Modern Christmas Mini (+ a very mini quilt hanging tutorial)

I'll say right off the bat that the inspiration for this mini quilt came straight from Megan of Canoe Ridge Creations. Her version can be found here. I just loved the idea - creating something that looks like Christmas, but is not covered in candy canes and reindeer! Don't get me wrong, I love all the Christmas fabrics I've been seeing around, but since I don't have any, this was a fun way to go. I went through my scraps and found 6 reds and 6 greens that I thought went together well, then followed this Circle of Geese tutorial.

I already went on and on about the block and my experience with paper piecing in this post so I won't repeat myself. On to the photos!


Okay, now a mini tutorial. I'm never sure what's the easiest way to make a quilt wall-hangable (new word... :) I've used this tutorial from Comfortstitching, which worked pretty well in the end but I found it tricky to execute and wanted to come up with something easier. My mind went to skinny ribbon, and I wondered if there was some way to machine stitch it onto the back of the quilt at the same time as the binding. This is what I came up with....

1. Attach binding to quilt, completely as normal. Nothing unusual in this step. This photo obviously shows the front.
2. The back of quilt with binding attached.
3. Decide where you want your hanging loops to be. This quilt is very small so I only used two loops, placed about 2 inches in from each edge. Cut skinny ribbon to form loops. I cut roughly 5" pieces, and trimmed later. On the back side of the quilt, form a loop with the ribbon so it extends about 1/4" lower than the line of stitching from the binding attachment. I didn't measure, just eyeballed it. Not shown in the photo, but I used a little piece of masking tape to hold the ribbon in place while I stitched.
4. Carefully stitch over the ribbon directly on top of stitches from binding attachment. Stitch and backstitch a couple of times over the ribbon to make sure it's really secure.
5. Trim ribbon flush with edge of quilt.
6. Proceed with binding as usual, by machine or by hand (my preferred method). When hand stitching binding, stitch right through ribbon as well as fabric when you get there.
7. Ta-da!!

P.S. Yes, my ribbon is pink. That's all I had in super skinny ribbon and I figured that it wouldn't be visible anyways so why not!

Linking up with the following:

{Sew} Modern Monday @ Canoe Ridge Creations
Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways
Manic Monday @ Sew Happy Geek
Made With Love @ Sew Chatty
Made by You Monday @ Skip to my Lou
Little Quilt Monday @ Pieceful Life