My First Christmas Quilt . . .

This is my first Christmas quilt and Quilt # 8. I made this quilt for a charity auction at our local hospital. It was a tree festival where folks decorate Christmas trees, donate them, then they are sold at an auction. This is the only picture I have of it. ( just ignore that rude couple blocking your view of my lovely quilt, I have no idea who they are!)

The pattern was the same pattern I used to make my Halloween quilts, "Sticks and Stones and Nine Patches" by Marti Michelle. I don't remember the fabric but it had panels that I used for the center of the blocks in the quilt and for decorations on the tree in the picture. The quilt and the tree were a "matched set" and sold for around $1500.

Here's a better shot of the pattern, using my Halloween fabric. Thinking back on it, it didn't bother me at all to give away the first Christmas quilt I made. Probably because I was also working on my Thimbleberries Christmas quilt so I knew I had a Christmas quilt in my future, and also, this was the 4th quilt I made using that pattern, I think I may have had enough of it.

Can you stand anymore Christmas decorations? I hope so because I have more...

This is my favorite all time Christmas platter. Look real close, the Christmas tree is decorated with martini glasses! Now there's a tree that would be fun to decorate. I thought that was such an odd combination I couldn't resist it.

Here's something else you don't see very often, something with the name "Thelma" on it!! My whole life I've never run across my name on those fun little knick knack items that you see with all those other names....thimbles, little angels, mini license plates, really important items that you need your name on...no Thelma, nope. My folks got me this mug, I think they paid extra to have the name added. This after hearing me complain about my name for 40 some years. I really like it, having my name on it makes it all the better!

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Sweet . . . . .

Look what showed up on my doorstep.........

A box of chocolates from Recchiuti Confections.

My daughter's special fella' sent it as a little thank you for a nice Thanksgiving weekend. Seems like we should be thanking him for putting that smile on our daughter's face.

This is what it looked like when my husband got home.......yip, he bought it!

I got to spend a little time in my sewing room this past week.

I'm still in the mood to work on Christmas projects. I saw a really cute Christmas pattern and ordered it online. While I wait for it to show up, I'm going right ahead with how I think it should be made.

I think I need 1800 1 1/2 inch cream squares. I'm going scrappy.

Here's some 1 1/2 inch hsts. I think this project has the smallest pieces I've ever worked with.

There's just something about small pieces that makes them look so cute. (like shoes, why don't the 10s look as cute as the 6s?)

I hope I get the pattern before I get this project finished! It will be interesting to see who does it right!!

I'm still decorating.....

The tree in the sunroom (the room with the red couches) is a theme tree. All the ornaments are either snowmen, have snowmen on them or make up a snowman, like snowballs or snowflakes. I started collecting snowman ornaments 12 years ago. The first tree was a 3 foot skinny tree, we've grown into this 6 foot tree. I've collected so many that a new addition has to be pretty special for me to buy it.

Forgetting the sentiment of some ornaments, here are a few of my favorites, based on cuteness alone.

This one is hand painted, from the INSIDE!!

There are several things about this ornament that appeal to me, the polka dots, the red color, the pudgy snowlady wearing earmuffs.

Here's businessman snowman, all dressed up for work. I really like the dog hanging out with him.

This is my second most favorite, I think it 's the red coat. I LOVE red coats. (I'm sure you're shocked!)

But this little guy is my most favorite, yes, he hangs upside down, but he sure looks happy about it. This is how I feel most of December, upside down but happy.

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North and South . . . . .

I've been so anxious to blog about this quilt. The pattern name is "North and South" by Doris Scanlon at Rose Country Quilts.

The local historical society in the town where my Mom lives had a quilt made from this pattern or had the original quilt on display. She asked if I could make a quilt like it, I didn't commit to her, but immediately started making plans to sew this quilt and have it quilted by her birthday, which was last week.

So now that she has the quilt, I can blog about it. I called the quilt by many names, none which I feel I should share with you folks today.

My Mom didn't want me to use the muted grey and blue fabric the pattern called for, she wanted a deeper blue so I went with Minick and Simpson's Flag Day Farm. I bought some yardage for the borders and setting blocks and used a layer cake and jelly roll for the sampler blocks. It worked out great. This was the first time I had used a layer cake or jelly roll. I enjoyed selecting the different fabric combinations for each sampler block. I was a little surprised by the mess those bakery edges made, fuzzer/threads everywhere.

The quilter used an all over large feather design that I think suited this quilt given its use and the overall feel of the quilt.

The quilt finished at around 79" X 79" and is Quilt # 47.

The pattern is very clever, the sampler blocks on the north west side of the quilt represent northern towns or states and the sampler blocks on the south east side of the quilt represent southern towns or states. The similar diagonal blocks separating the sampler blocks represents the Mason Dixon Line.

This block is called Lincoln's Platform, representing Illinois, a northern state in the civil war.

This block is called Fredericksburg, Virginia, representing a southern city in the civil war.

I learned quite a bit about proper fabric placement on this project. See the corners of this block, the plain cream was a bad choice.

By the time I made this block,I figured out that using the same corner fabric as the background fabric gave the block the look of floating in its spot. I think it gives it a better, more professional look. Unfinished, these blocks are 10 inch square.

