A little Christmas quilt

I'm going to donate this little Christmas quilt at our guild meeting tomorrow. Each year our guild members make a special donation of Christmas sewing to our local hospital - Hutt Hospital.  

The hospital staff like to make Christmas Day special for the children stuck in hospital for Christmas. Our members donate more than 50 stockings each year. 

One of our guild members passed away quite suddenly this year, and her friends have been working through her stash trying to ensure it all gets used.  A couple of months ago they gave each of us a brown paper bag with 4 pieces of Christmas fabric in it. Their simple request was to sew something for Hutt Hospital.   

In my paper bag were the rabbits, the kiwis, and red, white and gold piece and the blue stripes.  I added some of my own fabrics to make a big enough quilt. 

I decided to make a baby quilt using the Trip Around the world pattern that can be used on the cot or on the floor as a play mat.  It can even be used as a table mat in years to come.  

I had it quilted at Busy Bee Quilt Shop because I was already going there to get my nephew's baby quilt quilted.  

Last Christmas

I finished my Trip Around the World quilt just in time to enter it into Capital Quilters recent exhibition.  

I've called it Last Christmas because I've always loved Wham, and each December I pump this song out  regularly.

I used Edyta Sitar's pattern and method and I found it very good.  If I decide to make another Trip Around the World quilt I would certainly follow her method again.   

You can read my first blog post about this quilt here. I made this quilt over the Christmas break and found all these fabrics in my stash. I hand quilted it using a range of colours and types of threads.  I don't think they show up all that well, but I had fun mixing it up.  

I did find that quilting on the diagonal skewed the quilt slightly.  I was tempted to add some straight lines to straighten it out, but that would have ruined the diagonal effect that I was after.  When it was finished I gave it a wash and blocked it and I think it's back to being square now.  

I do love the colours which are Christmassy, but not in a traditional way.  I was inspired by this Christmas gift bag.

Oh! And on the back I used a piece of Noel by Cotton + Steel - so cute. 

Finished size is 54" x 62"

A Trip Around the World

Happy New Year everyone. 

No sooner had I dropped my mum and dad at the airport on 27 December than I started getting inspired on Instagram.  Often I will start a Christmas themed cross stitch between Christmas and New Year, but this year I started a Christmas quilt and I had the whole top pieced in just seven days.  

I was inspired by this photo on Instagram:

But I used the brighter colours from this Christmas gift bag:

The photo I liked was by Edyta Sitar so I used her Laundry Basket Quilts PDF pattern for a Trip Around the World quilt.  I watched her video first and I liked the sound of her method, so I purchased the pattern and made a start.

I did consider making the quilt larger, or enlarging the size of the squares, but either option would have meant that I would need more than a fat quarter for the 4 consistent colours that run through it.  I wanted to make it all from my stash, so I stuck to the instructions.  

I used scraps of fabrics on many of the rows but if you're going to do that, just be careful to space them evenly when you're sewing the columns together.  I like how my scrappy fabrics are evenly spaced out in the final design. 

 
While I was in the mood I even pieced a quilt back using one of my precious Cotton+Steel fabrics from 2017.   I do love the ski jumpers, but if I haven't got around to using it yet, it's best to put it on the back of a quilt and at least I will get to see it sometimes.  

So now I have a lovely Christmas quilt ready for hand quilting with sparkly threads when the weather gets cooler.  

Finished size is 54" x 62"

2024 is off to a good start.  

Oh! Christmas Tree

Yes, it's true - I've escaped New Zealand and like many other Kiwis and Aussies I'm travelling in Europe right now.  In fact by the time you read this I think I'll be in Amsterdam.  You can follow my travels on Instagram - @wendysquiltsandmore  or Facebook - Wendy Welsh - if you're interested.  

But I know a lot of you look forward to reading a blog post from me each week, and linking up to or following the Peacock Party links, so I've prepared five weeks of blog posts to keep you covered while I'm away.  Each week I'll be featuring one of my favourite quilts that I haven't shown for quite some time.  

First up is my "Oh! Christmas Tree" quilt designed by Wendy Williams.  You can read all about it here. 

