Holiday Favorites, Blog Hop, My Turn

Welcome to the 

Holiday Favorites

Blog Hop, 2019.

I was honored

 to be asked to participate.

Thanks, Lori for hosting.

***

The Christmas holiday 

is a time of expectation,

a time to celebrate,

and a time filled with traditions. 

I've learned over the years

to keep Christmas decorating simple,

welcoming, and focused on the things

that are important to our family.

(Like a decorated box, a small boy, Weston, and a Santa hat)   2018

Of course, if you have followed

me for awhile you know that I've

been quilting for a long time.

I love creating and making beautiful quilts

that are an expression of Me!

***

Quilts can easily become part

our Christmas decor.

Have you noticed the popularity of

 the vintage red truck with a Christmas tree?
Hey, wait, we have a red pickup!

How about quilts in a Colorado red pickup!

"A quiet Christmas morning in the Colorado snow"

"All along the Rockies

you can feel it in the air"

From Telluride to Boulder down below"

   Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Quilts can be displayed almost anywhere.

Rolled and stuffed

Stacked up high

Or casually draped over a chair.

Of course, bedrooms are the normal place 

to create a cozy warm holiday look.

A quilt that won't fit?

How about a slight tip?

Not one, but two
quilts might be needed
on a cold Colorado night.

Snowflakes and
Santas,
oh, what a delight!

Dreaming of Christmas
will be easy to do

tucked under a quilt with a stocking or two.

Quilts can be hung on the walls

Or even

 displayed as a mat

or used on the couch

 while taking a nap.

However you celebrate
or what family traditions you hold dear,

Wishing you and your family happiness
during this magical time of the year.

Everdeen, 5 months old    2013

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Hope you continue to follow along.

 Dec 9- Lori, https://humblequilts.blogspot.com/

Dec 10 KatyQuilts, katyquilts.net

Dec 11  Beth, [https://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com

Dec 12 Diane, butterflythreadsquilting.com 

Dec 13 - Kyle,  https://kyleredente.blogspot.com/

Dec 14  Kelly,  https://pinkadotquilts.blogspot.com/

Dec 15  Juliann, https://chasingstories.wordpress.com/

Dec 16   Knitty Quilter, https://suehoover.blogspot.com/

Dec 17  Lizzy,  https://gone2thebeach.blogspot.com/

Dec 18 Barb, https://funwithbarbandmary.blogspot.com/

Dec  19 Judy, https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Dec 20-  Kevin, http://kevinthequilter.blogspot.com

Holiday Favorites, Blog Hop, 2019

Just hear those sleigh bells 

jingling, ring tingle tingling too,

Come on,

it's lovely weather for a 

a blog hop

together with you.

 Monday will kick off 12 days of blog hopping to your favorite bloggers. We will be sharing our holiday favorites! I hope you'll hop-along and get some great ideas for your holidays!

Outside the snow is falling

and 12 quilters are calling yoo, hoo!

Come on, 

it's perfect timing for a blog hop

together with you.

 Dec 9- Lori, https://humblequilts.blogspot.com/

Dec 10 KatyQuilts, katyquilts.net

Dec 11  Beth, [https://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com

Dec 12 Diane, butterflythreadsquilting.com 

Dec 13 - Kyle,  https://kyleredente.blogspot.com/

Dec 14  Kelly,  https://pinkadotquilts.blogspot.com/

Dec 15  Juliann, https://chasingstories.wordpress.com/

Dec 16   Knitty Quilter, https://suehoover.blogspot.com/

Dec 17  Lizzy,  https://gone2thebeach.blogspot.com/

Dec 18 Barb, https://funwithbarbandmary.blogspot.com/

Dec  19 Judy, https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Dec 20-  Kevin, http://kevinthequilter.blogspot.com/

Until Monday-

Kyle

Pink and Blue

Pink and Blue,

Boy and Girl, 

I put together two quilts

That I want to show you.

****
I guess this my funny way of showing
you what I finally finished last week.
But there's a story that
goes along with these two quilts.

It begins with these
cute vintage animal designs.

I'm guessing
that they are a 1940's to
early 1950's pattern.

The designs were ironed onto
both pink and blue fabrics.

They were embroidered with
2 strands of pink or blue floss.

On the blue animals
most of the embroidery was done with a
very tiny couching stitch,

while the pink animals
were done with very
small running stitches.

Instead of hand appliqueing the
pieces down, the edges were turned
and then machine stitched.

So, who made these blocks and then
appliqued them onto two large pieces of
toweling material?

No one knows.

But it was someone who wanted to make
something special for a boy or girl,
someone with some needlework skills,
but someone who never finished her ideas.

The next part of the story is that
a friend of mine, Liz Marweg rescued
these panels a few years ago on one of
her many jaunts for junk trips.

