Hello! I hope you all are well and that all of my quilting friends in the United States enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving! The last time I posted, I shared that my husband and I were living in temporary housing while we searched for a home in a new community in central Minnesota. I am happy to say that we have landed! We have found a home nearer my in-laws, but still close to my mom and still halfway between both of our adult children. We have a LOT of unpacking yet to do, but I did get organized enough to throw my latest finished quilt onto a bed – a winter version of my Next Up pattern!
I began working on this quilt last winter as part of my effort to sew down my stash. Years ago, I purchased darling panels from a Gingiber collection called Merrily, which featured both large and small deer, moose, penguins and polar bears. The trouble was, I could never decide what to do with them. I also wanted to make a dent in my ever growing stash of Christmas scraps.
I decided to utilize my Next Up pattern. While Next Up was designed to utilize a layer cake (for an 86” square quilt) or a charm pack (for a 38” square quilt), it also lends itself to scrap quilting. I simply cut 5” squares from favorite winter prints, fussy cut the character prints for the block centers, found some background and sashing fabric (also in my stash) and it was a snap!
I even used the large critter panel on the quilt back and surrounded it by varying widths of winter fabrics from my stash. This quilt is so simple, but I absolutely love its cozy vibe. I also love how big it is! The Next Up pattern is available on my Etsy Shop in both paper and digital download formats.
Once again, I tip my hat to Katy at Woods Edge Quilting who did my machine quilting. Katy used a panto called Scottish Plaid, and the texture it creates is amazing! Thank you, Katy!
Thanks for stopping by the blog today! Whenever I am writing a post, I feel like I am talking to old friends and that is a comfort. I look forward to getting settled, setting up my sewing area, and visiting the local quilt shop. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of sewing or other favorite pastimes. I’d better focus on unpacking more boxes. Take care!
~Taunja
Other Next Up quilts I’ve made:
New pattern: Next Up, a charm pack or layer cake quilt
Next Up baby quilt featuring fabrics by Elea Lutz
Next Up baby quilt featuring charming farm fabric
That is an amazing quilt…I just love it!
Thank you so much Sharon! I appreciate your kind words!
Taunja, I love this quilt. Another pattern I will have to get. My next project is the Buffalo Check table runner. The Buffalo Check Christmas quilt turned out beautiful. Thank you for such amazing patterns.
I’m so glad to hear that it turned out to your liking! I think you will have lots of fun with the table runner . . . it’s so fun to use festive little prints in those stars! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment! 🙂
Those cute animal prints with the soft grey sashing squares are just the right combo between all the beautiful Christmas fabric squares! Love this, Taunja!
Thanks so much Sigi! I had a lot of fun rummaging around in my stash for what I hoped would be a good combo! Hope all is well up north! 🙂
What a great idea for using those panels. Thanks for this idea. I love the way your quilt turned out.
I’m glad you found a house in just the right spot between all relatives. That’s no mean feat these days! Once you get settled I hope you like your new place. It takes a while to figure out where everything is — I mean which drawer or cupboard did I put that (fill in the blank) in. Next year we’ll be moving to Idaho and I’m dreading the move and trying to find a house that meets our needs. Moving is a lot of work.
Oh I wish you the best in your move! It is a lot of work, both physically and mentally! Thank you for your understanding words . . . and it was no small feat finding just the right house in this market . . . it took us over 7 months. Uffduh! And yes, I long for the day when I can go on autopilot in my kitchen and actually know where things are. ha ha ha!
Excellent use of stash fabrics! Scrappy would be great too. That quilt design is the bomb!
Thanks Linda! You made me giggle . . . but you are right! It is the bomb!
This pattern looks wonderful, will put it on my todo list. Your quilt is gorgeous.
thanks so much Hetty! I hope you enjoy the pattern!