Happy Holidays and new backing ideas

Each year I try to have a Christmas project for the house. The above quilt is this years project.

I started with a wonderful panel which has been in my stash for about a year.  The panel consisted of the center "Merry Christmas" block and the four smaller blocks with black backgrounds and vintage items .  The remainder of the quilt is a combination of leftover blocks and fabrics from other Christmas projects.

The learning experience for this quilt was the backing. For the first time I used fleece as a backing and no batting.  I love the way this backing makes for a very soft, flexable and snuggly quilt.

One special note about picking the right fleece.

Fleece comes in some wonderful prints and rich solids but remember without the batting between the fleece back and the pieced front that fun fleece print could read through to the front of your quilt.  I was lucky with this quilt as much of the top is very dark. I had planned on using this technique on another quilt that is very light with lots of white and I just counldn't find a fleece that didn't read through to the front.  For that quilt I'm going back to a batting and flannel backing. If possible I would suggest bring a sample of your fabrics to the store and checking before you make a final decision on the right backing for your quilt.

This quilt finishes at 49" X 63" and makes for a great sofa quilt.  Quilting was done in a meandering pattern on my domestic machine.

I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful holiday season.

A blessed Christmas to all!

MaryEllen