Yet Another Christmas Quilt

Thank you for all the kind comments on my Christmas quilt posts.  

I made another one!  Meet Stardust:

I'm so happy with how it came out (it looks better in real life; too much sun and glare in the photo).

Stardust is about 70" square and made up of 4" sawtooth star blocks with sashing and plain blocks, in a diagonal setting.

The directions came from the Oct. 2020 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting and the original quilt was designed by Sherri McConnell using her own fabric line for Moda.  

I used a Christmas fabric line called Jingle All The Way, by Nancy Halvorsen.  I've had this in my stash for a few years, so yes, another stash quilt.  The magazine directions have you make the stars out of 10" squares of fabric (layer cake squares) but I had a jelly roll and was able to get three stars out of each strip, with a little left over.  I didn't need all the strips so I removed the lights and the turquoise colors from the set and saved them for another project.  

I like this quilt so much, I am thinking about making another using my Fig Tree fabric leftovers. But before that, I need to get this one quilted.  I have a flannel sheet to use for the back (white, with polka dots in red and two shades of green).  Karen, my long-time longarm quilting collaborator, has retired to pursue her own creative endeavors so I am on the lookout for a new-to-me longarmer.  I found Karen via my LQS but the store is not open now because of the Covid situation in NJ (just online and phone orders for mail or pickup).  While it is not like I need this done right away, let me know if you have any recommendations.

I'll be back soon with a 2020 wrap up and my plans for 2021.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 12

Not quilts but they are quilted - our Christmas stockings.  I made the first one (the red one) 25 years ago, when Miss Main Street was a baby, for her first Christmas.  It is quilting cotton, cut in the shape of a stocking, and embellished with some vintage lace.  I sandwiched the front with a light batting and backing fabric, while the back of the stocking is two layers of fabric without batting. The binding around both pieces holds them together and forms a loop at the top for hanging.  

I made a second stocking when we got our first dog, Reggie.  Now Dillie and Trevor (dogs two and three) have their own stockings as well.  

There is just a little simple quilting, at the toe and heel. 

And the stockings are the last of my Christmas quilts.  I hope you've enjoyed these 12 Days and it has given you lots of ideas for Christmas quilts for 2021.

Merry Christmas!

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 11

This is Sparkle, four large Lemoyne stars easily pieced from a jelly roll, from the pattern by Fig Tree Quilts called Jelly Stars.  The fabric is Blitzen by Basic Grey for Moda.  I made this quilt in 2013; more information in this post.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 10

This log cabin is another early quilt, made before I started blogging, mostly out of fabric leftover from yesterday's quilts.  It is machine quilted with a panto design of holly leaves, using variegated thread.  More photos in this earlier post.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 9

This was my very first Christmas quilt, made from a pattern in American Patchwork & Quilting magazine long ago (they might sell the individual pattern on their website).  It hangs on the wall in our kitchen at Christmas time.  I used a variety of mostly Hoffman Christmas-y prints and an off-white snowflake print for the stars.  I liked this design so much, I turned around and made another in queen bed size, which you can see here.  I hand quilted both.  This would be a good design to make using a fat quarter or fat eighth bundle from a fabric collection you particularly like.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 8

I made Wooly Wreath in 2011 (it was a prolific year for me).  The directions were in an American Patchwork & Quilting publication called Sew Scrappy.  This was my first attempt at wool applique and while I enjoyed it, piecing is my true love.  There is a good tutorial for wool applique here.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 7

Misty Pine, made in 2011 from a pattern of the same name that is now out of print.  I foundation pieced the tree than used fusible web followed by a narrow zig zag stitch to applique the top and bottom and the red swooshes.  This is a small wall hanging, perfect for a long, narrow space that needs a little something.  It is so lightweight, I can hang it with double faced tape on the back.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 6

This is Boughs of Holly, made in 2012 using a pattern called Crossroads by Red Crinoline Quilts.  I think the pattern is out of print.  This quilt is made special by the border fabric, an April Cornell border print design for Moda featuring holly leaves and berries on a red background and framed by green stripes.  I rarely use black but including it in this design really makes the red and green pop.  There is more information and more photos in my original post.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 5

