My Little Christmas Tree Quilt
Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday is full of the love of family and friends. Let me tell you about my little Christmas tree quilt, Twinkling Bright.
It all started with this small block that I call a Baby Windmill. I’m on a mission to design as many interesting quilts as I can with this as the starting point. You can read more here.
One of my ideas is to make pictorial quilts from Baby Windmills. The Christmas tree quilt was the first go! I started out with two contrasting gray solids from my stash and I made it very scrappy, like most of my quilts.
Lots and lots of greens looked a little weird as I began, but I have learned that scrap quilts can be ugly at first. You just have to keep sewing!
I put them up on the design wall and realized it was going to work. That was a big relief.
The real fun began when I started adding in the colored lights!
Except for the bows on the gifts, the entire quilt is constructed with just one size of patch! Even the borders are that same patch. Isn’t that fun?
Then off it went to be quilted, and Kristy Wolf in Seattle was kind enough to post a photo of it on her longarm.
A while back I got an email from my friend Carolyn Beam, the content director of several F+W quilting titles. Her news was that my quilt would be on the cover of the Dec/Jan ’18 Quick Quilts. That was very good news!
Having F+W shoot one of my quilts is so very nice, because Mellisa does such a good job with lighting and so on. I love the little girl hanging lights on the tree! What a creative touch. I’m sure that Art Director Denise Starck was responsible for that detail.
Twinkling Bright by Diane Harris. Quilted by Kristy Wolf. Photo: Mellisa Karlin Mahoney. Used with permission.
Above is the “glamour shot.” And here is the flat shot:
Twinkling Bright by Diane Harris. Quilted by Kristy Wolf. Photo: Mellisa Karlin Mahoney. Used with permission.
If you want to get an early start on a Christmas quilt for next year, you’ll find the pattern for Twinkling Bright in the Dec/Jan Quick Quilts, on newsstands now or online from The Quilting Company.
This quilt is now part of my Jingle Bells trunk show for quilt groups. I’d love to bring it to your town! Call today!
Tags: baby windmills, Christmas quilts, Diane Harris, jingle bells trunk show
Dottie
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I’m head over heels delightfully happy re your Christmas tree with lights pattern and would really like to make it! Would like to know re the fabrics required so I can have them in time for class. VBG… TIA
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Diane Harris
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Hi Dottie, thank you for your kind words about the Christmas trees with selvages! I’m not sure which class you mean, though. Can you send me email here: diane@stashbandit.net Thank you!
Marcia Brown
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Diane, I loved your presentation on brick quilts. I am drawn to scrappy quilts, so this was right up my alley!! I am planning to start cutting bricks from many of my scraps to start a stash. I love the Christmas Tree Quilt and hope to one day tackle that for sure! Thanks so much for your informative and inspiring presentation!
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