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
