Christmas Forest Frolicking Fun Quilt

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas I want to show my Quilt.  

It has 1 cherry block, 2 red squares, 3 shades of green, 4 red rectangles, 5 quilting stitches, 7 foxes sledding, 8 bunny trios, 10 rabbits guarding, 11 foxes leaping and 12 Christmas presents... but that's not quite the song!!  

This is my 2015 Christmas quilt.  It's an original pattern. I sat down one day in December and sketched out the design on graph paper.  It's interesting how different the finished quilt seems than the quilt in the sketch, though clearly it is the same pattern. It may be the difference between the 2 dimensional drawing and the quilt which has texture, or maybe it's the color intensity of the fabrics.  

I used my fabric, Christmas Forest Frolicking Fun, printed by Spoonflower.com with Kona® solids for the greens and reds.  The two whites are a sateen and a white on white large snowflake print. The quilt, with so much white negative space, has a very festive, snowy feel.  

The back is a large intense floral with dark reds, greens, pinks and purples. The contrast is unexpected but really works!

Printed Easy Sew Drawstring Gift Bag

Spoonflower.com has weekly contests for folks designing fabrics.  This week's challenge was to create a printed gift bag, with sewing instructions!   This one is right up my alley!  And it was a chance to work on my skills using Adobe Photoshop!

Here is the link to the finished product for sale at Spoonflower.com:  Christmas Forest Frolics Gift Bag.   4 seams and it's a sweet little bag for Christmas gift giving!  It measures 9 1/2 high x 9 3/4 inches wide, with the gift area in the finished bag approximately 6 1/2 inches x 7 inches.

Even if you don't want to buy the printed pattern, head over to Spoonflower.com and vote for your favorite drawstring bag patterns!  You can vote for as many as you want and don't need to log in.  You can only vote once per contest. Thanks. 

I got the idea for the color blocks on this bag from Jeni Baker's Lined Drawstring Bag pattern.  Because my finished bag looks a lot like hers, I sent her some photos and details about the construction to be certain I wasn't violating her copyright.  She responded the same day, stating my project was not only fine, but also "Super Cute!"  I strongly recommend that if you are wondering if a piece you've made may be too similar to someone else's that you check in with them. "When in Doubt, Check it Out!"  My next post will show some of the bags I've made using Jeni's pattern.