I've always seen panels, but never knew what to do with them. They didn't seem like something I would quilt with. That changed a little while ago when I saw an attic window quilt on display at a Christmas festival. Seeing the quilt in person, I saw the beauty and appeal. As I like decorating my house with handmade Christmas decor, this is great a project to make. I kept my eyes out for some nice holiday panels for my window attic quilt. During one of my many trips to Fabricville, I found two panels from the Holiday Homestead collection by Henry Glass. This collection included a full panel picture and a panel of small pictures. The full panel will make my attic window quilt, while the panel of small pictures I plan to make small window box quilt hangings.
After picking out the picture for my first window box, I cut it out, and trimmed the edges off. I thought I might use the edges, but decided not to.
This single window box hanging is made the same as a full attic window quilt. I had medium solid grey and solid cream fabric for the window frame, which I cut into 2.5" strips. Following the Missouri Star tutorial for an attic window quilt, I dog eared the corner of the window frame.
I had some black fabric in my stash to use for framing the picture window, which I cut into 1.5" strips.
For the border, I have a yard of red print fabric which goes nicely with the picture panel. I cut the fabric into 2.5" strips. The corners of the border were dog eared. This was so I could try to line up the pattern in the border at the corners. The same fabric made the backing.
I stuck with quilting straight lines and boxes. It is simple, but I love the look it gives. The square boxes quilted over the picture are stitched a 1/2" apart. The window box stitches, as well as the border stitches, are also 1/2" apart. For the black border, the stitches are 1/4" along each side of the seam.
For the binding and hanging tabs, I cut strips from a leftover piece of Grunge Basics in cherry.
This project is quick and easy, perfect for adding a little diy decor to the holidays. I am looking forward to turning my full panel into an attic window quilt.