Finding Your Christmas Project

Here are a few of my favorite Christmas quilting project books. First, Deck The Halls by Cheryl Almgren Taylor.

The projects in this book lean towards applique, though some combine piecing and applique and there are few that are piecing alone.  I like this mistletoe design; it is on my list but I'm waiting until I have more applique experience because the pieces are quite a bit more complicated than anything I have done so far.

I also like this banner.  The red house in the middle is similar to our house; probably as similar as I will find in an applique block!  I would like to use it somewhere, sometime.

Another good resource is Comfort and Joy by Mary Hickey. 

This book has a lot of projects, mostly pieced.  Ever since I bought the book, the page with Midnight Star has been bookmarked.  This pattern would make a good table topper for our dining room (it finishes at 41" square), or I could make more blocks for a larger quilt. 

Lynn is teaching a class on Midnight Star.  If I lived in northern California, I'd take the class and get it done!

Make Room for Christmas Quilts is by the founder of That Patchwork Place, Nancy J. Martin.  It is less of a how-to project book (though there are directions for several quilts) and more of a creative guide as to how to display and use quilts in your Christmas season decorating.  It is chock-full of ideas, with lots of terrific photography.  The decor tends toward the country and traditional so if you are strictly modern, it might not be to your taste, though many of the quilt designs could be "modernized" via fabric choice.  This book would make a great gift for a quilting friend (or yourself!), and though out-of-print is available on Amazon.com at a good price.

With so much inspiration and so many ideas, I could keep making Christmas quilts until Christmas arrives!  But there are other things I want to make too.  As I like to say, "So many quilts, so little time!"