White Christmas

This is the first in a series of small quilts for our  dear DIL.   She had specially requested a couple of small quilts in 'liturgical colors' to use on a little table that she wants to use for family prayer time.  I was so glad to get it finished in time for Christmas.

about 24 inches square 

White is the color of celebration used during the Christmas and Easter seasons.  My first stop was Hobby Lobby for some inspiration.  They had a very pretty soft gray fabric with calligraphy: "Faith, Hope, Love, Friendship...." Perfect!

Using the fabric as the center focus, the next step was designing a pieced border.  In my book of quilt blocks I found one called "Grandmother's Cross."  I used that as the basis for the border, but ended up piecing it in strips like Seminole quilting in order to eliminate lots of triangles around the edges of each block. 

It worked out quite well, except that the four corners had to be mitered.  I don't think I've ever attempted anything quite so complicated to piece, but I took a deep breath, said a prayer, and forged ahead.  Miraculously, all four corners matched and laid flat!  I only had to make one small adjustment.

The border is quilted stitch-in-the-ditch, and the center is a simple meander.

It was challenging, but this design finally came together and it turned out much better than I expected!  It was so exciting to see her open this gift up on Christmas Eve.