When I had a few finished blocks, I started to doubt my scrappy color approach — it just didn’t feel vibrant enough in proximity to the original. But y’all encouraged me to keep going, so I did.
Quilt top complete — I’m starting to like it more….
When the top was finished, I was still on the fence but I went to The Backyard Quilter, a new-to-me quilt shop nearby, to look for a unifying backing fabric. They had some wonderful wide bolts to choose from and I fell in love with a beautiful teal fabric with a distinctly modern pattern. (Truth be told, sister Sue helped me pick it out — she has an amazing eye for color. She saved me from buying some subdued green swatch of blah.)
With backing in hand, I let the fabulous Ms. G do her quilting thing. I used the same teal fabric for the binding, and — oh my — that teal color made the whole project just pop!
In an odd twist of fateful pre-buying, I had this teal thread on hand to use for the binding. I wonder why I ever bought that color???
This may be one of my all-time favorite finishes. Maybe instead of giving it away, I will keep it for myself….?