I finished hand quilting my big Halloween Moda Love in November and decided since I had already missed Halloween that was a good time to set it aside and start the mini charm Moda Love I wanted to make for my mom for Christmas. My track record with gift crafting is fairly abysmal, so the more time I gave myself the better.
Using the handy Moda Love coloring page someone posted on their blog, I figured out which prints I wanted to use and how I wanted to arrange them, then sewed myself a stack of HSTs. I was trying to evoke a wreath, so I knew I wanted the bigger outer star to be green and the inner to be red. I used two Moda mini charm packs to get enough green, ‘Merry Starts Here’ and ‘The Christmas Card’, both by Sweetwater.
I also knew that I wanted to make it a bit bigger (the mini charm version finishes at about a foot square) so I pulled a bunch of the remaining black and white squares and chopped them in half. Not pictured here, I took a single red buffalo plaid mini charm and chopped it into quarters to make cornerstones.
I like the look of borders but I hate attaching them, it always takes me multiple tries to get everything to line up approximately right.
I’m still a coward, so it got some simple echo quilting around in all the white areas. And then it just needed binding! I believe the binding fabric is also Sweetwater, which wasn’t intentional but does mean it matches really well. I was just looking for a candy cane stripe. Like Picking Petals, I machine sewed the binding on the front, flipped it, and hand sewed it on the back. This binding is a bit narrower, 2″, and sewn with a 3/16″ seam allowance on the front.
The back has little corner triangles for hanging and I embroidered a little maker’s tag. Overall I’m really pleased with how this turned out, though I wish I’d felt confident enough to get fancier with the quilting. But it’s done, almost two weeks before Christmas, which is some kind of miracle. I’m so proud of myself. Hope my mom likes it!
Quick Stats:
Prints: ‘Merry Starts Here’ and ‘The Christmas Card’ by Sweetwater for Moda (mini charm packs)
Background: White on white snowflake print from Joann
Backing: Holiday print from Joann
Binding: First Crush Sweet Stripes in Apple Red by Sweetwater for Moda