Pre-Christmas: My Christmas Quilts

The Christmas decorations are not complete until Christmas quilts are up. This year there were little late getting up because I wasn't feeling well and we were very busy with the Nutcracker. Most of the quilts were up by the fifth or sixth of December and the last few small ones were up by the 12th.

Here is a link to another blog post called How Many Christmas Quilts Do You Have? This doesn't include all my quilts so I will add those pictures to this post.

I am sure you have seen these quilts one time or another on my blog over the years. I felt like sharing them again.

 Machine appliqued Angel.












My Believe in Santa, I gave this away one year, also machined appliqued. 

 My Christmas Charm, machine appliqued.












My Dear Jane Swap Christmas Quilt. I forget how many blocks I made for the swap.  I made a couple of extra to make the layout I wanted.  This quilt was in the AQG show and the judges liked how I did my corners, that it followed the line layout.  They thought it needed more quilting but I didn't agree.  My first attempt at free motion feathers. They are definitely free motion.



I made two of these also, I gave one to my big daughter and put Halloween fabric on the back.  She loves Halloween.  When we were at her home for Thanksgiving she proudly showed me she has the quilt on the wall with the Halloween side out.  I told her to turn it around for Christmas so she can use it all year long. 



This was a kit I purchased in Colorado one year when I was there with my job.  I loved the fabrics.  He is on the same hanger as the Santa quilt and he is straight I just hold the camera crocked.








 
This is a winter quilt and I leave it up until February, the others come down.  It was also a class sample for 9 Patch Pizzazz. 








And last but not least is my Stick Santa made this year. I finally brought him home from the quilt shop.  He was a class sample but no one took the class, but he did sell patterns. 

I hoped you enjoyed the Christmas Quilt show.  

Have a Merry Christmas and please remember the real reason we celebrate the season. 

I guess I have been because I have been tearing up a lot when I hear Holy Christmas songs and see some of the videos made by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

Quilt Show

My description of the quilt and the card that hung by my quilt.

I went Thursday night after work to see my quilts hanging in a show. I first went down a row of vendors and after I turned the corner I could see about 4 rows back my BOO it's Halloween Quilt. After I walked down that row and turned that corner I saw my other quilt, also on the end. It was fun to see them. I was so tired Thursday night I could hardly stand but I was determined to see them. Today I went back with several friends to see the show. Since I was better rested I could enjoy the show more. It was very crowded today but Thursday night was nice not a lot of people around.

After Richard & I went to a movie this afternoon I went back to pick up my quilts. I had to deliver my quilts in a plastic bag and I picked them up in the same bags. Inside the bag were my evaluations of my quilts by the judges, a thank you note and a label to sew on to my quilts. I have scanned them all for you to see.



This is the evaluation for the BOO it's Halloween. The judges missed that this was a group quilt, a block swap, so ignore the comments about the piecing and applique, since I didn't do that part. I couldn't believe there was one loose thread the the judges found that. I don't think it need additional quilting. The style seems to be to quilt it heavy, I don't like heavy quilting.




My quilt description on the card that hung by my quilt. Do you know how hard it is to describe a quilt in 50 words????

Here I am by my Dear Jane Christmas quilt. On this evaluation they also missed it was a group quilt. I do agree this quilt needs a little more quilting maybe in the ditch around the blocks or on some of the blocks. They also liked my alternating sashing and the shape of the quilt. So my two favorite things about this quilt were also liked by the judges.




Quilt Show Thank You note.



Quilt Show label printed on fabric.
It was a good experience and I might do it again if I ever find time to quilt again. The quilt show was very well organized.

Sunday Quilting Upate

Look what I finished!!! I'm so happy with how it turned out!! I'm also happy it is done. These blocks were from a swap in 2001, I designed it in EQ5 in 2002 and purchased the fabric. It has been a PIG for a long time but no longer. PIG is Project in a Grocery Bag. Right now it is hanging in my living room between two other Christmas quilts and it looks a little dumb, wall to wall quilts but it will work for this year, next year I'll find a better place for it to hang.



I did free motion feathers in the alternating blocks, they aren't perfect but the over all effect is pleasing.



There are graduating loops in the side triangles and loops in the green border.
The out side border has loop de loop meandering with red, green and cream variegated thread.



One more quilt done from my list of quilts to finish this year!! I have one more I have to finish this year, I hope this week. Then I have to make a class sample for a class I'm teaching in Jan. Yeah I know I'm a little late with that. Oh well.

Making Progress

Just in case you didn't notice it is one month until Christmas!

Now I just wanted to share with you my quilting plan my Christmas Dear Jane. I have been planning on the feathers in the alternate blocks for a long time. I have been drawing them on paper and my white board for a month or so. I'm not a very good at drawing, but they have gotten better. I'm sure my co-workers think I'm crazy with my doodles. I start small and them increase them in size when I use paper. I do bigger on the white board. Today I started quilting on the quilt, the top border is done and I took a picture of it so I remember what I did on the top by the time I get to the bottom I usually forget. Several quilts ago I thought take a picture so you remember. Today I finally remembered to take the picture. I'm going to be turning this quilt to do the side borders. The outside borders is just a free motion loop-de-loop meandering. The green borders are small e's all in a row. Nothing in the red border and I'm just doing the side triangles and the alternate blocks the pieced blocks I'm leaving alone. Or that is the plan today. It's always subject to change. I just kind of create as I go.
That is my clear piece of Plexiglas that I practice with on the quilt while it is on the frame. I use Vis-aVis by Expo wet erase to draw with.

