"Define Good" - for the Mountain Quiltfest 2019 Guild Challenge

I had just enough time after finishing Whimsy's Doodles to stitch up a Christmas wallhanging!

My quilt guild, The Possum Town Quilters, participates in the guild challenge at The Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge.

Guilds are either given a theme or allowed to choose a theme within a theme.  This year the theme from A Mountain Quiltfest was "choose a national holiday."  And PTQ chose Christmas.

I thought I had an easy go with my Christmas quilt. I was going to finish this braided table runner that I made in a class with Watana Cantrell at the Wanna Bees in Vernon, AL.
I mean, it's already pieced! All I needed to do was trim, put a border on, sandwich it, and quilt! It's practically done, right?!  But I wasn't inspired.

Instead, I looked at Pinterest....  I know, I KNOW!  I mention Pinterest in just about every update. Ahhh, but there are so many great ideas out there! I revisited my  quilts - Christmas theme board and saw the Dear Santa Wallhanging just waiting for me to realize that's what I had to do all along.
Unfortunately, I can't put in a link to the source because the website link is broken. The pattern is "Dear Santa Wallhanging" from Sew Happy Me quilt blog by Lesley Boost. She can be found on FB too, SewHappyMe.  In a recent FB post she mentions that she's working on the website, so hopefully it will be fixed soon and I'll come back and add a link.

I dug out my fabrics. Tried this one and that one.  How is it possible reds can clash so strongly with other reds?  Seems that any red should be complimentary with another red, right?
But I was happy that I could pull all the border from my 2.5" scrap pile.  I ended up having to run to the store for the main stocking fabric.  I didn't have any large red and white check and I felt that's what was going to make the quilt.

I would have loved to needle turn applique this but again I was looking at a deadline.  I opted for fusible applique and buttonhole stitching with black embroidery floss.  It was a quick project.

Until I decided I had to hand quilt it as well (my poor fingers still weren't recovered from Whimsy's Doodles!)  See, I had ordered a holly stencil at the same time that I had ordered the outside border stencil for Whimsy's Doodle.  And now seemed the perfect time to use it!
Now looking at it, I like the holly along the bottom of the sock here.

After quilting it all the way around, the holly seems to get lost.  If I make this wallhanging again, I'll only have the lower part with holly and maybe quilt a 1" cross hatch on top.

I'm pleased with the finished result. Made for my contribution to the PTQ guild quilt challenge 2019. And this quilt I'm keeping for myself.

"Define Good'

designed by Lesley Boost of Sew Happy Me blog

made and handquilted by Naomi Perry

Feb. 2019

By the way, this is the fourth PTQ guild challenge i have participated in!

#1 - 2015

Beauty of the South. 
It was actually made for the Ultimate Guild Challenge not the Mountain Quiltfest guild challenge but I'm including it anyway as it was the PTQ guild challenge that year.
It is one of my pride and joys and has won a few awards in the following years.

#2 -  2017

Ostentatious was given away in a blog giveaway soon after Mountain Quiltfest.
The challenge was Black and White and one other color.

The Ostentatious blog update tells you how it came about.
I also blogged the guild challenge at mountain quiltfest with pictures of all the PTQ participants.

#3 - 2018

Whimsy's Wish
It's an adaptation of a Barbara Cline Cookie Cutter design.
I blogged about the Another Mountain Quiltfest week but briefly mentioned Whimsy's Wish.
I'm surprised I didn't blog about it.  Whimsy's Wish reminds me of wishing on the first evening star for happiness over 23 years ago. And my Heartbeat danced into my life!

Ahhh. It's definitely been a fun look down Memory Lane!

Here's hoping for more guild challenges for many years to come!