The Suzy Quilts Holiday Party Quilt-Along
Nelli enjoying the new snuggling quilt… (don’t mind her dandruff, it is still winter and super dry here, we are working on it :) )
At the end of 2021, Suzy Quilts hosted a quilt along with her new quilt pattern, the Holiday Party Quilt. I began by purchasing a curated kit with 16 fat quarters, and the backing fabric. I then purchased the background with is by Art Gallery Fabrics, solid in Minky. The fat quarter kit had a blend of quilting cottons, linen, and flannel. The latter two of which I had not quilted with before, it turned into such a beautiful quilt!
This quilt pattern was super easy to use, and very engaging. It was the fastest I had ever pieced together a whole quilt top. I chose the throw size, as this one would simply be for the family living room. The quilt patten consisted of 16 blocks and put together with a thin sashing between each block. I currently have two more on my cutting table!
The pattern itself can be found here: https://suzyquilts.com/shop/holiday-party-quilt-pattern-download/
This quilt started off by splitting the fat quarters into groups, and then cutting according to the well-written pattern. I chose to cut all of the pieces for the whole background, and about two sets of the fat quarters. Each set was a pair of fat quarters that made a total of two blocks. So eight unique blocks, and two of each of the eight blocks to make a total of 16 blocks. The blocks had some unique-to-me construction, and a fair share of HSTs and trimming, which is a therapeutic repetitive test for me. Turn on some Netflix, and I’m good to go for hours.
Once all 16 blocks were sewn up, they were connected and sewn together using sashing, finishing the whole top!
Finally, I prepped it for being dropped off at the long-arm quilter. This was my very first time outsourcing the quilting piece of crafting a quilt. Usually I will quilt on my domestic machine or complete with hand quilting, sometimes a hybrid. However, I wanted this quilt done faster so I would have it in time for my wedding.
To prep the quilt, she requested that all seams be pressed (of which they were, I press with each seam generally) and to not sandwich the quilt. Each layer of the sandwich gets loaded onto the long-arm separately. I pieced and pressed the backing as well. After that, I brought the top, batting, and backing to HB Quilting in Le Sueur, Minnesota.
Once the quilting process was finished, I picked up a quilted a trimmed masterpiece. The work completed was beautiful! I then carefully cut, folded, and pressed the binding, of which I machine sewed onto one side, and hand bound the other side, it is my preferred look! However, I have to admit, I did not cut my binding on the bias, I cut it on the straight edge. This can sometimes lead to a weaker binding, but I only had my trimmings left because I neglected to consider extra fabric for my binding. It worked well for me!
Machine sewing it onto the front
After this, I brought it to the wedding for pictures un-crinkled, and then threw it in the was for the beloved quilt crinkling to ensue! The quilt is cuddly, and husband and puppy approved!
Nelli’s stamp of approval.
