Saturday 9 September 2017

Holiday Homies by Tula Pink

When I first saw Tula Pink's new Holiday Homies fabric few months ago, I just couldn't resist.

I'm not usually one for cute images on fabric, and I don't even like dogs all that much, but the combination of dogs with glasses and Christmas sweaters, just drew me in.



I bought a fat quarter bundle and decided to made a small Christmas quilt, fussy cutting the images to retain as much of them as possible.  It's summer time when it's Christmas here in New Zealand, so we don't need big Christmas quilts - but I still like to put out some decorative table runners and hang some wall quilts.


I really liked all of the fabrics that came in the Holiday Homies collection, so I decided to incorporate them all into my quilt.



When the top was finished I hand quilted it with Aurifil 12wt.  As usual, I used a range of colours - some matching and some contrasting.  If you're new to my blog and want to know more about how I hand quilt, you can check back to these three posts I wrote earlier in the year:

Celebrate Hand Quilting

Hand quilting threads

Hand quilting designs



I'm not one to write patterns usually, but if you'd like to make a Holiday Homies quilt similar to mine, here's what I did.

1.  Fussy cut the animal images very carefully to preserve as many as possible. I drew 4.75" squares on the diagonal on the back of the fabric, centering the images and carefully managing the lines between adjoining animals. Take your time doing this.



2. Cut 2 x 4.25" squares for the corners of each animal block. Cut these square in half on the diagonal to make 4 90 degree triangles.

3.  Sew the triangles to the squares to make the animal diamonds into square in a square blocks and trim them to 6.5" x 6.5".

4.  Add borders.  Cut 2 strips 6.5" x 2" and attach.  Cut 2 strips 9.5" x 2" and attach.



5.  Choose a plain fabric for the final border.  I tired without a plain border and it was just too busy. Cut 2 strips 9.5" x 1.25" and attach.  Cut 2 strips 11" x 1.25" and attach.

6.  Make sashing by joining 2" strips and trimming to 3.5". I kept mine this wide because I wanted to incorporate my remaining animal prints in the cornerstones. You could make the sashing narrower if you don't have any animals left over.


7.  Make cornerstones from the remaining animal images if possible.


8.  Join it all up and you have a fun quilt for children (and children at heart) to admire at Christmas.


My finished quilt measures 37.5" x 37.5" and was all made from fat quarters - if you buy fat quarters you need to be sure that your local quilt shop cuts the animal images carefully. Nothing worse than coming home with half a dog!

Merry Christmas.









11 comments:

Julie said...

I would never have pictured those fabrics in your stash, so different from your usual colours!! Your Christmas quilt looks great.

Tami Von Zalez said...

How fun is that? I bookmarked your process. I LOVE the Tula Pink line but haven't sprung for what it will cost full retail. Maybe a gift card at Christmas? *grins*

margaret said...

this fabric has worked so well, not a dog fan myself in fact frightened of dogs but this is cute. Have not seen it here in the UK but do have a small stash of fat quarters of some of Tula`s fabric, bit pricey for me so treat myself to the odd FQ which I look at sometimes!

Linda said...

Great Christmas quilt, Wendy. Like you I'm not a huge dog fan but your Christmas dogs are appealing. Love the colours and the piano keys border strips.

Susan said...

Great finish Wendy! Sometimes we just have to give in to those cute novelty prints and make something very appealing!

Julierose said...

this is so adorable--love how you set the fussy-cuts...hugs, Julierose

travelinsewl said...

So fun!

Sue said...

Love everything you have made here Wendy. I THINK my New Years resolution will be to stop making great big quilts and do some more fun smaller ones. We'll see!
Have a great Christmas!

Unknown said...

I loved your pattern so much I made one like it, just expanding to a lap quilt with more pieced borders. I use all the remaining stuff as part of the backing I hand quilted using 12 wt, with large stitches, since I'm not an expert hand quilter. Everyone loved it so much, that I have entered it into my guild quilt show for April 2018. Thanks. Of course I have credited you with the design!

Wendy @ Wendysquiltsandmore said...

Hi Joel. Thank you so much for leaving a comment and letting me know you made your own Holiday Homies quilt! It certainly is fun fabric to play with. good luck in your quild's exhibition, and thank you for crediting me with the design. Best Wishes. Wendy.

Elfi said...

Thank you so much for the tutorial. I have just finished the first of my two quilts for our Humane Society to auction off and raise funds. I so appreciate you listing the dimensions for the block; it was very helpful. I still have quite a few blocks left over for pot holders. Again, thank you!