Hello quilting friends! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! I know the holiday season can bring mixed emotions for many of us. Joy is sometimes twinged with sadness. Expectations and hopes often give way to less than shiny realities. Carefully planned events can become diverted due to weather, illness or other circumstances. For some reason, I felt compelled to give you a virtual hug if that’s what you are experiencing.
This year I found a new advent devotional, Prepare Him Room by Susie Larson, that really helped me step slowly toward Christmas. The book guides and teaches its readers through the 24 chapters of the book of Luke. The readings grounded me and helped me focus on the wonder of God’s love for us, rather than all of the hustle and bustle of the season. (I need all the help I can get!) Susie Larson is a new author to me, but I felt blessed by her advent study and will look into more of her books. Just another thing I felt compelled to share with you . . . one quilting friend to another.
I do have something to share that is quilting related. I finished another Banded Stars quilt top – my Christmas version! I shared a couple of blocks with you in September, and I’ve been diligently working on it a little bit each month. Slow and steady wins the race, as they say.
In my original banded stars, you will recall that I used two values of blue (a navy and a chambray), and I considered using two values of red in my Christmas version. But I decided it would be more festive to include both red and green in the stars. All of the prints in this quilt top are by fabric designer Lella Boutique (for Moda).
Red: Holly Berries (Christmas Eve collection)
Green: Large Floral (Christmas Morning collection)
White/Snow: Merry Dot (Christmas Eve collection)
Silver: Merry Dot (Christmas Eve collection)
I am so pleased to have finished this quilt top during the holidays, so I could admire it amid my Christmas decorations. In the coming weeks I will send this off to be quilted, along with two other Christmas quilt tops I recently finished. I don’t think I’ve EVER been this far ahead of schedule! If you are interested in Banded Stars, it’s available as a PDF pattern on my Etsy Shop. Banded Stars finishes at 74” square.
From my family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Wishing you peace, joy and quilting happiness!
~Taunja
