Reindeer all around

It was rainy and stormy and flooding on Saturday.  We got out and I got a couple of Christmas presents bought and some shirts for me…like I need shirts.  But, mostly, we stayed in and listened for the rain to stop so we could take the dogs out to do their thing.

I spent the time designing and quilting reindeer into the holiday quilt. 

First, I found my reindeer.

He’s a free downloadable piece of clip art.  I blew him way, way up and printed him.  Took me two tries to get him to come out the right size.  But, then, I cut tissue paper into strips as wide as the borders and pinned the deer to the strips and needle punched around him into the tissue.  I made the deer meet at antler and hoof, so they formed a continuous line of deer that faced one another, nose to nose or tail to tail.  I made 12 strips, and it was one too many, but that’s okay.  I’d rather over estimate by one than underestimate by any.

Next, I fit the strips to the borders.

I knew I couldn’t change the distance where two deer met, so to add length to the strips, I cut the deer in half, through the mid-section.  Then, I pinned them to the quilt, leaving as much distance as I needed between each piece and spreading the extra distance I needed to cover evenly across the border. 

The long sides needed less adjusting than the short sides.  The picture above is a short side.  So, the deer on the short sides are about a 3/16 inch longer in the torso than the deer on the long sides.  You don’t notice.  And, it was a whole lot easier than trying to size the deer so that I would get exactly as many deer as I needed, with a deer facing out at each end.  That’s just really complicated math I’d rather save for something I’m going to show than something that’s going to hang here for a month every year, then go to storage. 

Anyway, now, I need pictures of holly leaves and berries that I’m going to put into the corners instead of trying to make the deer match up there.  Again, a short cut, but an easy and convenient one.

And, then I can bind the quilt.  I’m pretty dang sure it will be ready to hang next weekend…if I can find a good binding. I’m thinking black, but am going to try a couple different things to see how they work.

Everybody have a great Monday.  It’s Thanksgiving week.  I’m already counting my blessings.

Be well.  Lane