Saturday, December 19, 2009

Happy Holidays!

A couple of years ago, I made this Christmas quilt. I was going to use it for a pillow, but my husband said that it was "too pretty to be something that the kids are going to throw around," so I made it a wall hanging instead. It's machine pieced and hand quilted. To see them close up, just click on the pictures.

"Log Cabin Star"
21" x 21"

I've entered this in SewCalGal's Virtual Christmas Quilt Show - a fun way to display quilts without the trouble of actually leaving my chair. You can link here to see other quilts in the show.


And for the other half of my family, I made this Channukah quilt from something I saw in a magazine of miniature quilts several years ago. Machine pieced, appliqued and quilted with commercially printed fabrics and batiks and some of my own hand-dyes. I used heat-set fabric crayons for the colored smoke.

"Channukah Lights"
16" x 19"

I made a couple more of these Channukah quilts for gifts and used Pentel Arts Fabric Fun Pastel Dye Sticks for the colorful smoke and got much more vibrant colors. I would use those instead of the crayons if I were to do this again. They're soft and color the fabric easily; after heat-setting, they're permanent. Best of all -- they don't change the hand of the fabric at all.

9 comments:

Needled Mom said...

I have always loved the log cabin pattern and this one is especially pretty in the Christmas colors.

Robin said...

Hi Karen! Nice to "meet" you and welcome to the BJP. Thanks for posting an introduction on the BJP blog and for adding a link to your personal blog. I've just looked through all of your current posts... enjoyed the snow pictures, as we don't get that much very often. I also really like both of your quilts on the this post! You'll fit right into the BJP... can't wait to see your work! Robin

QuiltSue said...

Your Log Cabin Stars is a beautiful quilt.

Marge Gordon said...

Your log cabin star is lovely, but I like the Channukah quilt even more.
Marge
Delaware Quilts

Poppyprint said...

Fabulous quilts!

SheilaC said...

Your quilts are beautiful!!

I have heard of those Dye Sticks and would love to give them a try one day...

Thank you for sharing

SheilaC

Myra said...

Awesome quilts! 8-)

SewCalGal said...

I love your Christmas quilt and your beautiful Channukah quilt. Thank you for sharing them via my Virtual Christmas Quilt Show.

Random drawing for winners tomorrow (December 25th). Good luck!

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Jocelyn said...

Lovely quilts! Thanks for sharing them.