Quilted Advent Calendar Finish

For my first finish of 2016, I decided to get a head start on Christmas this year by finishing a UFO (unfinished object) that I have had laying around since 2013 ;) I started working on this advent calendar as a part of the Countdown to Christmas Quilt-Along over at Better Off Thread. Well one thing let to another, and then this sucker ended up in a tote in the closet.

I made it using a Charm pack of Kate Spain's In From the Cold line for Moda, and then pair that with coordinating solids in gray, red, green, and aqua. I posted most of my progress on Instagram, I think in total it probably took me a week to get this thing done. Stitching the appliqued numbers down took the longest, followed closely by the quilting.

With this quilt I wanted to try something different with my quilting. I normally will go with straight lines or an easy all over stipple, but with this I decided to go for pebbles. At first my pebbles looked more like jagged rocks, but once I got the hang of it things went much more smoothly. I love how the overall look is reminiscent of snowballs... or I guess what I think snowballs look like. Living in south Texas = no winter!

This is my first mini that I have added pockets to hang with a dowel rod. I normally just use push pins, but this sucker is heavy to begin with and I know once the pockets are filled with candy it will be even heavier. My backing is a pale green Cotton Couture solid I had in my stash, and my binding is from Kate Spain's newest Christmas line Jingle.

William is so excited about being able to use this to count down the days till Christmas. He has already started asking me how long until it's Christmas again LOL! 

Quilt Stats: 

Fabric - Moda Bella solids, Kate Spain In From the Cold

Pattern - Quilted Advent Calendar by Elizabeth Hartman

Quilting - Aurifil Thread 50wt #2311

Batting - Quilters Dream Puff