Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop August 8

 Tis the season to celebrate! Well, at least the season to prepare to celebrate "the most wonderful time of the year."

After all, it took me a while to piece this bit of exuberance, all 60" of it! Going to take a while to quilt it, too. I really love this piece and can't wait to get it quilted and bring it out for the holidays! I blogged about it back in February and March and there are lots of in-progress pictures on Flickr, too.

Celebration Tree Skirt, pattern by Judy Niemeyer for Quiltworx

There are other holiday pieces in progress, too. These little house quilts surfaced in a recent spelunking expedition that also turned up several more WIPs.

Not that I'm quite sure where the line is drawn between a WIP and a UFO. These certainly had been "marinating" for quite a while.

Life sometimes throws us curve balls and provides us with upheavals. All we can do is hang on to the bar of the roller coaster and go along for the ride!
There are two of these quilts, both 4 blocks. It's a good size for a wall hanging or to toss on the back of the sofa or across the table.

The upper picture shows a close-up of the fabrics I'm auditioning for borders. I think with careful cutting and piecing I can just make it with them.

This lower picture is an overview of the whole piece as it stands. Some of it blends into the tile floor, but it really is square.

When you see it in person, the beige backgrounds blend together a little better than they do here. I'm hoping to get these finished before Christmas, too, so they can go to some of the family to brighten up their holidays!


The Laurel Burch panel (there are two of them on this cut of fabric) just needs borders and quilting and will be ready to pass along as well.

For anyone who's new to the blog, let me just say that I have a fairly large family, so there's no shortage of places to pass my quilts along to!

Laurel Burch has always been one of my favorite designers, going clear back to the days when she was Laurel Birchtree! I could see one of these little quilts as a table centerpiece, while we sip coffee or tea from some of my Laurel Burch mugs.

 This little piece was in the same treasure-trove as the house quilts. This one is all finished now.

I quilted it with curly squiggles to give the feeling of a golden garland. Do click on the picture to see the larger version--the print itself is quite charming, little old-fashioned children and toys.

Please excuse the ripply look--I took this picture on the stairs, so trust me that the quilt itself is straight!

Gee, I seem to be saying that a lot tonight...

 These little "feather tree' quilts are decorated with a lot of old buttons and a few newer ones.

I have loved buttons for a long time, and remember going through my mother's button tin when I was little and finding all sorts of treasures. When I started to sew clothing, it was fun to find the "right" buttons.

Yeah, my button collection is perhaps slightly out of hand. But these special buttons are safely sewn down to decorate the trees!

 I didn't make this quilt; it was a gift from a quilter friend. Again, photographed on the stairs for that charming "ripple" effect.

I do owe you an explanation of why these pictures aren't the finest examples of photography, don't I? Well, let me tell you that things have been more than a little hectic around here lately, as I'm in the throes of getting this house ready to sell.

After 41 years of living here, you can just imagine what it's like. The new place is smaller, by half, so there will be a lot of downsizing involved. Also much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth--and that's just the cats. However, looking ahead to the holidays is cheering me up and helping me to focus on the end result: a smaller, more manageable space to deal with.

 One last quilt. I made this one quite a while ago, and it's still a favorite. The block is, I believe, called Grand Fir, and I'm especially fond of the colors of the attic window sashings.

Well, that's my Ho Ho Ho Roundup. What did you think? Let me know in a comment!

August 8

Quiltscapes

Marla’s Crafts

A Stitch In Time

Mehitabel’s Musings

Buzzing and Bumbling

Transitions For Meee

A Little Bit of Lorene

I Piece 2-Mary

Under the Presser Foot

A Reformed Heath’n

Just Sew Quilter

The Boon Docks( she got her day wrong)