Christmas--Quilts and Joy!

If it's Wednesday, I try to have a blog post ready.

Today is Christmas. So, Merry Christmas to You! And Happy Hanukkah! And special wishes for whatever you are celebrating this time of year.

I decorate my home with quilts year-round. But at Christmas, a few special ones come out. Here are their stories.

1. Sawtooth Stars: Found at a First Monday sale day in Scottsboro, AL, about 10 years ago. We went early, I turned left instead of right and ended up at a booth just being set up. This quilt was still folded, no price tag in place. I asked the vendor the price, she told me a really low number and I jumped on it. Fortunately, she took my check since I hadn't brought much cash. As we walked away I told my husband I got a steal. His response? "Flip it.". No, never, it's my treasure for now.

When I got it home and was able to study it more, I found two amazing motifs quilted in it. The first is an initial: this appears to be a "W" to me--since my husband's last name starts with a W, I'm going with that. If it was turned over it would be an "M"--no, it's a "W":

The second motif I found is a dragonfly. I LOVE dragonflies and have several of them on display in my home in quilts and paintings. This proves this quilt was meant to be mine. Such a kinship I feel to this maker from long ago:

And I love feathers--this wreath with heart in the center is quilted in each large block:

2. Christmas Around the Country:  I made this in 1989. I won the blocks at a guild meeting, added a couple more and pieced this top with a garden maze set. I was a baby quilter then, so everything was a learning curve. I designed the hand quilting motifs and spent about a year quilting it, so it was ready to use by Christmas 1990:

Old house, don't have that mauve sofa anymore, so 1980's

It was featured on the cover of Christmas Year 'Round magazine, 1991:

3. Cross and Crown: the one quilt that goes on the wall each year. I designed and made it in 1996. It is the first quilt I had longarm quilted:

Titled "Yuletide Elegance"

This quilt appeared on the cover of  McCall's Quilting, December 1997 issue:

4. Christmas Log Cabin: There is one more Christmas quilt I should mention. This Log Cabin I made in 1989 for Christmas Year Round magazine. It was a commission for them so I don't own it. When the magazine came out, they said a kit was available from Patches & Stitches, where I worked and bought the fabrics for this project. They neglected to mention this to Patches so when the phone started ringing with orders--this was WAY before the Internet--they scrambled to fill hundreds of orders. I suppose there are many of these quilts around the country but I don't have one, just this photo with my son's fingers and feet:

I would love to find someone who bought the kit and made the quilt. It appeared in the Premier issue of Christmas 'Year Round magazine, 1989:

That's all for red and green Christmas quilts.

A very Merry Christmas to you!

Let's quilt.

Barbara