Category: Christmas

I wanted to sew something Christmasey for my sister this year,  something she could enjoy in her cute house.  Knowing she liked Aneela’s Cherry Christmas line, I snapped up a charm pack and started cutting.  I did have to add a few gray scraps to make the pattern work how I envisioned it.

It seems the Utah gray clouds have descended, thick and heavy, making photos difficult.  I was operating with a deadline, though, so this is as good as it gets!


The pillow is made almost entirely of half square triangles, with a few solid white squares here and there.  The squares finish at 1 and 5/8 inches across.


I quilted only on the white in lines 1/4 inch apart.  I like the way it adds detail and movement to the pillow and makes the colors stand out.  I finished the quilt with a simple white envelope back and bound it in a red polka dot print.


I’m hoping she enjoys it.  The pillow measures 20 inches square, the same as this pillow I made for her birthday.   I’m toying with making a second one with rest of the charm pack (I only used half of it!)


I have loved sewing some holiday themed gifts this year.   This weekend I also sent my Vintage Holiday quilt off to a new home.  It’s fun to give them early so they can be enjoyed during December.

I had this idea in the spring when I finished my swoon quilt , sketched it out, and then it sat.  It sat while my son broke his ankle and had surgery, while my husband blew out his knee and had surgery as well.  It sat through four months of crutches, through summer vacation, soccer seasons and the rest of life.  But I kept looking at it.

At last I started .  Now it is done.


A large scrappy Swoon quilt to snuggle under while we read Christmas stories!


There are 108 half square triangles and 492 squares of fabric in this quilt, all simply pulled from my stash.  The quilt measures 72 inches square, just a few inches smaller than the original Swoon quilt .


The backing is pieced and the quilting is simple.  I found that there was so much activity in the quilt with dozens of different fabrics that the quilting hardly showed up at all, so I kept it basic.


I went with a scrappy binding as well.  After I finished it, I had it laying flat on the floor so I could cut all the stray threads off.  As I worked my littlest girls marched and danced all over it, then sat down and started playing I spy with the fabric squares.  I love that this quilt will be large enough for several of us to snuggle under, and that it will supply lots of fun hunts for their favorite squares.


Many loved fabric prints are included in this quilt.  Some that I’ve saved for too long and others that are the last little piece I had. Some that I purchased this year (such as Aneela Hooey’s Cherry Christmas) and hope I never run out of.


The holidays are fast approaching!  I’m so happy to have this project completed with plenty of time to enjoy it.


In fact, we already are!  THIS is the best part of quilting.


Jennifer

Tidy stacks of fabric may be pretty, but sometimes I prefer a messy stack.  Messy piles mean something good is happening, and something good is certainly happening with these!  They also remind me how beautiful the traditional Christmas color palette really is.

About a month ago I saw the Vintage Holiday quilt along starting up over at Fabric Mutt .  I went back and forth over and over again in my mind before deciding to jump in.

I’m so glad I did!  This quilt is turning out to be a lot of fun.  The blocks are simple and come together quickly, but even better than that, they’re turning out prettier than I thought they would!  The QAL started while I was still on vacation so I had some catching up to do, but it was easy to accomplish.  I find myself thinking about how fun it would be to make this in several different color schemes for different people I know.

This is what I’ve done so far.   Blocks 1 and 2:


Blocks 3 and 4:


Blocks 5 and 6:


Ironically, I was most worried about that last block, number 6.  I was afraid that the red on white print (Jennifer Paganelli) wouldn’t look right but I think it’s my favorite of the bunch!

These fabrics were pulled solely from my stash and it is fun to use them together.  Now I’m caught up and the quilt is already half made.  My kind of project!  I’m hoping to do more holiday sewing this year, some as gifts and some just for the joy of it.  I figure if I don’t start now there’s little chance of accomplishing anything so this quilt along comes at the perfect time.

Do you have any holiday projects planned this year?

Hopeful Homemaker