This quilt actually started out to be a queen-sized quilt for my bed in dark colors! When I was working on the book the Martingale

people were more interested in my bright quilts than the “more traditional” colors. So I set aside the darker colorway and bought all new fun bright fabrics. (You’ve got to love any excuse to buy new fabric, right?)

I made it a bit smaller than the original, because I didn’t want to appliqué that many more holly leaves! I got the design for the leaves from a graphic arts source my husband had. So I appliquéd all the leaves for the book version, and put it together. Then I wanted to add appliqué to the border, but I didn’t want to appliqué around the entire border, so I came up with the corner detail to highlight the appliqué design. Then, to finish it all off, I added a bright green pom-pom trim to the binding. This quilt is actually one of my favorites in the whole book!

After I finished my “bright version” I went back to finish the original colorway. I must say, I was really tired of holly leaves by the time I had finished two of these!

Here are some pictures of the original colorway:

Detail of original colors

Original Holly Jolly Quilt

And the finished book version:

From the book "Fresh and Fabulous Quilts" copyright 2008 Cheryl Brown/That Patchwork Place : Photo by Brent Kane

For more info on my book click here, and to purchase it click here!