Finished Friday | The Alpine Quilt

I am so very excited to share this week’s finishes. I have more than just a quilt to share this week too. Not only am I excited for the finishes, I am so jazzed that my friend, Sarah, of Georgia Girl Quilts is hosting Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday this week. Sarah’s quilts are amazing and I hope you’ll head over to her blog to check out her finish this week too!

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know I’ve been making the Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial, Flying Geese Diamonds quilt. And, yes, I used the same fabric that was in their tutorial: Alpine by Pink Chandelier for Wilmington Prints. From the first moment I started watching this tutorial I knew I had to make this exact quilt. I fell head over heels for the pattern and the fabrics. The only thing I changed in the fabric requirements was to choose a different print for the backing (the Cardinals in Trees instead of the Reindeer Toss). I used the red-stripe fabric for the binding rather than the Reindeer print, and I changed the Kona Cotton in Cayenne for the inner border and used the red Snowflake Toss instead.

There are several prints in this fabric line that I love, and the Cardinals in Trees is at the top of the list. I loved it so much that I made the entire backing out of the fabric. I just love those birds! I was having a hard time coming up with a name for this quilt. The whole time I was making it I kept calling it “The Alpine Quilt”. After much thought I’ve decided to just go ahead and name it The Alpine Quilt. It’s so original I just don’t even know what to do with my genius mind (sarcasm alert).

The other fabric that I adore is the red stripe fabric. I love a striped binding, and this fabric was more than perfect for it. Especially since the print is done on the diagonal. I have not stopped, and probably won’t stop, gushing about how perfect it is as a binding fabric!

This quilt was a lot of fun to make. The pattern was super easy, but I would not recommend using layer cake precuts for it. You really need an exact 10″ square for this block, and precut 10″ squares are typically NOT cut exactly. I struggled with the pinked edges and some of my seam allowances are 1/8″. I ended up using a 1.5mm stitch length on those seams to make sure that my fabrics wouldn’t fray and the seams wouldn’t open up. This block also means the center of the blocks are thicker, and earlier this week I wrote about how I struggled with the quilting as a result of that. I am absolutely thrilled with the quilt, but it was a fight to get a nice finish! I will say, this is my favorite quilt I’ve made so far and everyone in the house agrees.

Since I absolutely love this fabric line, I ordered extra yardage to make some napkins and reversible placemats. Naturally, the napkins are in my favorite red stripe print. It reminds me of candy canes, ribbon candy, and Christmas cheer all rolled into one. I won’t confirm or deny the occasional urge to want to lick the fabric. (Okay, that just sounds weird when I type that out… I’m gonna have to deny, deny, deny any aforementioned urges.) I used the Make Your Own Cloth Napkin Tutorial by Skip To My Lou and chose the mitered corner option.

I used the Quick & Simple Reversible Placemat tutorial by Whipstitch to make the placemats. I chose the Cardinals in Trees in Grey for one side of the placemat. It has become my favorite side! I wanted to have a “Winter” side so that I could use the placemats for longer than one month out of the year.

The reverse side of the placemat is the Ornaments in Grey print. This turned out to look a lot busier than I thought it would. I am wishing I would have chosen the Reindeer Toss instead, because I think the napkins would look better with that print. I may end up just using white napkins to tone down all the red. It’s still cute, and very holiday-cheery.

Finally, for those who like quilt stats:

“The Alpine Quilt”

Finished size
69″ x 78″
Pattern
Flying Geese Diamond Quilt by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company
Fabric
Alpine by Pink Chandelier for Wilmington Prints Layer Cake, Bella Solids White Layer Cake by Moda (Top)
Alpine Snowflake Toss in Red (Inner Border)
Alpine Reindeer Toss in Grey (Outer Border)
Alpine Cardinals in Trees in Grey (Backing)
Alpine Red Stripe (Binding)
Batting
Warm & Natural
Thread
Pieced with Aurifil 50 wt 2000
Quilted with Superior Omni 40 wt 3002
Binding stitched with Superior Omni 40 wt 3002
Quilting
Free Motion echo quilting, figure eight, ribbon, back and forth lines
Finished
October 6, 2016

Linking up with:
TGIFF hosted by Sarah of Georgia Girl Quilts
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop hosted by Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Finish It Up Friday hosted by Crazy Mom Quilts
Finished {or Not} Friday hosted by Busy Hands Quilts