Christmas round the bend

Do you feel time whizzing by? I certainly do! I bought my first Christmas gift today and have a few already made and ready to mail. It is the time when I wish I had more time and energy and ideas. So I start checking out what others are making and decorating with this season. Among my first stops is McCalls Quilting. I posted separately another Christmasy log cabin wall hanging. Then I found these stockings and couldn't resist putting together another blog with examples of Christmas projects.

Chlotilde offers a quick and fun Christmas wreath, or it could be adapted to fit any occasion depending on the flowers you choose. The description reads: "Just select an attractive floral or seasonal print for the wreath and use easy Bargello quilt-as-you-go and fusible raw-edge appliqué techniques to make your wall quilt quickly and easily."

Tree skirt patterns seem to multiply like rabbits, but I particularly liked the simple spiral block designed skirt found on Delores Fegan's blog, under the blog heading Christmas Tree Skirt. What drew me to it wasn't exactly the design, although that's charming. It was her second use of the skirt -- for a child to wear....

Then I stumbled across Jennifer's Art Quilts and laughed out loud at her Christmas Cactus Quilt. I loved her description and explanation of the project -- like many of mine it took awhile to complete.

"This quilt was the result of a collaborative effort between my husband, Aaron, and me. The quilt was completed about 2 or 3 years ago and never finished. While photographing quilts for this website, I found the quilt folded among other things. I mentioned to Aaron that I might put Christmas light beads on the cactus to finish it, and he suggested that I actually light it up with LED lights. The idea took hold and he purchased the lights which I inserted onto the quilt. He then very graciously spent time soldering all of the lights and fuses together so that I could finish quilting the piece! It was completed just in time for Christmas season! "

I think what I find delightful, of course are the LED lights. Another option for quilters -- fiber optics! Light up your work from the inside!

Another wallhanging that depicts the greedier side of Christmas, perhaps is Quilter's World Gift Tree (free pattern).

Mary Emma Allen offers 7 quilted gift projects that kids can make. Patterns and instructions are NOT available at her blogsite. But these are straight forward projects -- pot holders, aprons, mini quilt.... And this site has a few more recommendations for quick and easy quilted gifts. Let me add another suggestion for those imaginative types -- Audio ear warmers! Everyone seems to be plugged in, well those plastic earphones can get mighty cold in the winter -- why not create a quilted muff to fit over them? I bet someone can figure out a pattern or already has!

As I was surfing, I came across several exhibits and wondered why we couldn't give ourselves a Christmas gift of a trip to an exhibit. Here's just one you might want to check out: "Quilts = Art= Quilts" at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, NY -- that is definitely Christmas country!