Facade

My first completed quilt of 2012 is a Christmas quilt.  Does that mean I'm really early or really late?  I bet you can guess which one.  Good thing Christmas comes along every year.

Back in early October I stumbled across Rachel Griffith's (p.s. i quilt) Build A Quilt Workshop: Facade class.  Several things appealed to me about the class right away:  first, I really liked the quilt; second, it used pre-cuts which were something I hadn't really worked with before; third, it was an online class which is a new format for me; fourth, it only cost $10!  What have you got to lose there!  (Sorry if you are getting a sense of deja vu - I wrote about the class back here).  If that sounds appealing to you, Rachel is starting a new Cascade class soon.

I finished the top in early December and it has been waiting patiently for me to get it quilted.  I opted for fairly simple quilt in the ditch quilting as the fabrics are pretty busy.  I quilted along the horizontal and vertical block lines and then along the angle of the half square triangles.  The red and white strip for the binding just begged to be cut on the bias for a candy cane effect.

I have to say that I just love the colors in this fabric line - Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater.  The olivey (springy?) green, the deep red, the lovely cream and the crisp black just work for me.

Being a dedicated prewasher of all my fabric, I was a little nervous about not being able to wash the precuts before I started.  To be consistent, I didn't wash any of the yardage I used for this quilt either.  I heaved quite a sigh of relief when I took the quilt out of the dryer and there was absolutely no bleeding at all.  My husband and I are using this quilt to keep us warm while we watch TV.  Christmas can hang around our house for a little longer this year.

Edited to add: I'm linking up to Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday.