Charming Christmas Cardinals

Nina-Marie over at Creations..Quilts, Art....Whatever has linked up to an online Christmas Quilt show at  SewGalCal's.  Lots of beautiful eye candy to check out.  Just click on the button to go have a look (But not before you check out my entry!). 

So here is my entry.   Last year, before the local quilt shop had to cut back on hours due to family changes, they were still offering classes.  I signed up to take a class based on the Quilt in a Day pattern "How Charming".  I played around with 3 different sets of fabrics before I finally decided on a Christmas theme.  Then the class was canceled because no one else signed up. It's not a hard pattern and I had signed up for the class mainly as a reason to start a new project.  So I had my own all day class on the same Saturday as the canceled class.  I didn't follow the layout guidelines exactly, but really liked how the quilt came out.



I did learn one very valuable lesson when making this quilt.  In order to fussy cut the cardinals, I had to cut them as diamonds, on the bias.  I had heard that spraying pieces cut on the bias with starch reduces stretching.  But you are supposed to spray on the starch before you cut out the pieces not after!  Thankfully I had not cut the strips for the red frames yet, I just cut them a bit larger and then cut the final square to size, that worked really well and kept everything the right size. 

I collect cardinal fabric, I just love the deep red of those birds.  This was the first project that seemed to be just the right place to use that fabric.  I don't do my own quilting, this one was quilted by Lesa Foreman at the Corner Sew and So.   

Thanks for letting me share one of my favorite quilts.  It's almost time to pull it out of the closet and enjoy it during the Christmas season.  Hope you get a chance to enjoy the rest of the Christmas Quilt Show. 

October Objectives (A Quilty To Do List)

About this time last year, I realized that I'd only completed a grand total of 2 quilts for 2007 and 2008 combined.  And if I stayed on the same track, I wouldn't do much more for 2009.  After thinking about it a bit, I came to a couple of conclusions.  First there was no thought being given to what I really wanted to do in terms of quilting and second I wasn't taking enough quilting classes   To address the first I started making a monthly "to do" list.  Putting the list together helps me think about what I really want to get done in my sewing room.  I rarely finish the list, but it seems to have helped my productivity.  I finished 3 quilts last year and 6 so far this year. 
So what are my objectives for October? 

1.  Complete October blocks for Seeing Stars and Texas Blue Bonnet BOMs
2.  Finish the 2008 BOM top
3.  Piece the back for the 2008 BOM project
4.  Decide on design for school auction quilt
5.  Cut fabrics and start piecing the school auction quilt
6.  Bind the pink mystery quilt
7.  Use "leaders and enders" technique to work on the purple/yellow scrap quilt
8.  Decide if I want to participate in the "Layer Cake Quilt Along" being sponsored by Moose on the Porch Quilts

A "to do" list seems pretty logical way to get more done, so why the thought about taking more quilting classes?  If I look back, I finished more quilts in 2005 and 2006.  At that time I lived near a very "quilter with a day job" friendly quilt shop.  They offered a lot of classes that I could attend and I attended a lot.  So I was starting a lot of new projects.  We moved a few years ago and no I don't have a local quilt shop where I can easily take classes (the closest is about an hour away).  I realized that I wasn't starting very many new projects since I wasn't taking any classes.   So  I've been looking ways to take "classes" on line.  This year I'm doing a BOM sponsored by Country Junction and I did a mystery quilt sponsored by Planet Patchwork back in July.  It's a way for me to get interested in starting new projects, plus I get to see what everyone else is making.  My favorite part of he quilting classes is to see what everyone starts out with and how a project turns out with all the different fabric choices.  So I like those on-line projects where everyone shares photographs of their progress. 

So back to the "Layer Cake Quilt Along".  I have a layer cake that I bought for a school auction project, I used some of it, but still have a lot of squares left.  How do you think this would work for the "Layer Cake Quilt Along"?

There are other fabrics, but this shows the color range and type of patterns that are in the layer cake.  Not sure what I would use for an accent, beige maybe?  Dark brown?  Any thoughts?