Vintage Christmas

 In 1984 I made a Christmas quilt from pre-printed blocks.  It was the sixth quilt I had ever made.  No classes or instructions, no teacher.  My lack of skills clearly showed.  Can you see any actual quilting in this photo?  I thought not.  The only quilting it has was stitched 1/4 inch on each side of the seams around each motif and where the red and green met.  Never having heard of a walking foot, I fought with this big quilt to get that little bit of quilting done on my old Bernina Nova.  (How I miss that little machine!  It was a high school graduation gift from my parents.  The foot pedal died, and can't be replaced.)

86 x 86 inch Christmas quilt made in 1984

Wall hanging 2021

My choice of backing left something to be desired as well.  I used a vellux blanket fabric and no batting.  Now, this wasn't too bad considering the light use the quilt was given.  It was on the bed a couple weeks a year at most.

Over time though, the rubber in the vellux disintegrated. Yuck!  It was a sticky mess!  In 2009 I ripped the backing off - which wasn't hard considering the lack of quilting.  It basically fell apart in my hands.  The red, and some of the green fabric was re-used in other quilts.  The four corner motifs were made into hot pads with insulated batting and denim backing. The rest went in to the orphan block box.

Now, in 2021, more of those panels have a new life.  Last weekend I made this wall hanging for our cabin to add a festive holiday spirit to the hallway.  It was a fun, quick project for the holidays.  It looks a little wobbly in this photo from the way it is hanging.  Some of the other motifs will probably become placemats.  

Wishing you, and yours a very Blessed Christmas!

Just Takes 10?

 A series of doctor appointments this fall had me looking through my orphan blocks to sew up a small quilt so I could hand-sew binding on as I waited.  You never know how blocks will speak to you, but inspiration struck, and the result is this very Christmas-looking red and green lap quilt.  

The blocks have been sitting neglected in my box for ten years.  In 2012, Gail at Sentimental Stitches had a sew-along called Just Takes 2.  It was a lovely two-color red and white quilt.  I chose green and white for mine and enthusiastically dove right in.  Eventually though, I just couldn't keep up.  After making about 1/3 of the blocks, I stopped.  Was my background fabric was too busy?  Was it all too green? I'm not sure what.  No matter.  

Some leftover pices of the background fabrics were with the blocks.  I framed eight smaller blocks to be the same size as eight larger blocks and put them all together with a barn red sashing fabric.  The backing and binding is a cute homespun plaid from deep stash with just the right shades of green and red.  

It has a new home on the sofa at the lake cabin.  So cozy!  Since it took ten years to get these blocks into a quilt, maybe I should call it Just Takes 10!