Hazel loved Christmas. So did her mother, Mildred. They both went all out with the Christmas decorations every year, held to lots of traditions, and made sure that everyone in their family always had a wonderful Christmas every year.
Hazel always wrote a lot about her Christmases in her diary . . . days she went shopping, things they did with family, where they went, who they saw, what gifts she bought for others, and what gifts she got from others. She participated in lots of Christmas concerts and programs at school, and went to lots of Christmas parties.
This is why I included a Christmas block in the Hazel’s Diary quilt, and made a Christmas quilt as a bonus project in the book.
Now, I’m back to host a Christmas-themed Quilt-Along.
A Vintage Christmas Ornaments Quilt-Along
During this Quilt-Along, we’ll be stitching a collection of vintage Christmas ornaments! You will have two options for how you want to construct your ornaments, and three options for what project to make from them — lots of options . . . I always like lots of options.
For many, many years, Mildred put up an aluminum Christmas tree, and had the colored light wheel shining on it that made the tree change colors. Oh, how I loved that tree! And on it, she hung glass ornaments, which were not vintage at the time, but are now definitely considered vintage!
I’ve based my ornament designs for the Quilt-Along off of some of Mildred’s vintage ornaments from her aluminum Christmas tree, and ornaments I can remember Hazel having on her tree as well.
Here are the details for the Quilt-Along:
• There will be twelve ornaments and a special bonus pattern.
• You can choose to embroider your ornaments for a stitchery project, or appliqué them for one of two different quilted projects.
• There are three different projects to choose from:
- A 36″ x 16″ embroidered wall quilt (which could also be made into a bench pillow, if you prefer)
- A 52″ x 63″ lap quilt (which can be made into a 48″ x 30″ wall hanging, if you prefer)
- A 31″ x 43″ wall quilt
So that’s actually 5 choices! Have I mentioned I like lots of options? I hope you do, too.
Here’s the catch . . .
My main goal with this blog is to provide FREE Quilt-Alongs and teaching tutorials so that it’s all available to anyone who wants to visit. However . . .
This particular set of patterns, since it’s appliqué and embroidery (with lots of options), will have lots of instructions, and lots of templates (obviously). Furthermore, it will be much easier for participants to follow along and avoid confusion if they have all the instructions in front of them for their particular project, all in one place, while sewing (instead of having to scroll through multiple blog posts for the information needed).
So I’m making each ornament pattern an individual PDF download for a small fee, available in Hazel’s Mercantile on Etsy. Each pattern will have separate instructions for each project, so you can download the file and print off only the parts you need for your chosen project. Full-size templates and patterns will be included, so you can print those off, too, as many times as you need to.
I’m not showing you the ornaments ahead of time — each ornament will be a surprise! But I’ll be back on Thursday to show you the possible layouts, and give you the yardage information for each project. Then you can decide what you want to make, and begin gathering your fabrics. The first block pattern will come out next week. I’m planning to release each step on a Tuesday, with a few weeks in between each one so you can stay caught up.
Here’s the schedule for the Quilt-Along as I’ve planned it. It is, of course, subject to change along the way, but I’m gonna try to stick to this as closely as possible, and my intent is for us to be finished in time to enjoy these quilts for this coming Christmas.
Feb. 21: Layout Options and Materials Requirements
Feb. 26: Ornament #1
Mar. 19: Ornament #2
Apr. 9: Ornament #3
May 8: Ornament #4
May 21: Ornament #5
June 11: Ornament #6
Aug. 30: Ornament #7
Sept. 10: Ornament #8
Oct. 3: Ornament #9
Oct. 19: Ornament #10
Nov. 15: Ornament #11
Nov. 20: Ornament #12
Nov. 27: Bonus Pattern
Dec. 5: Finishing Instructions
Links to all the steps will appear in the sidebar at right, once we get going, and I will also try to remember to make each link live here in this post as well, so you can easily find each step.
Along the way, I’ll have tutorials, give-aways, bonus patterns, and other goodies, along with the regular Life of Hazel Ilene posts, and some of Mildred and Hazel’s favorite traditional Christmas recipes, AND the other Quilt-Along that also starts in early March, so be sure and check in often so you don’t miss anything!
Sounds very interesting but do I dare?!?! I love your embroidery patterns!!!