Saturday 23 December 2017

Jolly Little Christmas

In January 2017, Lorna, of Sew Fresh quilts started up a sew along featuring Christmas blocks. Every two weeks a block was released. I have posted several times about my progress on sewing these blocks and I got a little carried away :-).  In early December, I got caught up on the blocks and then put some up on the design wall to make myself a lap quilt for Christmas.  I ended up sewing a few more blocks to make the colours work.  The Sinterklaas I had made earlier, was too dark for these blocks and I also had to make another ornament block so I could put them all along the top.  It just didn't look right putting another block in the middle.  Here is a photo of the lap quilt.  It is not quilted yet, but I hope to pin baste it very soon and get it quilted so it's ready for next year's Christmas.

lap quilt for myself

I had lots of blocks left!  I had made two more Sinterklaas blocks but one was too busy.  So, with these two squares I made pillows for two of my kids that still do the Dutch tradition with their kids :-).  
Ben's Sinterklaas pillow
Amanda's Sinterklaas pillow
 I then laid out 16 more blocks on the wall and got another lap quilt out of it for my daughter in law, Becky:


I made two more blocks, Santa and Sinterklaas to reflect Eric's Dutch heritage and Becky's Canadian heritage :-).
Here are a few close ups of the quilt.  I quilted it with wavy lines as Lorna quilts the vast majority of her quilts...quick, effective and doesn't take away from the lovely blocks.











The back of Becky's quilt



I still had a lot of blocks left so I made some pillows.  The first two pillows were for Becky and Eric:
I used two stocking blocks and added a couple of white strips around to make them large enough to fit the 16" x 26" pillow forms from IKEA.
Mittens
I finally found a great use for the Charlie Brown Christmas fabric I bought a few years ago. It was perfect for the back of Becky and Eric's pillows :-)
I then made two pillows for myself to change around the fall covers for my livingroom pillows.
my pillows
back of my pillows

I still have four poinsettia blocks left to make a table runner, but I ran out of time...they will be for next Christmas :-).  This was such an enjoyable quilt along. Thanks so much Lorna for a very fun year preparing for Christmas!

I'm going to attempt to link up at Sew Fresh Quilts'  Let's Be Social :-).  

6 comments:

Lorna McMahon said...

What a beautiful post! I love all the ways you used the blocks to make each of your festive gifts. And am so glad to see you made some things for yourself too. Thanks so much for quilting along Jacqui! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Maureeneh said...

Beautiful quilts! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

The Cozy Quilter said...

You certainly made good use of all of those blocks you made for the quilt along. Great gifts and pillows! Merry Christmas, Jacqui!

QUILTING IS BLISSFUL, DI said...

OH MY goodness--I do think you really really did like this stitch along with all the blocks you made--did you count them up to see just how many actual blocks you made???
love all the pillows you created too--I had 3 blocks left over, but sent mine to my girl friend in NY who loves to do things with my left overs and she wrote and said she had had fun with those and a couple other Christmas blocks I had given her in the past!!
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS
AND ENJOY EACH AND EVERY MOMENT OF THIS SEASON, DI

eileen said...

A great QUILT, and all those PILLOWS!! You are a hard worker ! Have a merry holiday season, and keep on quilting !

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

I knew when you started making all those blocks, that you'd be able to finish several things with them. I never even got to start mine. Great projects, and I can't wait to see the table runner.