One of my favorite things to do is decorate our house for the holidays -- Christmas, Halloween, Fourth of July, Easter, Valentine’s Day. I think it is actually just an excuse to make more quilts so that I have something with which to decorate!! Whatever the reason (and since it is the week right before Christmas), I thought I would share some of this year’s Christmas decorations with you.
I usually have a candle or two burning in my sewing room when I am working and it is fun to have something festive for them to sit upon. I found this pattern at the Calico Cottage in Hastings one summer when we were on our way to Colorado. No quilting is needed on this folded fabric pattern.
This advent calendar is a fun addition to our kitchen door and, even as adults, we look forward to adding a different decoration on each day as we count the days down until Christmas. This was a kit that I purchased from Connecting Threads and quilted on my long arm.
This is a quilt that I made one winter because I wanted to use up a lot of Christmas fabric that I had. I received the book, The Little Red Hen Christmas in the Coop, as a Christmas gift and was immediately drawn to this pattern because of its scrappiness. I failed to check the size of this quilt before I started making it and was rather amazed at how big it was when I finished!! I did accomplish my goal of using up a lot of Christmas Fabric! I then had to wait until I purchased my long arm to quilt it because of its size. Now it looks great on a bed during the Christmas season.
I designed and made this quilt last winter using embroidered blocks that my Aunt Anna had made before she passed away. It is a rather odd shape because it is wider than it is long, but it looks great draped on the back of our couch in the family room.
This is a quilt that I made several years ago from a pattern that I found in the Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting magazine, November/December 2007. It looks great draped over our banister and it is a lot easier to decorate with than the greenery that I used to put there!
I have used this runner on several different tables in our house during the Christmas season, but decided to put it on our dining room table this year. I like how the colors go with the table cloth and the ribbons on the light fixture. This was a pattern that I found in the December 2007 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.
Patchwork pillows make wonderful decorations and they are so quick and easy to put together. In addition, it is a great way to use up scrap fabric and batting. I have them in a couple of crocks in our living room and family room and in a basket by our front door.
These are just a few ways that I have used quilts to decorate our house this Christmas. I, of course, have many, many more in every room of the house!! It has been fun to grow this collection over the years and I always look forward to getting them out and enjoying them during this time of the year. Now is the time to get started on your own collection so that by the time December rolls around in 2017 you, too, will have festive quilts with which to decorate!