Baptist Fan Quilting, Star Quilt and KISMIF 31

Hello all!  How is your week?  Well, I don't have any new projects to show, just more work on some quilt designs I did this year.  It's December and so I am busy getting Christmas projects ready for my machine quilting customers.

So...here is my Christmas quilt for this year, and as announced last week the pattern is ready for download.

Nordic Sweater Quilt

I did work on another American Sparkler Quilt--my summer design for this year.

American Sparkler Quilt

While this one shown is a queen-size quilt, I have a smaller 60 inch square version that I machine quilted this week.  It is made from fabric scraps.  I've always wanted to machine quilt a Baptist Fan as I love the traditional hand-quilted feel it gives.  Up to this point, I never had the confidence to try it without marking the entire top.  I created my own pantograph to do it and my husband was impressed how it turned out.  He really liked it, I think it's okay, but not perfect so I won't do it for customers.  Here are some pictures.

My favorite part of the day--unloading from the quilt frame.

Close-up of my Baptist fans.

I often get asked why it is necessary for quilt backing and batting measure 4 inches around larger than the top on all sides.  I hope this photo below helps explain.  When you are following a computerized or pantograph pattern, the last row often repeats and over-laps off the edge of the quilt (shown by the stitching my finger is pointing to).  This gets trimmed off and secured in the quilt binding.

Quilting off the edge of the quilt to complete the pattern.

Here is the pantograph I created..it is available (for free) for you to try it if you'd like.  I scaled it so it fits a 4 1/2" diameter and repeats every printed page.  Simply print out the number of pages for the width of your quilt. The area shaded in pink is the alignment where the next printed page over-laps under.  The yellow area is the the portion of the arcs to follow when starting the row.  Subsequent arcs only reach the white portion and will only need to be traced.  To download the PDF click HERE.

A special thank-you goes out to everyone who participated in last week's linky party and commented on my post.  I really appreciated it!  :)  My favorite post was the Maxi Porch Revolution from Porch Swing Quilts.  It was a lot of fun to read.  Jennie wins a free-pattern from me.  You could win a free download next!  Leave me a link to your blog and when you win, I will email you your favorite pattern that I wrote--which can be viewed on my Craftsy and Etsy shops.

An InLinkz Link-up