Siblings Christmas

My sister from BC came to visit for a family wedding in November and we decided to get the house decorated for Christmas early and have a siblings Christmas on December 9th.  I have never had my Christmas tree up this early ever!  We have not celebrated Christmas together for many years, so this was the perfect opportunity.  

The day before the party, we picked up three of my granddaughters from school and they helped us decorate the tree and put up our village and playmobil Christmas sets. (Click on the photos to enlarge for better view.) 

Three granddaughters, Lauren, Leah and Kara, decorating with Aunt Thea

We enjoyed supper together and played a game and brought them home again.

On the morning of the day, my sister and I got the turkey dinner all prepped and wrapped up lots of gifts to place under the tree and set the table with our late Mom's china dishes.  We also had lots of candles and pretty Christmas napkins.

The china that my Mom and Dad received as an engagement gift in 1954 is still being used.  Here is my sister, Thea, getting the table all nicely set.

The Christmas village

My Mom embroidered this table cloth for me for Christmas probably 40 years ago.  The log cabin table topper was one of the first things I made when I started quilting in 1989. 

The stockings were hung to be filled later for the grandkids

Gifts arranged under the tree

Even the weather was picture perfect with a pretty layer of snow!

Last year I got together with a couple of quilt friends and we exchanged 2 1/2" strips to make a Christmas jelly roll race quilt.  You can read about that here.  When we decided to have Christmas together with my siblings, I started to think about a gift for them and the thought of a quilt crossed my brain!  A couple more friends wanted to make jelly roll races this year and I again joined in thinking I could make one as a gift for someone.  When we finished cutting strips, there were enough to make two quilts.  But, I needed three!  I remembered the top from last year which had not been quilted yet and ran over to my neighbour across the street, Chris Bogart to see if she could quilt three quilts in the next week!  She is a long arm quilter.   Yes, she was game and told me to bring the first one over.  She quilted all three of them in short order and I sat down to hand stitch binding in between all the other busyness of Christmas.  It was so much fun surprising them with their very own quilt this year!! 

This is the quilt for my brother Bas.  I chose the darker strips for his quilt.

This is the backing for my brother's quilt.  It was quilted with a beautiful snowflake pantograph

Close up of a few strips

This quilt was for my sister, Thea.  I added bright lime green squares between each square when sewing them together.

Close up of the strips

It was quilted with an awesome mittens and skates pantograph

The quilt for my sister Eva

Close up of the strips

This one was quilted with a holly design as she is an avid gardener.

All in all, it was a very memorable and relaxed Christmas.  I now need to make another Christmas jelly roll race for myself and maybe one for my other brother who also lives a long ways away and could not be with us.