Christmas in August Wedding Quilt

My cousin is getting married this August 11th. She loves Christmas so I got inspired this past year to make her a winter/holiday quilt for her wedding present. It's a queen-size quilt in a really warm flannel material with bamboo arctic batting. I hope it is as warm for them as it looks, feels and sounds!

Here is the top before I quilted it.

I wanted to have some fun while trying out my new quilt frame so I chose the inside of the squares to have a meandering stipple. I was trying to follow the general flow of the reindeer's antlers.

In the sashes I tried out clam shell circles and pebbles as well as "s" shapes. I wanted some of the negative space to be empty so it could puff.

I am thrilled to introduce to you, the complete top-side of the quilt...

And the back-side of the quilt. I like how the front has a narrower binding than the backing.

After I completed the top-stitching, I washed the quilt in hot water and dried it in the dryer to shrink it and give it a worked-in look. I'm not sure I like the look with the flannel because it really faded the back and fuzzed up the fabric. I don't want my cousin to think I've had this quilt lying about in my closet for years and I grabbed it as a gift!! Here's a close-up to show you what I mean. Even the center seam looks really worked in.

Overall I am proud of it and I think she'll appreciate the effort that went into it - I had to learn an entire new technique on how to quilt on my new machine frames! As my fellow crafters will likely agree, it takes a lot longer when learning a new technique even though when it's done you feel you can conquer anything new thrown your way.

Have you worked with flannel for a quilt and, if so, what was your overall experience?

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