Welcome to the North Pole!

Or, The Never-Ending Christmas Quilt
I saw this quilt when it aired on an Episode of Simply Quilts, which used to be on HGTV, way back when they had crafty content, not just home renovations.  I was enthralled, but intimidated.  This was right after I started quilting, so maybe 2000 or so.  I was a serious machine work only girl, and the Piece O’ Cake girls demonstrated needle turn appliqué.  I don’t remember if Alex Anderson suggested machine appliqué in that episode, or if it was on a totally different project, but that is how I tackled this one.

You can still find the book on Amazon.   Isn’t their version great?  I went in a slightly different direction.  I was living in Florida and obsessed with batiks.  So I wanted a more colorful Santa scene.
I didn’t realize when I started what a huge undertaking the project would be.  Even when doing this one by machine, it is still a lot of work.  I love the results, but I am still working on bits and pieces, and it is older than my teenage son.
To start the process I made overlays using heavy tablecloth plastic.  Then I made mirror image copies, and traced all of the pieces onto sticky fusible webbing.  It was awful – one side stuck to the paper better than the other, and it would fall apart sometimes, without my input.  It drove me crazy.  I think I used it because I was worried about the quilt being stiff.  I will not be using it again.
The best part of this quilt is shopping for the little extras – button, ribbons, whatever else I can find to stick on the quilt.  I’m still looking for things, too.  It’s so sad.  If I see tiny Christmasy buttons that are absolutely useless, there is a very good chance I will drag them home to my pizza box of holiday horror.
Last year I made a very large effort to get the quilt together and quilted for Christmas.  All of the blocks were together and the appliqué was stitched down.  I did it, but it wasn’t as fast as I had thought it would be.  Every step of this quilt has challenged me.  I was ready to put on the border when I decided a piped inner border would be just perfect.  I found a book and a special tool to order, and dithered over the piping color – red or green?  I went with both, of course.  At every step, I have chosen the most difficult path.
Every block is machine quilted with a different pattern.  Some are free motion, some used the walking foot.
The border quilting drove me crazy for a bit, until my inspiration hit.  I had learned how to make 6 pointed paper snowflakes, and was practicing making quite fancy ones.  I made a series of small ones, pinned them to the border, and quilted around them.  I have sewn some crystal beads on some – I plan on beading all of the snowflakes, eventually.
My proudest detail is Rudolph’s nose.  It is an LED light that blinks.  It was originally part of a U2 album my husband purchased.  I have no idea which one, but I ripped that baby apart and kept the light.  I was delighted to find the light in my closet this month, and it finally has its place in Rudolph’s nose.  After fooling around with various grommets and tools, I just poked a little hole in the quilt, and jammed the light through.  I’ll take some buttonhole style stitches to secure it at some point.  I also need to add a pocket to the back to hold the 2 AA batteries that power the light.
I still have plenty to do.  I need to make the little shop names, add garlands to trees, many doors don’t have door knobs, and Santa’s reigns need to be added.  I also have a blinky light necklace to add to one of the rooflines, but I need to learn how to cut the wires and reattach them, so that I can run it through the fabric.  The problem is, before Christmas I am busy, and after Christmas, I’m no longer interested in Christmas projects.  Oh, well.  It is a fun project, and spreading it out over so many years gives me plenty of time to have crazy inspirations.