Wishing You Just the Lovliest Christmas!

Have a wonderful day celebrating with your family and friends. I'll be back to blogging in a day or two.

I'm Starting A Christmas Quilt Now...

...so I can finish it for Christmas 2010!



A couple of weeks ago, Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. blogged about her Christmas quilts. I was particularly attracted to one called Brand New Day. It looked like it would be perfect for my hoarded stash of Robyn Pandolph Folk Art Christmas and Aubrey Rose prints. They go back a few years and, really, I should use them because they are beautiful and so perfect for our house. So I ordered the pattern...





...and when the pattern arrived, I got out my stash to see what would work best. It will be one of these three for the border and alternating squares...

...with these prints for the pieced star blocks.

I still have to pull the light prints for block backgrounds out of my stash (or maybe I need to buy some) and figure out what to use for the setting triangles. I have two different tone-on-tone reds I can use for the inner border and binding, as well as a tone-on-tone green just in case.

And when it's all from your stash, it's practically like getting a quilt for free! Right!

Quilted Christmas Tree Skirt

Our Christmas tree is up, finally! The Great East Coast Snow Storm of 2009 put a crimp in our plans and we did not buy the tree until last night. By then, our usual place (local volunteer fire company) was sold out. We went to another local retailer and found this one. It's the right height for our 10' high ceilings but has a major bare spot I did not notice in the near darkness last night. Fortunately, we can turn the bare spot to the corner where no one will see it.

Reggie is being Vanna White in this picture and showing off my tree skirt. This was an early project, made shortly after I took up quilting. Each heart is a mini crazy quilt, quilted and bound, then all eight were sewn to the skirt base. You can hardly see it under the tree because all the wrapped packages cover it up, but the skirt covers up the old plastic shower curtain we use to protect the rug under the tree.

Here's a close-up of one of the hearts. The seams are covered with a variety of embroidery stitches, which I did by hand, not having a "fancy" sewing machine at the time. If I was to make another one, I'd probably use some of the fun stitches on my Bernina.

Altered by a Sewing Machine

I read an article in the New York Times today and immediately thought of my "sewing computer." I think you will find the article an entertaining read; you can find it here.

Even More Christmas Decorating

I have a couple of decorator throw pillows that are just for Christmas time. After I started collecting snowmen, my mother gave me this snowman pillow. I think she bought it at a craft show.





It is very simple construction, without piping or a ruffled edge, but the placement of the buttons makes it special.



I love the Hoffman cardinal prints and have some in my stash but have never figured out what I want to do with it. I saw this pillow at an arts cooperative in Cooperstown, NY (yes, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame). I knew I could make something similar but the price was right so I bought it and saved myself the work.

The maker used two fabrics. The print with the cardinal is a circle that was appliqued on top of the evergreen boughs print. The border is a dark green batik, with pine green ribbon sewn over the seam. It is about 16" square. I use the pillow, along with the long cabin quilt, to cozy up this chair in a corner of our living room.

Snowman Collection

You may have noticed in yesterday's post on the Christmas stockings that I have a collection of snowmen that line our mantel at Christmas time.

I began collecting snowmen in 1996. I was visiting my mother in Michigan and we went on a daytrip to Shipshewana, Indiana, where there is a large Amish community. Amish equals quilts and crafts and fabric so I was in heaven! I bought the first guy - the one with the black hat on the far right in the photo below - and began adding to the collection gradually.

I received some as gifts. That tends to happen once people know you collect something. Maybe not so much if you collect gem stones or 19th century Impressionist paintings.

So now I have more than enough snowmen to fit on the mantel. A few years ago, I came across the bottle brush trees at a post-Christmas sale. They are an unusual darker green with gold sparkles. Some years, I display the snowmen in the dining room and decorate the mantel with more formal greenery, candles, and silver balls.

But the snowmen are such a happy sight; they always make me smile!

Quilted Christmas Stockings

The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care...

I made Miss Main Street's stocking 14 years ago for her first Christmas. The basic outline and construction method came from a Thimbleberries book or pattern. Front and back are both quilt sandwiches of outer fabric, thin batting (I use Thermore) and lining fabric, quilted together with the front embellished as you please. The front and back are then put together, lining facing in, and bound, like you would bind a quilt. Pretty easy for a quilter. The fun is in the embellishing.

I collect vintage linens and have pieces in my collection known as "cutters." Cutters have stains, tears, or other flaws that prevent their use in the usual way but make them perfect for cutting up and using in crafts or other projects. Miss Main Street's stocking is embellished with a wide piece of vintage lace and prairie points (the fabric was all new at the time of construction).

Reggie's stocking was made nine years later, using the same method. The lace on his stocking is vintage pillowcase edging. (Reggie is our Pembroke Welsh Corgi dog and he is not allowed to play with his stocking.)

I enjoyed making the stockings. When I retire (not anytime soon), I might amuse myself by making and selling Christmas stockings via etsy.