A redesigned version of the original Christmas Trees, Baubles & Presents from last year, this one is fully foundation-paper-pieced and therefore requires no setting-in of circles for the bauble block. Pattern available in my Etsy shop.
Last year, I made this Christmas quilt, after which I still had yards and yards of those classic Christmas fabrics (I even went on to buy more from my local Spotlight during the after-Christmas sale). I reckon that the setting-in of circle in the bauble blocks in that old design may be intimidating for some. Furthermore, the setting-in of circle is only necessary if you want a perfectly round bauble with uninterrupted background (which I needed in the last year's version of this quilt).
This time, I have redesigned both the tree & ribbon block and the bauble block to be fully foundation-paper-pieced, as well as more "balanced" in scale (e.g. strips are now more consistent in widths). I have also used a different block layout with sashing to separate the blocks to really bring out the "presents" design.
DESIGN & DIMENSIONS
The quilt finished at 58"x 76".
This quilt if made up of the following two blocks (12 inch x 12 inch finished) (more sizes are available in my Etsy shop).
Tree & Ribbon Block
Bauble Block
The foundation paper piecing patterns for the above Tree & Ribbon Block and Bauble Block in various sizes are available in my Etsy store here.
I added 2-inch (finished) vertical sashing and border (demarcated in pink below) to create the entire quilt top.
Sashing and Border Demarcated in Pink
TIP! See the ribbon part of the Tree & Ribbon block? If you only make this ribbon sub-block (without the tree), and piece it to the top of any square block, you can turn any square block into a "present" block!
MATERIALS
The quilt top is made of these classic Christmas print fabrics with metalic and glitter details, purchased from my local Spotlight. I used 100% cotton batting. At the back of the quilt, I used this fabric I purchased from a local textile store which is meant for garment sewing, pieced in the middle to create the required width. My Malaysian or Southeast Asian readers will notice the backing fabric has gold songket design printed on it. To me, the rich pink and gold of the fabric makes it very Christmasy.
QUILTING
I have used an uncommon type of thread for the quilting. It's this shiny embroidery thread in white, which effectively looks like very pale silver that glimmers like snow. At first, the thread was a nightmare to quilt with as it kept breaking as often as every 10 seconds! I'm so glad I did not give up, though, because I found a solution and that is putting this embroidery thread in the bobbin, regular thread on top, and quilt with the quilt backing facing up. Of course, this only works for edge-to-edge all-over quilting and not for custom quilting.
I Used Shiny Embroidery Thread for Quilting
I still have yards and yards of those classic Christmas fabric. Let's see what next year brings!
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