Today will be a busy day, lunch with Kierra & Will, since they both are working tomorrow on Thanksgiving so we are meeting to celebrate today with them. Pies and cranberry sauce to make and a bird to stuff. Our church ward (small local unit)does a turkey pit every year so the bird has to be ready to put in by 8 or so. It cooks all night long until 12 noon tomorrow. It's a fun activity and good tasting bird.
Somewhere in there I have to do some cleaning.

Well back to quilting for a little longer! I'm sure you will see more pictures later.

I Amazed Myself...

...with the dumb thing I did. I just had to ask myself what was I thinking and the only answer I can come up with is I wasn't. I went to one of my favorite quilt shops, Cutting Edge Quilt Works to purchase the backing for my Dear Jane Christmas Swap Quilt. Of course I took the quilt with me to show off. I found some backing I liked and it was even extra wide backing fabric. I was so excited I won't have to piece the back and I'll have some left over for a small project. So instead of pulling out my piece of paper with the finished quilt dimensions on it. I laid my quilt top on top of the fabric and cut a width about 6 inches wider. I thought that was easy, I cut my fabric, paid for it and went home. Once home I added two more borders to my quilt top. Do you see the problem now?
So today when I did my very scientific measurements. I held the backing up to the quilt top to see how much bigger it was you can imagine my surprise when I realized it was smaller. I measured the quilt top and the backing which was smaller than the quilt by an inch. You guessed it I ended up piecing the back.
It gets better. I loaded the backing on to the frame and I went to find batting, I could have sworn I had some batting here big enough to use for this quilt. Nope I don't. I could piece some but I'm not big into piecing backing. I might try it another day but not today. With what I had here it would have had two seams in it or one long seam right close to the border seam on the quilt. Neither of those options seemed like a good idea, especially considering my luck so far today I decided against it.
I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world that has done that, but I might be the only one mentioning it on her blog and admitting it. Not one of my brighter moments in my quilting career. I would never let a student do that. Oh well, just a small delay. It is now just waiting on the frame to be loaded tomorrow.



So I took a nap instead. After dinner I did sandwich and start quilting the applique horse for my daughter in law, it's her Christmas gift. I finished all the stitch in the ditch around the borders. I know I'm going to do some meandering in the center and on the outer border but not sure what else I'll do in the pieced border.

Well I guess I better head to bed, of course with that hour nap this afternoon, I'm not sleepy now but boy was I earlier.

Well take care and if I don't drop in again before Thanksgiving have a great one.

I'm So Excited!

The Dear Jane Christmas Swap Quilt top is done!!

I hope to load it on my frame tomorrow. I started with the borders last night and finished them this afternoon. I wanted to do something a little different with the borders but not real wild. I wanted to continue the diagonal line of the on point setting out into the borders, so I don't have square corners. It's a little wider than my design wall in the hall so you can't see the one border to well. I'm very happy with how it turned out.
I just realized I didn't buy my cream thread today for the alternate blocks. I'll have to do that after work on Monday. I guess I can quilt the top border tomorrow, since I have red, green & cream variegated thread. Dang that's what a get for not writing a to do list this morning.

Well have a good one & Take Care.

Quilting Update

Here is the progress I made this week on my DJ Christmas Swap quilt. I basically only have one more row of blocks and sashing to join together. Then I have to finish sewing all the rows together. I'm still trying to decide what to do with the borders and I might do something unusual but I'm not sure as to how unusual. I have been reading this book Smashing Sets by Margaret J. Miller and it is giving me lots of ideas. I did want this quilt to be more traditional so it won't be very exotic.



My other big last week was to purchase the pattern for the Christmas stocking I will be making my new son-in-law Will. It will match the others I have made for the family and will stay at my house until I die or am too old to care. This year he gets to see the pattern, fabric & threads, Won't he be thrilled with that. Next year he gets the finished stocking. They want it backed in red, so I had to change out one of the colors of the thread from rust to red. Hopefully I'll be able to find a nice velvet next year when it is all done. That took a lot of time to finds colors that would work, but I think I got it. The new colors still look good with the other colors in the stocking. It's funny how each kids is so different when I made Kierra's stocking in 1995 she wanted green, every one else has blue velvet backing. Even Krystal my daughter in law picked blue.
I think blue is the favorite color of about 90% of the world and we prove that in this family.

Well take care and be thankful!

Monday Quilting Update

Well I was working on my newest project last night and I was about ready to take my update picture but the battery in the camera was dead. Such timing?!?!? So it was not charged by bed time so I had to wait until tonight.







This is my newest project which is also one of my goals for this year. It is from a Dear Jane Christmas Swap from 2001. Yes, that long along. I had 35 blocks so I made one more to make it an even 36. I designed it in EQ5 the year after I did the swap and purchased the fabric. I made 4 different sets of 10. I'm planing on doing scalloped borders so I can have more practice as doing a scalloped binding.



Here is my progress to date. I did struggle over which I color I liked better for the sashing the red or the green with the opposite color as the corner stones. So after making about 15 versions of the quilt in EQ6, I finally decided to use both colors as sashing and to use my back ground as corner stones. I'm liking it. I really like the green next to my border fabric. So I wanted to save enough of that to use as a resting border and the binding. My spacing sure did get wider towards teh bottom.

Well have fun and take care!