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!

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Latest Finish

I've had this pattern in my to do pile for ages.  It's by Emma Coutancier and the pattern was in the Simply Modern magazine.

The pattern used templates and was in centimeters so I substituted 3" x 5 1/2" fit to be geese and it all worked out fine.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 253

It finished at 54" x 60"

It has approximately 593 pieces

The pattern is from Simply Modern and is by Emma Coutancier

I didn't see a name on the pattern so I'm going with "Geese a Go Go"

The fabric is by V and Co for Moda

A nice start to my summer sewing.

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Loving the red, white and blue . . . .

This spring @redrainbootshandmade started a Stars and Stripes sew-along.  I pieced this quilt designed by Camille for Thimble Blossoms two years ago, Lifetime Quilt # 204.  I enjoyed piecing the quilt and loved having such a patriotic quilt on display for holidays, like the 4th of July, Labor Day and Memorial Day.

Since I had some time to spare before my annual mother/daughter vacation, I decided to sew along, knowing several friends and family members who would also enjoy this quit.  And remembering how easy it was to piece my first Stars and Stripes quilt, a perfect fun and easy diversion.

In the rush of packing and errand running I forgot to take pics of my finishes before sending them off to the quilter.  But today they came back home, thanks Abby at Latimer Lane Quilting, you're the queen of wavy lines and fast service.

Here are Lifetime Quilts 250, 251, and 252.
Each quit finished at 56" x 71", has approximately 138 pieces,  and is made from fabric by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.  The pattern is Stars and Stripes by Thimble Blossoms and available here.  Back just in time to pass along to their new homes before the 4th of July.

Besides my quits arriving home I just got home myself.  If you're a longtime reader of my blog you know that I take an annual vacation with my daughter.  Over the years we've  seen some amazing sights, eaten some delicious food, and laughed our way all over the globe.   This year we visited Peru, a first for both of us.

We saw llamas, alphachas, and lambs aplenty.  We hiked every day and went white water rafting, a first for me.

The weather was absolutely perfect.  Cool in the mornings and pleasant throughout the day.   This was my morning breakfast view at the Sol and Luna Lodge in Sacred Valley.

We could not have picked a better day to visit Machu Picchu.  We had the place to ourselves, which really surprised me.  I had read about and was dreading the reported crowds visiting this amazing lost city.

 This is my favorite pic of the over 1,000 pics we took.  If you've not visited Peru add it to your list.  The people, food, landscape, and history of this country make it worth your time.  We traveled with Adventures by Disney.

When I got home my clothes dryer died on the 2nd load of the 19 waiting to be cleaned and the sewer decided to back up in the basement, real life, real quick.  But things are back to normal now and I'm happy to be home and back in my sewing room with the memories of another wonderful adventure with my daughter, making me appreciate how lucky I really am.

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Fig Tree Red and Cream BOM . . . . .

I finally finished my 2018 Fig Tree Red and Cream BOM.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 248

It finished at 68" x 68"

The pattern is by Fig Tree

It has approximately 983 pieces

I pieced the majority of the blocks in 2018 so finishing this one up took no time at all.

Fig Tree is selling the red and cream bom pattern, click here, which is unusual for their block of the month programs, so you can make your own Red and Cream sampler quilt.  I think this pattern would look great in blues too.

This is my last UFO, hurrah!  I don't like having unfinished quilt projects hanging around.

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Summer Love Finish . . .

I love basket quilts and try to piece one new basket pattern every year.  When I saw Bonnie at Cotton Way's latest basket pattern I new it would be my next basket quilt.

The basket blocks are ginormous, they finish at 16". 

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 247

The pattern is Summer Love by Bonnie at Cotton Way

The fabric is all Bonnie and Camille for Moda

It finished at 84" x 84"

It has approximately 622 pieces

The quilt top is prettier in person, I've not seen the sun in months which has resulted in dreary photographs.

This is the first block I pieced and it's my favorite.  That doesn't happen very often, more often than not my first block doesn't even make it in the quilt top, but I never could top the fabric combo on this one, even though I tried every time.

This pattern is available from Bonnie at Cotton Way, click here.

I have a Fig Tree Red and Cream BOM that I started last year that I plan to work on next.  I don't even remember how many blocks I pieced or how many I have left to piece, I can hardly wait to open that project box, it's my last UFO.

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