Mountain Quiltworks: Christmas in July

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

A Work In Progress, A Fire, and A Winner!

I've gotten sidetracked this week. As is the case in all the Western States, July and August seem to have become synonymous with wildfires. Sunday, a wildfire in mountainous pines and brush was started by some people shooting exploding targets. What the ??? Have you ever seen a video of exploding targets? It's like shooting off fireworks, with sparks flying in every direction!

Within 48 hours, the ensuing fire has engulfed more than 35,000 acres of timber and grazing lands for both cattle, sheep and wildlife, caused evacuations, threatened homes, destroyed wildlife habitat and will tarnish the watershed. It started just three miles from our home.

The Sharps Fire, 3 hours after it began on July 29, 2018

Wildfires started by lightening are one thing. Fires started from stupidity are quite another. We watch with immense sadness as the people of Redding, CA., are dealing with the severe aftermath of their fire storms, and I can't even imagine the anguish of finding everything you've owned in ashes.

This photo above was taken the morning after The Sharps Fire began. The photo doesn't do it justice, but it had an extremely eerie beauty about it.

A National Incident One Command Team has finally arrived to take control of this fire as it skirts the hills close to the four communities in our valley. We, personally, are safe now as the winds have taken the fire in other directions. Last year at this same time, in this same draw, another big fire was started by people shooting steel jacketed bullets (which cause sparks). I just shake my head.

Anyway, I'm off my soapbox now. I didn't get much sewing/quilting done as we watched the progress of the fire. But I did get a start on the blocks for the king-sized wedding quilt for our son and our soon-to-be daughter-in-law. By the time I get finished with this quilt, I am going to be an expert at curved piecing, that's for darn certain! Getting this quilt top completely pieced by the end of August is my One Monthly Goal!

Let me finish this post with the best news of all! As a grand finale to my participation in the Christmas In July Blog Hop, sponsored by Carol, from Just Let Me Quilt, I have used the random number generator to select my winner. Drum roll, please. Congratulations to Janarama! I have emailed her and will be sending her an assortment of Christmas fabrics to play with for the coming season. Fun, fun!

Quilting with a smile,
Barb

Linking up with:
OMG
WIPs on Wednesday

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Christmas in July Blog Hop and Giveaway!

So glad you could stop by my house for a little Christmas in July celebration! My thanks goes to Carol, from Just Let Me Quilt, for hosting this blog hop to help get you inspired to create Christmas magic! It's so fun to see what other quilters are making. What great motivation to come up with some ideas for yourself.

To help get you in the mood for Christmas sewing and quilting, I've come up with three fun projects. And a giveaway to boot!

A funny thing happened on the way to creating a Christmas table runner: it turned out to be TOO BIG! No worries. I simply christened it to become a bed runner instead. And, since I had enough fabric, I made two of them. Sometimes you just have to go with Plan B, lol.

For these bed runners, I used a jelly roll of Moda's Vintage Holiday by Bonnie and Camille. When I started, I really didn't have a plan in mind (hence, they became TOO BIG). I sewed strips of five together and then decided to cut them into triangles with my 60-degree ruler. At this juncture, I could see the runner was 20" wide, and wouldn't look proportionate if I made it just 40" long. Since I had enough triangles, I just kept laying them out. Suddenly the runner was 102" long. Perfect for a bed runner for our king-sized beds!

Placing the triangles on the design wall was an interesting process with these blocks. As you can see by the photos, I chose two different designs. Which one do you like best? I still can't decide.

These were fun to quilt freehand, and they will add a festive touch to the bedrooms at Christmas.

My second project was making this cute Christmas table runner with Moda's new Christmas fabric line, Swell. It features the cutest Santa, straight out of the 50's and 60's. Or prior? If you are a child of that era, this fabric will definitely take you back!

I had a fat quarter bundle of Swell that I pre-ordered and received just in time (it should be in the stores now). I began by making a simple table runner design - one-piece mid section as the focal point, bordered by patchwork to highlight the variety of fabrics in the collection, and tucked all nicely together with a dark, outer border. Oh, and pointed ends to add a wee bit of character to it. Topped it off with a solid red binding. Cheerful, eh?

This would be a great pattern for all your Christmas fabric scraps! I used a very light meadow green thread to do simple loop-d-loop quilting across it. This table runner measures 17" x 52".

Finally, I was on a roll and WAY into the Christmas spirit, so I dug out this from the depths of my Christmas stash. It's a quick little Christmas quilt, perfect as a festive wallhanging. You can piece this together in no time, quilt it up, attach a hanging sleeve, bind it, and you have a great little decoration. It measures 40" x 51". It would even make a great baby quilt!

I bought this as a kit but the pattern called for more fabric than was in the kit (how irritating is that!). So I simply used what I had in the kit to piece the panels together into a fun, colorful display. Again, when Plan A fails, find your Plan B!

That's it folks. That's all I've got. Oh, wait! There's still a Giveaway to talk about. I have too much Christmas fabric in my stash. I haven't had time to pick out specific cuts, but the winner of my giveaway will receive a fun supply so you, too, can create a Christmas memory. You have three chances to enter. Please leave a comment for each.

1) Tell me if you make Christmas projects for your own home or as gifts. Or, who the heck has time for Christmas projects!
2) Follow me on Instagram @mountainquiltworks, and
3) Follow my blog adventures (links in right side bar).
The winner must be a US resident due to high shipping costs. I will randomly pick a winner on August 1. Be sure to leave your email address for me, in case you're a No Reply Blogger!

It's been a pleasure to be part of Carol's Christmas in July Blog Hop. Stop by and visit the remaining quilters' posts this week, or catch up on the previous posts you may have missed. Hopefully you'll come up with inspiration for a new Christmas project for this year!

July 23

Creatin' in the Sticks

MooseStashQuilting

Lily Patch Quilts

Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Melva Loves Scraps

Sew Many Yarns

Cynthia's Creating Ark

July 24

Wont-To-Be-Quilter

Words & Stitches

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