The Scandinavian Christmas quilt

Honestly, I went to my favorite local quilt shop for a couple of neutral cream and tan fabrics for a stealth quilt I have in my head:  lots of piecing but little color contrast.  Yes, I know that's not my usual style, but when the environment  the proposed quilt will co-star in is very pale, something intricate but also pale is in order.

Or so I thought.  Selecting quiet prints  involved getting into the taupe and tan neighborhood, not my usual section of the color world.  The Lecien "Scandinavian Christmas" fabrics caught my eye, especially the tan with red polka-dot mushrooms, and the taupe with tall houses, feather Christmas Trees, and Father Christmas.

You'll see in my finished blocks that with all the best intentions, I still wound up using red  prints and even deep scarlet flowers in the mix.  So much for a quiet, reserved, even restrained quilt.

Center 

First border corner blocks and photographer's shadow.  Guess who was in a hurry.

Outer border corner blocks

Lovely how all the different manufacturers color palates worked for this quilt.  The center of this star block is the fabulous "Hometowns" fabric from Moda.

So, during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, I will list many things for which I am grateful, among them Fuji apples, cell phones, a healthy family, good friends, snow on the mountains, life, liberty,  and the pursuit of quilt fabrics.

At the end of the Scandinavian Christmas project I will undoubtedly have a batch of extra tan fabrics.  Hmm.  Sounds like a give-away in the making. Speaking of bits and pieces, I asked several friends for their opinions of, in quilt fabrics, how small is too small a scrap to keep.  We'll delete the names to protect the innocent:

Response 1:  "Don't keep anything smaller than a fat quarter."

Response 2:  "It depends.  Usually I don't keep anything smaller than a two and a half inch square."

Response 3:  "You mean people throw scraps away?"

Send me your response.  In fact, send me your response and I'll put you in a drawing for a fabulous assortment of bits and pieces.  None smaller than 2.5 inches.

Quilts for the table

The Christmas Dishes table quilt, designed  for Village Dry Goods quilt shop in Brigham City, in the shop at last.

Closer view of quilt on table.  

Check the November 15 post for a close-up of the plates.  The story of this quilt is simple.  The Christmas print fabrics are all right by the front door of the shop, with great natural light.  The whimsical elf prints were new, and practically shouted to be taken home and used in a quilt right away.  My applique quilts often take a year, but this one was machine pieced, hand appliqued, and machine quilted in less than a week.   

So, there's the Riley Blake Christmas Candy plate quilt, this table quilt, the sibling of this one done in more formal Christmas fabrics.  Still not bored with Dresden plates!

Village Dry Goods Christmas Table Quilt

Pattern Cover for Village Dry Goods Christmas Table Quilt

I've been having too much fun with the Dresden Plate variations.  As you can see, the first table quilt is finished.  It's on display at the Village Dry Goods shop www.villagedrygoods.com.  Kits with pattern will be available, but the patterns are also for sale separately.

This week I'm making Frog Pants for toddler Mia (her dad's request--at least the pants part.) The fish quilt (Grampa Says I'm a Keeper) is done except for finishing the final stitching of the binding.

September Roses

Hand-pieced roses

This is the quilt I forgot.  While planning for a hand-piecing class, I was digging through a box of single sampler blocks and found this quilt.  Somehow I had completely forgotten it.  Or had I?  Next is am E quilt I designed this week using Moda's new "Sophie" line of fabrics.

Definitely a resemblance, yes?

Sophie's Garden (designed with EQ7 using Moda fabrics)

The Sophie's Garden quilt is a project for later.  Our Sophie is only six months old, and has plenty of bedding. Besides, her mama likes to make quilts too.  On the other hand, the fabrics are beautiful. I could make a dress, but she is still too small to look good in the large florals of this fabric group.  Hmmm.  My local quilt shop, Village Dry Goods www.villagedrygoods.com, has a couple of the large florals, so I have seen them on-the-hoof. Maybe I should add a new quilt category to my scheudle:  quilts that must be made because the combination of fabric name and recipient require it of me.  This one would make a great sampler quilt for a star piecing (hand-piecing) class.

 Quilting Stars?  Maybe we will need t-shirts and tote bags for this group.

Christmas Dishes table quilt

September already?  This afternoon I am quilting the Christmas Dishes table quilt, which is a relief.  This is the first time I've made two quilts at once of the same pattern.  The Heritage Quilt Workshop version is pieced from bits of fabric from my mother's Grandmother's Christmas Quilts stash.  The Village Dry Goods version is for my favorite quilt fabric shop, and is more whimsical  The Dresden Plate design is very satisfying in a scrappy version.  This image is the second I've been able to create since delving into Electric Quilt.  This is going to be so much fun!  I know I still have to write the instructions, but this makes it possible to show you all the designs in my head long before I can get them into fabric.

We had a great time in West Yellowstone last week. It is delightful to get acquainted with new people, and the quilts we're doing this fall are fun to teach.  Check out the schedule and  register on line at
 www.send-it-home.com

This next quilts are the two we are teaching in a single class:  the Wild Mountain Rose quilt followed by  the Baby Bear Paw, which uses the same techniques..  

Wild Mountain Rose

 

Baby Bear Paw

Christmas Dishes

This is the first block for the Christmas Dishes quilt I designed for Village Dry Goods quilt shop in Brigham City, Utah.  www.villagedrygoods.com  The quilt is a 9 block table-top quilt (48" x 48") with five complete plate blocks and four fan corner blocks. More pictures as the quilt progresses.  Village Dry Goods will offer the quilt as a kit with pattern included, and a one-block technique class.

I'm teaching a Christmas Dishes class for the Heritage Quilt Workshop in West Yellowstone, Montana (August 25 or September 30)  The  fabrics in the photo above are much more whimsical than the prints in the Christmas Dishes class kits for West Yellowstone. 

The earlier Christmas Candy Dishes (see earlier posts) quilt these classes are based on is also pretty casual.  I suspect I'm going to wind up using this technique for a more formal Christmas quilt, and then for one using woodland colored batiks.  This is all rather odd, as I usually don't do the same thing twice.  Perhaps the appeal of this Dresden Plate variation is in the fact that it looks much harder than it is.  Or maybe I'm just amazed at how slick the technique is.  Or maybe it is just that it uses much smaller pieces of fabric, and is really suitable for charm packs and layer cakes.  If you're considering diving into this project, start collecting Christmas prints.  The most useful sizes are 5" or 10" square, and 5" x Width of Fabric (WOF) strips. 

For more information about the West Yellowstone classes, visit the Heritage Quilt Workshop blog.  You can register by phone or on-line at the Send-it-Home shop in West Yellowstone. http://www.send-it-home.com

Outsmarting the technology?

This is a scanned copy of the Heritage Quilt Workshop schedule.  Now if I can just get the paper straight in the scanner bed, I'll have this licked.

I won't claim to have outsmarted the machines until I can manage to get things into the scanner right side up and straight.  Meanwhile, I am sure there is someone out there who is laughing because I just went around the barn instead of through the door, but at least we are staying with the horse images from this evening's earlier post.