The Nordic Gnome quilt pattern is available in my shop!
I am so excited to share my second Nordic Gnome sample with you today! Even as I picked non-traditional colors for my cover sample pattern, I knew I absolutely had to do a in-your-face Christmas version for the holidays!
Almost immediately after finishing my all-solids sample, I grabbed a 10" Stacker/Layer Cake of Riley Blake's Old Fashioned Christmas fabric collection. I fell in love with it the second I saw it, so it was a no-brainer.
Using A Layer Cake
The great thing about this pattern is that it uses 40 of the 42 10" squares, so you really get the most out of your precuts! After opening the precut pack, I sorted through the squares and eliminated two squares. I mix and matched them setting aside half for the hats and the other half for the bodies.
Then, I got to cutting! The pattern includes cutting diagrams for both FQs and 10" squares so this went super fast.
I will confess at this point that even as I got started on this quilt, I had no idea what I would use for the background. I started with the bodies since those don't really use any background fabric until the very end, and then try out both a white fabric and a charcoal grey fabric. In the end, against my usual M.O., I went with the charcoal grey and I am SO SO glad I did! I adore how the gnomes seem to pop off the fabric.
And as I worked on the blocks, I fell in love with each and every one of them. It was hard not to stop and state at each lil' Gnome-y buddy.
Long Arm Quilting
Second confession, I was chronically late through the entire process of working on this quilt pattern and I had so much to do before the release. Thankfully, the wonderful Jenn Smith at Jenn B Quilts came to the rescue! She's semi-local to me (same state, different city) and she worked some amazing magic on this quilt!
The panto she used is Midnight Sparkle (from Urban Elementz) and together we decided on a dark grey thread to match the background fabric.
Backing and Binding
For the finishing touches of this quilt, I kept it fairly simple. The backing is one of the green prints from the collection. I went this route to avoid decision paralysis - I honestly couldn't even think of trying to pick backing fabric from outside the collection haha.
For the binding, I picked a coordinating red solid fabric. It makes the whole thing pop. I love how it contrast with the backing and the background fabric.
Quilt Details
Quilt Pattern: Nordic Gnomes by Cotton and Joy
Fabric: Old Fashioned Christmas by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake Designs (10" Stacker/Layer Cake) and Charcoal Confetti Cottons Solids by RBD.
Backing: Forest Main from Old Fashioned Christmas by My Mind's Eye
Binding: Barn Red Confetti Cottons Solids by RBD.
Quilted by: Jenn Smith of Jenn B Quilts
Panto Used: Midnight Sparkle (Urban Elementz)