Holly & Berries Christmas rag quilt

So, back in October I sketched a little design for a Christmas rag quilt.

My sister and I
went shopping for fabrics, and after she cut out tons of holly leaves and berries, we got together to make a quilt.


Two sewing machines on my table!  What fun!  As we began this project, she looked at me and said, “You realize that a lot is at stake here, don’t you.  If this doesn’t work, I’ll probably never try making a quilt again.”

Yes, I realized that a lot was at stake.

So, we took a deep breath and began!  Here are the first two holly leaves.


Add the berries, and we’re liking it!


And so it began.  A day of sewing with my sister.  It was a really fun day, as the quilt slowly began to take shape, one block at a time.
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I think she’s having fun.  I hope so.


After quilting every piece, we laid them all out.
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Here’s Kristen holding the first finished row:


Right about now I realized I’d made a mistake in my math when I drew the pattern out, and we made an adjustment so it would still work.  Then we sewed the rows together, and here it is!




It was time for Kristen and Jake to head home, so she took the quilt minus the borders and finished it at home.
She just sent pictures of the finished product, with borders, all snipped and washed and snuggly.


I think it’s so cute.  I love the way the holly leaves and berries turned out, and I hope that she likes it.  It was a fun project to do together.

So here’s the big question:  Will she ever make another quilt?

I know I will.  I might make one of these!

Binding, a find, and a bird

I promised myself that my Christmas gift to myself this year will be to finish up some projects that have been waiting for attention.

So, I stole a few minutes and made my binding for two quilts that I REALLY want to finish (one has been waiting for months!)  I’m excited to get them on the quilts and finish them up.


When I was at the thrift store recently looking for ugly sweaters (what’s with EVERYONE needing an ugly sweater this year?), I found these great little miniature compote dishes for $4.  They stand about 1.5 inches tall and about 2 inches in diameter.  SOOOOO cute!  I can’t wait to find something to do with them!


And finally, my quilt is back from the quilter’s.  This one is a fun combination of three different ideas that sort of happened as I went along.  I’ve been in love with all things birds for a while now, but this is the first quilt I’ve made that includes a bird.


I’ll show more pictures of this quilt when it’s finished.  I’m really happy with it.

I’ll get to work on this ASAP, but first I have to finish (I mean, start!?!) my Christmas shopping.
I think this is the year of lowering our standards so I can impress everybody next year.  Oh well.

Have a great day!

Jennifer

Handmade Christmas Cards

There’s something fun about the stacks of paper and supplies that I always have when I’m making my Christmas cards.


Blue cardstock, strips of old sheet music found at the thrift store, green tags cut with my current favorite paper punch and stamped with a design and a greeting, a large stack of pictures of my (somewhat) supportive children, and smaller tags punched from the sheet music with our names on it.


The letter is written (short and sweet!)


Last year my pregnancy hit me hard at the beginning of December, along with another crisis in our lives.
I was so exhausted I was afraid of falling asleep at the wheel on the way to and from school!
I mailed my cards at the end of January.  That’s not going to happen this year!  I’m determined to get these cards done and mailed before I start other Christmas projects.

Progress…


progress…


progress… (note the change in lighting, now we’re working late at night) DONE!

Here’s the final product:


Hooray!  Most of them are mailed.  I just have to pick up a few more postage stamps and track down a handful of addresses, and then they’re REALLY done.

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas to you!

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