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Day 3 of my Christmas Countdown and it's time for a Christmas Quilt.  

We don't need many quilts at Christmas time in New Zealand because it's summer, but I couldn't resist this Redwork Christmas pattern when I saw it advertised in a magazine.

This quilt was designed by Rosalie Quinlan more than 10 years ago, and I'm not sure if the pattern is still available.  But here's a link to some of her other designs which are similar.  Sadly Rosalie passed away from breast cancer which is such a pity because she was a ...

I hadn't planned to start anything new before Christmas, but when I was pulling out Christmas quilts to  show Wellington Quilters last week, I realised that I could do with a couple more small Christmas quilts to use as table runners.

So I checked what I had in my stash and found these fabrics: 

They're not all especially "Christmas" but they are red and green and that says Christmas to me.  

Surprisingly I settled on a pattern quite quickly, and was cutting and piecing within an hour of pulling the fabrics.  

My Thanksgiving Cactus is blooming its head off. I have never seen this plant so happy. There are more red blooms than pink or yellow, but I do have some of all. It came into bloom a few days ago, and there are more buds forming, so I think it will be in bloom for a couple of weeks.

The shape of the flower has always fascinated me. They are like little rockets.

Every year I share this plant’s flowers, someone will say that they have one but call it a Christmas Cactus. So, once again, here is a ...

 It's all quilted, labeled and bound now.

The panel is from the Home Sweet Holidays collection as are three of the five fabrics that surround the panel. This collection is a Moda collection from last Christmas. It arrived really late last year (the week before Thanksgiving) so I didn't even bother making a sample with the collection last year. I have a few kits available using the exact fabrics shown in the photo above - no substitutions. 

The quilt finishes at 47 1/2" by 67 1/2". The pattern used is called Panel Squared Quilt. If you purchase ...

I promised you more quilt designs with the latest Inklingo shape collection, the 4″ Five Point Star blocks. Today I am showing you two designs which have a more modern look than the previous designs, which look more traditional / … Continue reading →

   72 x 80, 6 yards by weight ...

 Cheryl bought our Christmas Wreath kit last summer. She's a fairly new quilter so she was a little worried about making the ribbon border, but she did great!

Cheryl and her husband are back again for this summer so she brought this in to show me.

Last week we had our the first Stella Bag and Wallet class. We had a full classroom but only one person got both the bag and wallet finished. 

Cynthia has made a few basic tote bags but this was her first bag "real" bag. She learned how to put in a zipper, both ...

 I took this photo a few months ago when I taught at Monarch Quilters in Poncha Springs, CO.

Laurie purchased the pattern, Family Tradition, and the fabrics from my shop. You can view the pattern and the fabrics we have left from this collection by clicking the following link: Home Sweet Holidays.

The next one is also a photo I took a while ago, but it is just too awesome not to share. This was made by one of my customers, Michele S.

Michele stopped into the shop for advise on this project. She had the wools she planned to ...

Tra la! It's May!
The lusty month of May!
That lovely month when ev'ryone goes
Blissfully astray.  

 I did say, "Rabbit, rabbit!" first thing today but I also remember listening to Julie Andrews sing The Lusty Month of May on our Broadway cast recording of Camelot.   

We are over the Covid sniffles and sneezes and out of the five-day isolation.  I took a follow up test at the walk-in clinic and was given the same advice as online, but so much better to hear it in person:  for the next five days (to Wednesday), wear a close-fitting mask ...

      It is finished, the improv Christmas Trees wall hanging. I like it so much, I hung it up near my side door so I can love it each time I leave the house or go into the basement. It is ok it is out of season now, it makes me smile. I love the fabric I found on clearance at Joann's for the back. I never use glitter fabric, but this was fun.

All quilted

Bound

Detail

Back

2021 Was a very full year for us. In January we received the keys to our new house. In March a complete renovation started (removing walls, kitchen and bathroom etcetera). This of course meant we had to shop for lots … Continue reading →

The final part to this Christmas Tree quilt has to finish with some background quilting. I decided to use Sharp Stippling, one of my favorite quilting designs, to fill in the background around the Christmas tree with soft movement and a navy blue color.

Quilting the Background of my Christmas Tree Quilt

The background of a wall-hanging quilt is always going to be the largest area to quilt and could be the most time consuming. I decided to quilt this area quickly with Sharp Stippling, stitched on a 1/4 inch scale.

Most quilters like to match thread, especially in ...

On Tuesday the Zion Woman's Club had a holiday luncheon.  I didn't get a photo of my vintage Christmas tablecloths in use.  We had box lunches which made serving very easy.  A white elephant exchange meant each of us got something to take home.  We also collected food for the two local food pantries. That all went into ...

It’s time to quilt a feather block on point using QCT 5! I knew I wanted to fill the background around my Christmas Tree with something fun, both to make the stars stand out and to reduce the amount of time consuming background quilting I’d need to do. The solution – Maximized Feather Blocks stitched with Quilter’s Creative Touch over the stars!

Quilting Feather Blocks on Point with QCT 5 in my Christmas Tree Quilt

I’m now using Quilter’s Creative Touch 5 Pro, but everything you saw in this video will work exactly the same with ...

I originally designed the Ghost of Christmas Past pattern to be used for a fabric exchange. The idea was that you get your quilty friends to all buy a yard of fabric, and trade the cut up pieces to create a wonderfully scrappy quilt.

You can totally get that going with your quilty friends, or you can just used all of your holiday scraps! That’s what we did when we remade the quilt this year with all the leftovers from our 12 Makes of Christmas projects.

This pattern is designed to alternate the green and red blocks so that ...