Welcome to the Cross Country Christmas, Quilt Designer blog hop. For those of you that are new here, I should start by telling you a little bit about myself and what I have been up to lately as a designer. My name is Gudrun and I am born and raised in Iceland. The designers in the hop have come up with themes for every day of the hop so that we can tell you stories from the holidays, so you will be hearing a lot of stories from Iceland. Hey, not a bad way to learn a little about another country and it's traditions. I moved to Minnesota 6 years ago with my husband Torir and 3 kids; son Atli (now 16), son Gisli (9) and daughter Svana (8).
My pattern company GE Designs was started in Iceland with my pattern designs in Icelandic only and since being in the States I have written books and patterns in english. I also design fabrics for red rooster fabrics and we just introduced my line number 8, which is called Olivia. It won't be in stores until March 2010, but if you click on the photo, you can see a little preview of the line.
This is the first time that my fabric line includes a panel print so I published a pattern specifically to use panels to go with it called Quilts For Olivia. It has 4 projects, a bed quilt, lap quilt, wall quilt and a table runner.
I have been collecting strips for years (way before the "Jelly Roll" was born) and have an extensive line of strip patterns available. This fall I introduced a new book at quilt market, called Strip On. In the book are 10 quilts that are all made with 1-1/2" and 2-1/2" strips. This book was so much fun to work on because the quilts are all so different. It is one of my favorite challenges as a designer to figure out different ways of using strips, it's just so great to go straight to the sewing machine without having to do a lot of cutting first.
I am also known for my "Quilt As You Go" patterns. Since the free patterns in the blog hop should be projects that you could get done quickly in time for the holidays for gifts or yourself; I decided to give you a "Quilt As You Go" project. It can be done in an afternoon, easily....I promise!!
If you have never tried one of my "Quilt As you go" patterns before, don't worry, you will be able to follow the tutorial easily with all the photos. If you get hooked on the method and need to make fast gifts for christmas, I recommend you check out my Fast & Furious book that came out earlier this year because it has 17 QAYG projects.
PRIZES!!
I decided to use my Glow fabric line for this little Christmas wallhanging because I love how my Holiday Charm quilt turned out in Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting (It made the cover!!). Now I have a wall quilt to match! Be sure to tell me what you think of Sweet Trimmings in the comments to be able to win a kit to make your own!! And if you visit all the other designers in the hop and post your comment, you will be eligible for the grand prize drawing. You don't have to comment on the exact day that their project is posted, just make sure you comment at least once on every blog in the 12 days that the Blog hop runs. We would really like to hear from you every day, and you should visit all blogs each day because we are all sharing some good stories and who knows what else. You don't want to miss out on any extra prizes do you?
Here is Sweet Trimmings, I hope you enjoy!!

Fabric Requirements
Background fabric: 1/3 yard
Green fabrics: 4 different Fat Eights
Tree Trunk & Narrow Border: Fat Quarter
Prairie Points: Fat Quarter
Wide Border & Binding: 1/2 yard
Backing: 2/3 yard
Batting: At least a 22" x 30" rectangle

Cutting:
Background: Cut One 5-1/2" strip and Two 1-1/2" strips. From the 5-1/2" strip cut Two 5-1/2" squares, Two 4-1/2 x 4" rectangles and Six 3-1/2" squares.
Green fabrics: Cut One 5-1/2" x 10-1/2" rectangle from one of the fabrics and One 3-1/2" x 10-1/2" rectangle from each of the 3 remaining fabrics.
Tree Trunk and Narrow Border: Cut Four 1-1/4" strips (from the longer side of the fat quarter) and One 3-1/2" x 4-1/2" rectangle.
Prairie Points: Cut Ten 4" squares.
Wide Border and Binding: Cut Two 3" strips and Three 2-1/2" strips.

Baste your backing and batting together using fusible batting or with a basting spray.

Draw a horizontal line parallel to the shorter side of the batting, 6" from the edge of the batting with a pencil or erasable pen. Then draw a vertical line from the first line, exactly in the center of the batting and two short lines 1-3/4" from the center line on each side as shown.

Place the tree trunk rectangle exactly between the short lines as shown and aligned with the horizontal line, right side up and pin down. Lay a 4-1/2" x 4" background rectangle on top of the trunk piece, right sides together aligning raw edges.
Using a walking foot on your machine and bobbin thread that matches your backing, stitch through all layers with a 1/4" seam. When starting and ending each seam, sew a few stitches in the same place to secure threads. Press out.

Repeat on the other side of the trunk piece with another 4-1/2" x 4" background rectangle and press.

Now layer a green 3-1/2" x 10-1/2" rectangle on top of the sewn unit with right sides together, aligning raw edges.

Stitch through all layers as before and press.
Draw a diagonal line on the back of all the background squares and place two 3-1/2" squares on each corner of the green unit, exactly as shown, right sides together. Sew exactly on the line.

Trim the seam allowance to a 1/4" and press.

Repeat the process with the remaining 3-1/2" x 10-1/2" green pieces and 3-1/2" background squares. to create the 2nd and 3rd level of the tree.

Sew the green 5-1/2" x 10-1/2" piece to the top of the tree and press. Place a 5-1/2" background square on one corner as shown and sew on the line. Trim the seam allowance and press.

Repeat on the other side with the last background square, trim and press.
Layer a 1-1/2" background strip on each side of the tree unit, trim them to the right length and stitch down with a 1/4" seam allowance. Press out.

Repeat with the top and bottom. Add the narrow border in the same way by first sewing them to the sides and then the top and bottom, pressing in between.

Fold the Prairie point squares in half with wrong sides together and press. Then fold them again so that all the raw edges are on the same side and press.

Place 3 prairie points on each side of the unit as shown and pin down. Make sure that the tips are overlapped by a 1/4 inch or so. Now place a border strip on top of the prairie points, aligning all raw edges, pin down and trim the strips to length. Sew through all layers with a 1/4" seam, catching all the prairie points in the border seams. Press both the borders and the points out.
Place 2 prairie points on each short side as shown.

Make sure that the points are placed as shown, overlapping the edge of the narrow border a little bit. Then place the border strips on top and pin down. Sew through all layers and press.

Trim your backing and batting to the same size as the front of the quilt. Sew the 2-1/2" binding strips together into a long strip, press it in half lengthwise and finish the quilt with the binding.
I embellished my quilt with some buttons. That is of course optional but I put green buttons on the prairie points and then I put 24 red buttons on the tree. My idea is to hang little candies on the buttons and then use the quilt as an advent calendar. Each day of December I get to eat a piece of candy until Christmas!!
I hope you enjoyed the Sweet Trimmings wall quilt. Remember to comment to be able to win the prizes!! Also be sure to check in with the other designers and read their stories.