4 Christmas Quilts – WIP’s

I know it seems I’ve been missing in action since I haven’t posted anything since the beginning of January.

But I HAVE been sewing!

This past Christmas, we revived a tradition we used to do when my oldest kids were younger, but let go of for the past few years for some reason. This is the tradition of reading a Christmas story each night during December while we burn down a number on our advent candle.

It’s such a wonderful tradition, I don’t know why we ever let it go!

So this last Christmas, I got serious and ordered a few advent candles, (so we’d be all set for the next few years) and also got super busy researching and buying lots and lots of really yummy Christmas picture books. Wow! Was that fun!!!  Maybe someday I’ll list some of our favorite books.

After Christmas, I was sitting down one evening and reviewing how Christmas went, what went well and such.  I sat there and relished the memories that were created while cuddling up on the couch with my kids and reading these wonderful stories.

 It was perfect - Mom with wonderful kids snuggled up with her on the couch – the lights dim and the Christmas tree lights on – the advent candle burning slowly nearby – reading yummy Christmas books.  The sweet feelings and moments were so precious!!! Perfect.

Then it hit me. No. It wasn’t perfect! What do you think was missing???

You guessed it, Christmas Quilts!!!! We needed Christmas Quilts to snuggle up in while we read!!!

So, I got busy and I have four Christmas Quilts in the making. Three flimsies done and one still getting pieced together.  I’ll give a more detailed post for each of them when they are done, but for now, here’s just a peak at each of them.

And, of course, I’m going to back each of them with yummy minky!

They HAVE to be super snuggly!!!

 

 

First up is a Christmas stacked coins quilt. I’ve been dying to make one for a long time and finally did it! I’m so pleased with it.

 

 

Next up is a kit I bought from my LQS. It’s so cute, and came almost completely cut out. YES!

 

   

The third one is not necessarily my favorite, but it is nice and will do. I got the layer cake on a good deal and just wanted to pump out something fast, so I left it in the large 10” squares and just sewed them together.

 

And the last one is going to be real cute. It’s called Retro Christmas Quilt from Amy Smart at Diary of a Quilter.  So cute!

I messed up a bit on the cutting of one of the fabrics, so I’ve got to do some fancy figuring to solve the problem, since it, too, was a kit, and only came with so much fabric.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to lately.

These quilts are going to be so wonderful to have next Christmas!!!!

 

Linking up with Quilt Story’s Fabric Tuesday,

and Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday,

and Confessions of a Fabric Addict – Whoop! Whoop!

2 Pillow Shams… finally!

I made these patchwork bedspreads for my two youngest sons about 3 years ago for Christmas, and had planned on making pillow shams to match them. (I even had them cut out.)  But, I ran out of time that year and didn’t get them done. And unfortunately, they sat on my shelf for the past three years, mostly forgotten about, until the other day when my son mentioned that he wished he had a pillow sham for his bed. (A bell went off in my head and I said, “Oh ya!”)

So, I finished ‘em up and gave them to them for Christmas this year.

 

First up is the quilt I made for my animal lover. He’s loved animals since he was tiny.  I love this quilt as the fabric colors are so warm and cozy. The dark squares are either dark brown corduroy, or black fake fur.  They make for fun texture differences here and there.

 

 

  The sham’s outer border is out of the dark brown corduroy.

 

In my mom’s stash I found a couple yards of cheetah print corduroy. It wasn’t enough to fill the whole backing, but it fit nicely in the center with a brown cotton border.

 

Next is my youngest son’s bedspread and sham.  He doesn’t have a particular ‘love’ like my other son, so I had to choose something that I just thought he would think was cool. So, since he likes learning about the world, I chose travel/map fabrics.

 

 

His borders are out of flannel.

 

It’s funny… I made these bedspreads before I ever heard about free motion quilting. Up until Spring 2012 I thought all quilting had to be done on a long arm with fancy software… Well, a friend of mine mentioned to me that there are people who ‘tie’ patchwork quilts on their regular machines all the time. It was a foreign concept to me and it was quite a stretch for me to wrap my brain around it.  I dove in and tacked each fabric square corner on my machine, like a dutiful quilt tie-er, and was pretty amazed with myself. : )

 

It’s about time I got these shams done!

 

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict’s Whoop! Whoop!

and Lily’s Quilts

and Crazy Mom Quilts

Fleece Pajama Pants!

I got our fleece pajama pants done for Christmas and they turned out really cute, don’t you think??

