Decorating Stairs at Christmas...Christmas quilts too...

 

                    I decorated my stairs this year! I don't always because it's a lot of effort. ;o)

 

lights at night

 

 

I love the pomegranates and frosted berries, nut garland,

and some other strange bulbous fruits...

I also used some "nuts" that fall from the bottle brush trees around here.

lots of berries and ribbon....

 

 

 

My Christmas quilts so far.....

 

"Holly jolly"

"Friends for Christmas"

Figgy Pudding fabric. my own pattern.

"jovial"

 

Nancy Halverson Christmas

 

 

 

String Quilt / Fresh Fabric Treats

 

 

I have been working on a string quilt. The fabrics were too different to use large squares of each, but when I put them together in narrow strips, the colors are gorgeous together!

 

Here is a block under construction. You start with a 10" square and lay each strip wrong side down on top of the last one and keep going til you get to the edge. Then trim the strips off by the original square on the back side.

It's almost more fun to look at the individual blocks.

Most are a mix of turquoise and pink.

 

Some have a color theme like turquoise and brown.

or pink and green...

Love the surprise mustards and large Polka Dots!

 

dog scraps in this one... :D

green and turquoise...

red and turquoise...so pretty

that large floral is on the back!

I threw in some browns and reds for color splashes...

all put together!!

 

                                Machine quilting some swirls on it with turquoise colored thread !

 

bound and quilted.

"All Dressed Up" Dresses Quilt

 

"All Dressed Up" Quilt! I love the way this turned out. It's super scrappy!

 

a focal point...

I machine quilted circles in the background ...

 a pretty button

there's all kinds of colors in this quilt... who would have thought ... butterscotch right next to pink right next to brown...

 

pretty button...

Here's the corners. I like the random fabrics in the border that finish off the 'squares'.

the stitching in the squares....

I was SO fortunate to find this wonderful pink with DRESSES on a clothesline for the border!

It's so Perfect!

I also love the black Polkadot inner border and the tiny dots in the binding....

a shot of the machine quilting on the back

 

 

 

Pondering on "Flower Girl" Pattern by thimble blossoms....hmmm...

Starting "Flower Girl" by thimble blossoms! I'm having a tricky time figuring out what color scheme I want....

After getting these done, it occurred to me that a whole very large quilt out of just these colors might be a little........uh......blah. No wow factor.

 

My good friend Cathy bought enough of these fabrics for 3 people! fun fun!

 

I added the brown..... which I LOVE.

 

So I added some bright turquoise and a little red and pink.......I like.

 

So after looking at the original pattern done with Marmalade, I decided to add some reds.

 

and more reds.....

 

Hm....I like it without the reds too....hard to decide....

 

Coney Island or Fresh Vintage Pattern by Fig Tree

 

I so love this Coney Island quilt! It's one of my favs.

I made it with the Daydream fabric line by Riley Blake! It turned out so pretty.

 

 

I threw in some red gingham and red polka dots for good measure....

and then added a rather surprisingly successful pine green. It doesn't look like the sort of green that would go with this, but it really sets off the cones.

This was so easy to make with the adjustments Joanna Figueroa made. Easier than the original nosegay block. I also made the 2nd and 4th blocks a little smaller than she did so they'd be closer to the same size as 1,3, &5. Mine are 1 1/4 rather than 1 3/4.

cute little berries in the border.

and of course - polka dots!

The border is also a surprise I think. It's not in the color scheme anywhere, but the muted color really sets of the cones.