Monday, January 11, 2010

Christmas Quilt for the Family




In 2008, I had the pleasure of visiting Alaska. My family along with my mother and step-father had a beautiful trip that included a train ride and a cruise ship. We saw some beautiful places and I brought home some great souvenirs. Like many quilters, I would rather have fabric as a souvenir then a cup or spoon. While in Fairbanks, I stopped at a great shop just behind our hotel. I picked up a beautiful red, white and green print. Our family does not have a Christmas quilt and I thought this fabric might make a great quilt someday.

Around November, on the AllPeopleQuilt.com site, this picture of a lovely Christmas quilt kept coming up. Now, we have a slower internet connection than many of our friends (not dial-up) and I get the opportunity to look at some pictures longer than others as the page is loading. That month I saw the picture very frequently. I kept coming back in my mind to the fabric from Alaska.

I took the brave step of cutting into the fabric, fussy cutting out the design that I wanted to highlight. Many times cutting into the prize fabric is sooooo hard. After the second square was cut, I was an old pro. This quilt worked up very fast. It can be found in the December 2009 American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine.

The green stripe and the Christmas border print were purchased at the local Hancocks on 50% Christmas fabric. The other fabrics I found in the stash. I have just figured out the quilting. For me, this is one of the harder things about quilting. The quilt top was made in secret and found under the tree on Christmas morning. The family always knows that these quilts are not going to leave the house. So many times quilts are made and then given away. The family always enjoys having one that will stay here.


The background fabric is a Fossil Fern that is left over from the KING. I thought that it looked like snow falling from the sky.


(Oh by the way--It is nice not to have to resize the photos to put them on the website--It does take alittle longer to upload them though.)


I hope to have a quilt or 2 completed by March. This is one of them!


Happy Quilting from Just Another Quilter


8 comments:

  1. Your Christmas quilt is beautiful! This one is one to keep and maybe one day pass it on to kids or grandkids. You did a wonderful job with the fabrics. Can't wait to see it all quilted and finished!

    Marsha

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  2. What a lovely Christmas quilt! I think it was worth waiting to find the right pattern for your Alaska souvenir fabric. Can't wait to see it quilted up.
    -Joanne

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  3. Stunning! Absolutely stunning! I too liked this quilt as soon as I saw it. Your version is fabulous. Great fabric choices - no wonder your family are pleased this one is staying. Happy Stitching, Ann :-)

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  4. That is sooooo gorgeous!! I love that this site allows us to get these blown up pictures to see the details. Your points are perfect. Can't wait to see it quilted :) Christine

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  5. Fantastic fabric and fantastic sewing! It looks just beautiful. Can't wait to see how you quilt it. Beth

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  6. BEAUTIFUL! Cant' wait to see it quilted, are you doing it by hand or machine? HAPPING BLOGGING!

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  7. I am planning on machine quilting it. I am still trying to perfect the pattern. I like to hoop the pattern on my embroidery machine and then do something in between the "embroidered" patterns. Mind you the "embroidered" patterns are only straight line patterns.

    Just Another Quilter

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  8. Fantastic! And I thought the King was off the charts! I love the fact that the fabric just kept calling to you for that particular pattern. Oh, how I'd love to have that one! ---"Love"

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