The Reindeer Crew Christmas Quilt Pattern

I know, I know. It’s not even nearly Christmas. All I can say is that when it snowed so heavily in March, it reset my seasonal body clock and the next thing I knew I was designing a Christmas quilt pattern.

I saw photos of reindeer online and I was struck with the variety of their coats. There were reindeer with every colour from palest cream to dark chocolate brown. Like cattle, many of them had markings. Here’s a fine looking specimen! I just had to design my own reindeer herd! When I rifled through my scraps I was surprised at just how many creams and browns there were. I used as many different tones as I could to add lots of vitality to the quilt.

Personalisation

I had fun personalising each reindeer with patches and bells while some looked to the left and some to the right.

As you can see, two little kiddie reindeer calves sneaked in to join Santa’s crew!

TECHNIQUE

I used quick fusible web applique to make this quilt. Each reindeer was made separately using the applique pressing sheet method . This is my favourite method as I find it’s the best way to get consistent results. I used blanket stitch to sew down the applique as I wanted a strong outline around each piece to sharply distinguish it from the background.

I finished the quilt off with some simple borders and added a few little buttons for some texture! The Misses Healy and the Wee-Girl-Down-the-End-of-the-Road enjoy deciding which of the reindeer is their favourite. At the minute, they reckon it’s the one on the bottom left corner, which is not what I would have expected as it’s not even a little bit pink.

QUILTING

I kept the quilting simple as I wanted the applique to take centre stage. I outline quilted around the applique and used a walking foot to zig-zag along one border. Irregular piano keys were quilted in the outer border.

All-in-all, this quilt was a quick finish and fun to make. It would look great in a number of different colourways so you could easily co-ordinate it to match any festive décor.

SHOP

Get your copy of ‘The Reindeer Crew’ Christmas quilt pattern now in my shop.

For detailed instructions on machine applique, check out my tutorial.

Linking up today with;
Finished or Not Friday
Finish It Up Friday
Can I get a Whoop Whoop?
Thank Goodness it’s Friday
Friday Foto Fun