 

We’re laughing in this first picture since my husband was trying to set the camera to take a timed picture so he could be in it… well, he missed getting there in time for the first picture…

 

And, he made it! : )

My oldest son on the right, the one who said he wanted his fleece pj’s to be basketball shorts length, is still trying to convince me that he was kidding… well, too bad. His are short!

 

My second oldest son is not in the picture since he is on a mission in Kentucky for the next two years!  

 

I even made a pair of jammie pants for his girlfriend (who he is not going to get to see for three years, since she is planning on going on a mission, too, and their missions will overlap!) 

She really liked them! : ) 

 

What a doll she is!

And yes, if you happened to make the connection… she is my quilting mentee. : )

 

 

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict’s Whoop! Whoop!

and Lily’s Quilts

2012 - A Great Year to Start Quilting Again…

So here we go again… ending one year and beginning another.  I’m so glad I started quilting again this year as it’s brought me a lot of joy.

Here’s a collage of a lot of the things I sewed this year…

 

The best thing about sewing and quilting is that, usually, the things you make are for a gift for someone you love. So, the project often evokes a feeling of love for that person when you see it.  What a wonderful hobby!

 

 

Grandma’s Hand Print Quilt

Several months ago I posted about a quilt I was planning to make for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Well, now that it’s Christmas and I’ve given it to her, I can follow up and show you the completed quilt, and the happy Grandma!

 

 

It took me a long time to try to figure out what to do with the blocks in between the hand prints.  I worried that if I did much piecing in these blocks that they would detract from the hand prints. I tried to envision different kinds of blocks and since I couldn’t really envision what they would look like, I just decided to do plain fabric squares. I did modify six of the blocks and put in four-patches instead.  I’m quite pleased with the outcome.

 

 

The blocks are 9 1/2” (cut) each and the finished quilt is 56” x 74”.

I appliquéd the hand prints using Heat n’ Bond lite, and then did a narrow zig-zag around the edges.

I used fabric from California Girl – they look so bright and cheery!

 

  This block is one of my favorites. Since one of the grandchildren had a baby this year, that means Grandma is now a Great-Grandma! It didn’t work to give the baby her own block since that threw off my pattern, so I sewed her right along-side her daddy’s handprint. Adorable!

 

 

Near each hand print I fmq’d a little heart. (I need to get better at doing hearts!)

 

This block has the youngest grandchild’s hand prints on it, and since she’s so little (she’s only two) I decided to put both of her hands on it. Cute!

 

 

I labeled all the hand prints and this little tag on the back of the quilt using a permanent Micron pen. That’s what the gal at my lqs suggested I use and it worked great!

I backed the quilt with that double sided super soft stuff - it’s like minky without the bumps. What’s it called?? All I know is it’s SUPER soft and snuggly! Yum!

And yes, I did use batting as well. I wondered if it would be too heavy, but we all agree that it really is very snuggly and not too heavy at all.

 

And, yes, I remembered to sign my name!

 

This is my daughter snuggling up in it before we wrapped it up.

 

And here comes the big moment!

 

I LOVE to see the pleasant surprised look on people’s faces and you know you’ve given them something they love. : )

 

Oohing and ahhing over each grandchild’s hand print…

 

Yup, she loved it.

 

This is the youngest grandchild putting her hands on her hand prints. So sweet!

 

 

Linking up with Confessions of a Faric Addict – Whoop! Whoop!

and with Crazy Mom Quilts

and with Lily’s Quilts

My husband gave to me….

On Christmas Eve there appeared a couple of big, gorgeously wrapped red packages near our tree. There were no tags on them, so I could only properly assume and hope that they were for me! : )

 

 

(Notice the two pillow shams on the right of the tree… I’ll blog about them later…)

 

This is me in a slight state of shock…

(I LOVE Bernina sewing machines! I grew up on them as that’s the only kind my mother ever bought, and they are wonderful!!!)

 

 

…could it really be?…

 

 

What??? A B750 QE Bernina sewing machine????????

For ME???

(The second box contained all of the accoutrements, such as the tray, instruction manual and dvd, etc.)

And yes, it came with a Stitch Regulator!!!!!!

 

Yes!!!!

It really is!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sharing the love of quilting… continued

My sweet mentee and I had another opportunity to get together to work on her quilt. It is coming along nicely!  She is such a dear person, and it is really a joy to see her find such joy in quilting and creating something beautiful.  I’m so glad for her!

 

She is doing so well! She’s a very diligent student, and a delight to spend time with.

She was so pleased to see it begin to fall together, to see the chevrons become chevrons!

More to come!!!