Last week, I finished the Christmas puff quilt that I started about a year ago! Here’s a little picture from last year.
Noodles was helping me sew. She’s very helpful! Last year, I finished sewing the little puff pockets and the rows of (unstuffed) puffs. Then we moved across the country and I lost my energy to get it done. Moving right before Christmas is kinda the worst, I think. Moving completely stole my energy, and my Christmas enthusiasm. There was still some Christmas Spirit left, but comparing it to this year, there’s no comparison.
I started working on it again in mid October. I think it took about 2 weeks of work to get it all done. That finished project energy sure feels good!
I love this laundry basket photo of all the squares. I believe that in the end, I used about 30 different fat quarters of different prints. Each row had 15 squares across, so every other row should have the same fabrics. Having so many different prints made it easier to eyeball a good arrangement and space out all the colors. I sourced the prints from my stash, my mom’s stash (so grateful), and a few trips to my local quilt stores. I tried to get a nice, even balance of green, red, white and pink prints. I had to source a lot of fabric because my stash was pretty paltry to be honest. As much as I wish that was an unending wellspring of fabric, this quilt was too specific for what I already had on hand.
I realized last week, that one of the reasons this quilt style is a little bit of a pain to sew, is because you sew everything twice, basically. You first sew the top squares to the bottom square (you never see the bottom squares, they’re hidden in the middle of the quilt), with the little gathers in each one, then into a row, then stuff, sew the row closed, and attach the next row to the one you just sewed closed. It’s a lot of repetitive sewing. But I do appreciate that the puffiness of the quilt covers up a multitude of inacuraccies and seams that don’t match up, haha.
Nevertheless, it’s done now, and I can enjoy it! In May of 2021, I made my first puff quilt. Here’s the post about it. I must have been in a snarky mood when I wrote that one, haha. I remember being so irritated at how much of a monster the quilt was to bind. Also, an update: my sister in law really loved it. I’m glad I gave it to her and I’m sure it’s being taken care of well. Also, the prices in last year’s quilt are completely out of date. I think now, the raw materials would run $200. Ugh. Such is life at the moment, I guess.
To make these quilts, I use the tutorial from Lo and Behold Stitchery. Here is the link to the instructions. I start with 5″ squares on top, because I just like that size, personally. By the time they are stitched to the backing square, and then stitched together, each square is 4″ finished.
To complete the candy cane stripe binding (I do indeed love a striped binding), I used a big stitch method with green perle cotton. I used red perle cotton to tie the quilt. For most of this process, I watched YouTube videos and caught up on all of the Christmas movies that started even before Halloween. I mean, I always start my Christmas festivities early, but that’s early even for me!
It’s delightfully squishy and very cozy. Put you to sleep level coziness. I should mention that in the pattern, the designer adds a layer of batting. I left it out since where I live, it’s almost never cold, ever. I don’t miss the added bulk.
My favorite print is the white trees on the red background. It’s in the above picture, kind of in the middle. It reminds me of the Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes. I love it. I used a scrap of it that was left to make a scrunchy Apple Watch band. I can’t wait to wear it for Christmas.
Thanks for stopping by today for quilty show and tell. <3, C
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