Then a few months ago she
passed these sweet pieces on to me.
One day I got brave and
started to cut.

Keeping it simple, I divided
the blocks into two quilts,
one with blue sashing and
one with pink, but
both with pink and blue animals.

The only border fabric I could find in my stash
that even began to go with these quilts
was an old Susan Branch teapot fabric.
It pays to have a stash.

Also I just discovered that Susan Branch
has many sweet designs on Spoonflower.

Then to add a bit more texture I added blue ric rac and
a pink ric rac to the edges before attaching the bindings.

I love how these two quilts finished
with simple machine quilting outlining the animals,
some quilting in the ditch,
and straight lines in the borders.

The animals are the stars.

A Boy's Quilt
28" x 39"



A Girl's Quilt
28" x 39"

It was the combination of 3 people's
love of quilt making that eventually
got these quilts finished.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Finally Done!

It's hard to believe

that it's been almost 2 years 

since I was able to travel to the

Netherlands with new friends

and, of course, meet more new friends.

One of our goals was to attend this show.

and see the beautiful quilts of both

Di Ford and Petra Prins.

It's there that I saw

Di's quilt called "Sutton Grange".

(Can you believe in all of my excitement I 

didn't even take a full photo of the quilt!)

But fast forward to April, 2018.

I knew I had waited long enough to begin 

working on this wonderful quilt

that included applique, broderie perse, curved piecing,

and lots of patience.

the center section

I actually had many of the same fabrics Di had used in my stash.

No sense reinventing the wheel right?

But did use one of her wonderful printed borders 

over and over again,

as the repeating border.

A couple of weeks ago I began the machine quilting process.

Lots of quilting in the ditch,

lots of feathers,

diagonal quilting

Again, I didn't really 

get too original in the quilting.

I pretty much followed what

the original machine quilter had done,

but modified to fit my limited machine quilting ability.

I used some leftover garage sale stickers

to quilt circles.

No, the quilt isn't for sale for $.50!

Here it is.

All done.

"Plymouth Grange"

70" x 70"

I changed the name to 

honor my grandmother,

Edith Luella Gale Elkington

(1896-1983)

who was always a member of the

local grange in Michigan.

Di's pattern are beautiful and

a labor of love.

Not a project to be quickly completed,

but it was well worth the time.

The question is...

Time to start another one?

Until Next Time-

Kyle

January Blues

There have been times

when I have found January

a long deary month.

But as I've gotten older,

January, like every month,

seem to go by too fast.

So here it is the end of the month

and time to share 

 my monthly mini challenge

organized by Wendy, the Constant Quilter.

January Blues

23" x 27"

Like most new projects,

it starts with looking through the stash

for just the right fabrics,

shades of blues  and 

blue and white shirtings.

Then some hst's trimmed with

the Bloc-Loc ruler.

Sometimes this 6" block is call Anvil.

I made half the blocks with

a light background 

and the other half with a dark background

and set them side by side.

This simple design

is pleasing to look at on a blue January morning

casting shadows across the snow.

The cold winter weather

has a different outlook

when fabrics and colors

come together

to chase away the January Blues.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Prep Time

Doesn't it seems like there are times

when getting anything prepped in order

to sew takes forever.

 This woman has such a cheerful attitude prepping a meal.

Oh, to be just like her this year!

School is back in session so I 'm back

on duty watching these two sweetie.

I spent all last week (happily) prepping

three different projects so when I

do have some free time, I can get to the fun part quickly.

****

For years I've been tossing 1.5" and 1.25"

strips into this wire basket.

The basket overflowth!

My new leader and ender project for 2019

is going to be log cabin blocks.

In order to feel like I'm using my sewing time efficiently,

I precut a bunch of 

logs and laid them out

on two flannel boards.

One for the lights.

And one for the darks.

These precut logs will make it easy when I'm

 starting and stopping on other things.

Slowly the pile of blocks will grow.

****

String piecing is the 2019 thing.

I found a piece of fabric that had been intended 

for something else, that is never going to happen,

so it became the palette for my string along.

Lots of colors means lots of fabrics

and lots of string.

I really haven't kept many strips,

other than that basket for log cabin block,

so it required looking through my bins to

find tons of fabrics for tons of strings

and start cutting.

Oh, what fun it is.

****

If you caught up with my last blog,

you know I plan to try and do another

year of monthly mini quilts.

This is a  no pressure challenge,

but I did some prepping

 to get a head start on my January quilt.

I received a Quilters Select 6" square ruler from 

The Quilt Show for renewing my membership.

Had to give it a try.

It's a great ruler with a wonderful nonslip coating 

on the back.  I was impressed.

Pulled some fabrics that

seemed appropriate for January here in Colorado.

"The winter time blues."

The first week of January has come and gone,

but I hope we're all off and running.

Ready, Set, Go!

Until Next Time-

Kyle