OK, so I'm sure you're thinking, nice blog Thelma, but why were you so eager to share this info, nothing that different, right......here's the skinny...this is the worst pattern ever designed. The skill level is intermediate but there isn't an experienced quilter out there who would want to make this quilt using this pattern. I thought I was paying for a pattern, what I bought was a clever idea and the most poorly executed attempt at providing directions. I have no idea how the designer, in good conscience, felt this pattern should be sold unless it had the following disclaimer, "Great idea but quilter will need to adjust given dimensions to actually make 10 inch unfinished blocks."

Here's the pattern for a couple of the blocks, no color and no direction. I can live with this, I would prefer better but I'm a fairly intelligent person, I can make it work. What I can't live with is if I used the sizes provided by the designer in these directions, the Mason Dixon blocks would be 10 1/4 inches and the Philadelphia Pavement block would be 10 1/8 inches. The blocks should be 10 inches. Now I have to admit, sometimes my blocks don't finish at the exact size called for by the pattern, who hasn't made a block or two that's off a smidge. But here's the rub, I could have made the blocks perfectly, using the dimension in the pattern, and got a block ranging in size from 9 5/8 to 10 1/4, with several sizes in between. Not even half of the sampler blocks finished at 10 inches using the designer's dimensions.

Have you ever heard of such a thing? I was moving my needle left or right one or two positions for every block. Plus I had to reconfigure each block in order to make it work out correctly. I had to use 16ths of an inch! This quilt was no fun. I started on June 16th and finished on July 9th. I was grumpy the whole time. I sent a note and called the designer to express my displeasure and suggest she have her patterns tested before issuing them. I've yet to hear back.

Just blogging about it gets me all worked up all over again, but it's done, my Mom loved it, and I'm glad to have it behind me. But I will never buy another pattern from Rose Country Quilts!

Happy Thelma will be back blogging on Monday!

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Hometown Christmas . . . . . .

The Christmas quilt for my bed is out of the closet and on display. It's Thimbleberries Hometown Christmas by Lynette Jensen.

Right after I "graduated" from my beginner quilting class, the quilt shop offered this quilt as a 12 month class. When I asked about signing up for the class the shop owner said she didn't think I was experienced enough. I know that sounds a little harsh, but I really respected the fact that she didn't want me to take on more than I could handle. She could have just taken my money and after some convincing she did. The only thing that quilt owner knew about me was that I was a new quilter, she didn't know that when someone tells me I can't do something, that just motivates me to not only do it, but do it well. Since I was new to quilting, and didn't really have much in the way projects, I decided to make 3 of these quilts. One for me, my folks, and my daughter. I figured if I didn't make the block right the first time, maybe I would get it right the second or third time.

Luckily for me, this was not a hard quilt to make, and the pattern directions were great. My quilt is Quilt # 13, my folks quilt is Quilt # 14, and my daughter's quilt is Quilt # 15.

This block is my favorite, and not just because it was the last one!

When I go into a quilt shop, these Thimbleberries fabrics don't jump out at me like some family of fabrics, but I can't imagine any other fabric working better for this pattern.

I had enough fabric left over for a 4th quilt! But I'd had enough, so with the help of my quilt club we used the leftovers to make this quilt for an auction for the local hospice organization. Each member made a block and another member assembled it.

Speaking of the number 13,

that's how many mail order catalogs came in today's mail! A new household record. And yes, my mailman does hate me.

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Some of This and That . . . . . . .

I'm still decorating for Christmas, I'm hoping to have everything up by Sunday.

In addition to the Christmas Village house collection, I also have a Christmas cookie jar collection. It comes as a total surprise to me, I knew I had a few cookie jars, but when I got them all out of storage and decided to take a group photo for my blog, it was then that I discovered I have what you would call a collection.

Here's the guy that started it all. My folks gave me my first cookie jar for Christmas over 10 years ago. Doesn't this Santa have a happy face? When it comes to Santas, it's all about the face.

Much to my surprise, I have 17 Christmas cookie jars!! Most are presents from friends and family.

Sadly, I don't bake cookies, these poor jars don't even get store bought cookies in them!

I just spread them all over the house.

A few here, a few there, I just love them all!

Have you seen this......

It's an insulated cup from Starbucks. I guess they had them all summer with green straws, but it wasn't until they added the red straw for Christmas that it caught my eye. I'm drinking water from the tap instead of a bottle these days, for some reason I've found I drink more water out of this cup than out of a bottle, I think it's the straw! Additionally, since the cup is insulated, it doesn't leave a mess on my sewing table.

What about this.....

Have you tried the "Little Gripper"? It's wonderful for holding small rulers or templates in place. I don't have large hands, but for some reason, when I cut fabric with smaller templates and rulers, my fingers and palms are everywhere they shouldn't be. This little purple handle is a wonderful tool.

Congratulations to everyone who completed Picnic, the November Schnibbles. You did a great job! If you've not looked at the Year of Schnibbles Parade go do so. And THANK YOU Sinta and Sherri for selecting Tuffets for December!! I've been wanting to make these adorable little cushions ever since I saw them, I no longer have an excuse to put it off. I think it will be fun for everyone.

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