Hip, hip hooray! What an amazing quilt-along this has been. Thanks to each and every one of you who participated in your own way. Whether or not you have been sewing along or simply sharing words of encouragement, posting to Instagram, finishing or just getting started, you’ve made this community a very special place indeed. We’re many times more blessed when we journey together. A big, heartfelt THANKS to you! And special thanks to my co-host, @TheMakings of Joy.

Today we’ll celebrate your beautiful finished quilts and quilt tops, I’ll share my finished holiday Dear Dottie and award the grand prize. Cheers!

Dear Dottie Showcase

Grand Prize

Congratulations to everyone, but especially to @Carola_Koubek, who is randomly selected to receive the Dear Dottie Grand Prize! We trust you’ll enjoy sewing with the beautiful bundle of fabric, thread and handmade seam ripper from Fenceline Fabrics. Oh - and a little holiday shopping spree too! You lucky ducky. Have fun!

Thanks again to Fenceline Fabrics for sponsoring our entire shindig!

my Holiday Dottie

As we settle into our first Christmas in The Netherlands, the timing was ripe to make a fresh holiday quilt for our family. I hope we’ll cuddle together under this cozy quilt and make fond memories in our new home.

If it wasn’t for our quilt-along, I probably wouldn’t have realized how fun it would be to make a holiday version of my Dear Dottie quilt pattern. So thanks for that! To my mind the circles are a nod to the colorful Christmas balls I like to hang on our tree. With a generous helping of my older holiday scraps, an infusion of new fabrics from Quilt Sandwich and a sprinkling of metallic shine, it came together quite nicely!

I quilted on my longarm with a large, modern snowflake design. On the front, it just looks sort of sharp and maybe doesn’t translate so well? My first Dear Dottie was quilted with diagonal straight lines, which I think is very effective. This design seemed somewhat similar, but with the holiday element.

Fortunately, it looks great on the solid quilt back! Sometimes that’s where quilting really shines.

Do you recognize this backing fabric? It’s something to indulge in from time to time, when sewing quilts for the sofa. Sometimes called Minky (brand name) or cuddle or dimple, this plush fabric is super soft and cozy. It gives the quilt a luxurious drape and makes it warmer too. I found this evergreen hue at a local Dutch fabric shop. Yay! There are a few bright colors on sale at Crosscut Sewing Co.

And the binding looks like snowflakes too! Nordika Stellar is a great scale for binding.

And that’s a wrap! Thanks again for sewing-along with me. I look forward to our adventures together in 2020!

xo,

Rachel Hauser