Decking the halls

I haven't done too much Christmas decorating, as we'll be visiting relatives. Why decorate an empty house? I found this banner at a thrift store a few years back, and I love the retro look! God Jul, I believe, is Swedish and/or Norwegian for Good Yule, or Good Christmas. Since I'm 25% Swedish, I somehow can relate to it. Isn't the cat just too cute??! Below is the bottom half of the banner.

The photo below are some aprons that I've collected over the years, mostly from thrift stores. When Christmas is over, I'll put up some different aprons. The middle one, which isn't specifically Christmas, has feedsack and 1930's/1940's fabrics, and even some older fabrics in the waistband. Maybe I'll replicate it someday....it is just made up of squares and bound with rick-rack.

Shopping thrift stores for these types of things has a few advantages: First of all, there are real bargains. In addition, you can find some really unique things. You won't find Scandinavian banners or vintage aprons at Walmart! These kinds of things have real character. Third, trolling Thrift Stores is cheap entertainment, at least for me. You just never know what you'll find. It's downright addicting!

Louise

Carolina Christmas taking shape

This is step #5 from Bonnie Hunter's mystery, Carolina Christmas. http://quiltville.com/carolinachristmas5.shtml

The top photo is the block Fox and Geese, and the bottom one is Poinsettia Star. I'd prefer more contrast with the Fox and Geese blocks, but I'll wait and see how Bonnie put them all together. If mine looks too "muddy" because of inadequate contrast, I may consider making two smaller quilts, perhaps adding sashing to create more definition.

I do like the vintage and snuggly feel of the colors, however.

Louise

Carolina Christmas, part #3

I've been working on part #3 of Bonnie's Caroline Christmas. There are lots and lots of units like these, and I can't wait to finish them all so I can look at part #4! I originally planned to use a medium blue for the center part, but there just wasn't enough contrast between that blue and the red, so I found some light blue shirts. I like these much better! I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

While looking in my bins for the right shirts, I realized I have more than enough shirts for now! I'm still going to look for black (or dark indigo) shirts and orange shirts, however. I saw a photo of an antique quilt using this combination and it was very striking! I'm thinking of a future Halloween quilt, with an antique feel!

Louise

Carolina Christmas, step #1 and #2

I've been working on Bonnie's Carolina Christmas. I'm using light neutrals where Bonnie is using gold and I got brave (or impulsive), and decided on using red as my background. I love the look of antique quilts that have a red background, and that's my inspiration. Once I got going, I didn't see much contrast between the red and the green, but as the smaller units turned into bigger units, the look of the subtle contrast grew on me. I'm really curious how this will turn out! I'm using green for Bonnie's green, and blue for Bonnie's red. The photo shows step #1 and the finished product of step #2.

Well, more sewing to do to get ready for step #3!

Louise