Ho Ho Ho, My First Christmas in July Finish . . . . .

I'm off to a great start on my Christmas in July sewing.  

I've had a quilt with nothing but Santa hats floating around in my head ever since I pieced Bonnie's Christmas Cheer quilt pattern.  (LTQ # 235). 

I didn't have a good idea of what I was going for when I started, so I just pieced Santa hats and threw them on my design wall until inspiration hit.

I thought the hats needed some separation so I added the "Ho Ho Ho" and thought I was done.  I liked the nice clean look, but the size bothered me.  It was too long for the width for my taste.  And I thought adding a hat to create rows of 5 hats would overpower the Ho Ho Ho.

So I decided to add some little presents to each side to increase the width.  

And thought it would be fun if the presents danced.  I pieced enough presents to dance down both sides, but decided I liked the look of just the presents on the left, and called it done.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 254

I've named it Ho Ho Ho

It finished at 62 1/2" x 75 1/2"

It has approximately 546 pieces

The red fabric is Sno by Northern Quilts for Moda

The silver stripe fabric is Bonnie and Camille Vintage Holiday for Moda

The Santa hat pattern is by Bonnie at Cotton Way

The present pattern is a freebie from Moda Bake Shop called "Christmas Present" designed by Kristina Brinkerhoff.

The "H' is 11" x 7", the "o" is 6" x 5".  It's just a font I copied from my computer.  

Feel free to copy my idea and make your own Ho Ho Ho quilt, you'll just need Bonnie's pattern for the Santa hat block. 

I'm really motivated to piece as many Christmas tops as possible this month, the more I make the more I have to giveaway.  I have a long list of family and friends waiting for a Christmas quilt, but I'm keeping this one!

Read more

Christmas in July

Earlier this year I was given the opportunity to play with Sweetwater's Hometown Christmas fabric for a Christmas in July theme for Moda.

This picture was actually taken in July, so it was literally  Christmas in July for one morning at my house.

I put together two blocks, a background center block and a print center block.

This is the background center block, or Block 1.  The amazing quilting is by Connie Lancaster, the owner of Quilts Plus in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This is the print center block, or Bock 2.

The pattern is a breeze, I went with 3 inch fabric squares and 3 inch half square triangles, but really you can go with any size that you like.  You can also piece as many blocks as you like, no rules here.

The family of fabric has some great prints but the plaids were my favorite.

And here's my finished quilt.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 197

I 've named it Christmas in July

It finished at 88' x 88"

The fabric is Hometown Christmas by Sweetwater for Moda.

It has approximately 1,573 pieces.

Carrie Nelson and the nice folks at Moda have written a pattern for this quilt and it's available for free on the Moda Cutting Table blog.   I think there may also be a giveaway, so check it out today. click here

Thanks Moda for the opportunity to create a fun project and bigger thanks to Carrie Nelson who helped wth the design and all the pattern work.

Read more