I know I say it about a lot of my quilts, but I loved making it.  All the bright colours, the wool felt and the hand stitching were just my thing. 

Just looking at these photos makes me consider making another one in a different colour way.  

Now it’s time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

2022 Christmas Countdown - Oh! Christmas Tree

 Day 23 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my "Oh! Christmas Tree" quilt designed by Wendy Williams.  

I love that this quilt represent Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere.  We still like the snowy images on Christmas cards, but we know Christmas is the start of our summer holidays and it's going to be hot.  Many people have a BBQ for Christmas lunch and eat it outside, before taking a dip in the pool (if they're lucky enough to have a pool in their back yard).  

I loved choosing all the bright colours for this quilt, and then doing all the hand applique and hand quilting. 

You can read all about this quilt, including where to buy the pattern, here on my blog. 

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  How's your Christmas decorating coming along? Feel free to link up a recent blog post below. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

2022 Christmas Countdown - Flocks by Night

Day 21 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my Flocks by Night quilt - pattern by Wendy Williams.

Once again, I loved making this quilt.  The decorations on the trees, and the sheep on the hills are just so cute. 

Full details on this quilt, including where to buy the pattern, is here on my blog. 

2022 Christmas Countdown - The Candy Man quilt

It's Day 19 of my Christmas Countdown and it's The Candy Man quilt.

A few weeks ago I blogged about a spur of the moment Christmas quilt I had started.  Well, now it's finished and all ready to be used this Christmas. 

The pattern (Watling Street) was designed by Sheila Christensen and is in her book, Quilts with an Angle.  I made my quilt smaller because I only had a limited number of scrappy Christmas fabrics in my stash.  Can you believe I made a whole quilt from stash? Even the backing and the binding? Well I did, and I want to use more of my stash in 2023.  

I've called my quilt The Candy Man because at first I thought of Candy Canes (due to the colours and stripes), but I don't really like to eat candy canes, but I did love performing The Candy Man song on the stage at the Regent Theatre in Dunedin back in the 1970's.  

I quilted this quilt myself using my walking foot. 

2022 Christmas Countdown - Holiday Patchwork Forest

 Day 13 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my Holiday Patchwork Forest quilt. 

This quilt still makes me smile because it started out as just a few test blocks from scraps in my stash.  I didn't have an overall colour plan before I started, but I really like how it's turned out.  

I did some basic machine quilting on it, but then accentuated the trees with hand quilting. Both Kaffe Fassett borders were from my stash, and the thin red strip border adds a finishing Christmas touch. 

It's another small lap type quilt that I can drape over a chair or table at Christmas.  

I used a pattern from Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter.  She has a lot of Christmas quilt patterns on her blog.   

2022 Christmas Countdown - Holiday Homies Quilt

Day 10 and it's my Tula Pink Holiday Homies quilt.  

I made this cute quilt back in 2017 when Tula's Holiday Homies range was first released.

I didn't want to lose any of the motifs so I designed my own pattern which you can find here in my original blog post. 

My Holiday Homies quilt is just 37" x 37", but it can cover the box in the hall nicely when it's Christmas.  

Tula Pink has re-released Holiday Homes in flannel, but I was fortunate enough to get the original cotton version. 

2022 Christmas Countdown - Redwork Christmas

Day 3 of my Christmas Countdown and it's time for a Christmas Quilt.  

We don't need many quilts at Christmas time in New Zealand because it's summer, but I couldn't resist this Redwork Christmas pattern when I saw it advertised in a magazine.

This quilt was designed by Rosalie Quinlan more than 10 years ago, and I'm not sure if the pattern is still available.  But here's a link to some of her other designs which are similar.  Sadly Rosalie passed away from breast cancer which is such a pity because she was a wonderful designer. 

Here's some of my favourite blocks.

(the calico appears red/pink in these photos, but that's just the light shining through the red backing)

I received the patterns as a Block of the Month and enjoyed stitching each panel with red DMC embroidery thread.  

The quilting is minimal because I didn't want to quilt over the embroidery.  

See you tomorrow!