This is Christmas Stars, started in 2011 and finished in 2012.  This quilt generates the most enquiries from blog readers, who usually want to know what the pattern is and where to get it.  But there isn't a pattern.  I came up with the block, a variation on Ohio Star.  I do have a tutorial for the block, here.  My original post on the finished quilt has more photos, including close-ups of the gorgeous custom quilting by Linda Hrcka of The Quilted Pineapple.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 4

This is Christmas Ribbons, made in 2011 from a pattern called Ruby's Ribbon Box.  The pattern is written for a layer cake/10" squares but I used fabric from my stash.  It's a great little stash buster with a modern look.  There's more information in my original post.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 3

This is Christmas Day, made in 2010 using the Miss Rosie pattern called Brand New Day.  The block is a variation on Ohio Star and the fabric is by Robyn Pandolph for Moda.  (BTW, she used to be a major fabric designer, what happened to her?  Maybe she just retired?)

There is more information in my original post.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 2

This is Evergreen, made in 2014 (2014 was a particularly good quilting year for me for some reason).  The pattern is Twilight Hopscotch, from the book Simple Comforts by Kim Diehl.  It is a simple to make design that uses two prints (tone on tone or simple prints) plus background.  More about it, including more photos, can be found in my original post.

12 Days of Christmas Quilts - Day 1

This is Merry and Bright, made from miscellaneous fabrics in my stash in 2014.  The pattern is Trellis Crossroads from the book Modern Bee.  More on this quilt, including more photos and my notes on the pattern directions, can be found in the original post.

Moving On To Christmas Sewing

I'm making tiny sawtooth stars.

I saw a quilt design called Star Struck in the October issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.  It's by Sherri McConnell of aquiltinglife.com and was made in her latest fabric line for Moda called Balboa.

While very pretty in the Balboa prints, my thought was to make it my own using Christmas-y fabric from my stash.  In my sewing room reorganization (see prior post), I uncovered a cache of fabric in a bag, Christmas prints from a line called Jingle All The Way by Nancy Halvorsen.  When I write "cache" I mean I have 2.5 yards each of three different fabrics, 1/2 yard each of three fabrics, a jelly roll and a charm pack.  Then I found another piece from the line, leftover from backing another quilt.  I think this fabric is a few years old and I don't remember what I planned to make when I bought it.  Anyway, with the addition of some Kona solid in snow for the background, it was plenty for making this quilt Star Struck. 

The stars finish at only 4" and I am getting three out of each jelly roll strip.  Given the speed at which I sew, this quilt won't be finished for Christmas 2020 (well, I aim to have the top finished but it won't be quilted) but that's okay because I have lots of Christmas-y quilts to use in my decorating.  In fact, I'll be back soon with 12 Days of Christmas Quilts.

As Long As You're Going To Target

It's been even longer than I thought!  After months of high quilting productivity, I went on a break/slow down.  I really needed to give my sewing room a good clean and reorganization.   At the beginning of this year, I stated my goal is to whittle down my stash and finish some UFOs.  I've been doing that but during the clean up, I uncovered some fabric, kits, and PIGS (projects in grocery sacks - e.g. everything bought for a project, put in a bag, and never started).  So I tried to organize my stash to make it all more visible, more clear what I have on hand.  And that's where these marvelous baskets/bins from Target came in handy.

These bins came to my attention on Nicole's/SistersChoice blog a few months ago.  I messaged her to find out where they came from then set out for Target.  The size - roughly 5" by 13" long and 5" deep - is perfect for holding folded fat quarters, charm packs, and jelly rolls.  And they are a good size to fit on the shelves in my closet.  I started with one and now have six.  You can also buy them online here but they ship only as part of a bigger order.  So if you are going to Target anyway, check them out.  They come in other sizes too.

Once reorganized, I started some Christmas sewing and will be back soon to show you.