Monday 7 December 2009

Virtual Christmas Quilt Show

Now, as this is the season to be jolly, I have joined in on SewCalGal’s Virtual Christmas Quilt Show. One of my favourite things about blogging is all the sharing and inspiration that goes around; and being a part of virtual quilt shows is wonderful – you get to meet so many nice people, both as visitors on your blog, and as a guest on theirs.

Picking one quilt for the show was not easy, so I was happy when SewCalGal said that I could post about more than one quilt. Having worked on the Mix & Match for Christmas quilts from rainy July to rainy December, I just had to choose some of them for this show. These two motives have been favourites from both my workshop and pattern.
You can see all my samples here, projects from the workshop and online quilteres here, read about the pattern here, or send me an email if you would like to order one.


Urban Christmas


Designing Christmas patterns in July is not that easy, especially if you’re spending your summer vacation in pouring rain at your cabin (just try it; you’ll se that I’m right). To get into the spirit, I was thinking of the Christmases I spent in my home town, where all Christmases seemed to be white. I grew up in Lillehammer which is known for its beautiful old wooden houses – and voila, the idea for Urban Christmas was born.
I made this quilt into a “julepost” with a vinyl pocket for displaying Christmas cards. I chose vinyl so that the quilt can be on display all through winter.


Santa’s Cats


Among the fabrics I dragged (well, it was husband who did most of the carrying to be honest) up to our cabin, was this fun Christmas print with cats which was perfect for a cat themed quilt. I thought that if Santa had cats, they would be really, really happy ones, so I drew these smiling cats, and used them for a table runner.


Celebrating Christmas
One of my favourite parts of the holidays is advent, and after I started quilting, making quilted gifts and cards is a big part of my Christmas preparations. Before I started quilting, I used to create lots of ornaments for family and friends. Grandson and I made some for his mom yesterday, and we had a wonderful time; our first little Christmas workshop:-) I also make everyone’s favourite cookies (which I know will be eaten), and buy a few.

I decorate the house at December 22nd, and the decorations are gone again at January 1st. I’m more of a sentimental than stylish decorator as I pretty much use the same decorations every year; just adding a santa or an angel to my collection now and then. I still use daughter’s ornaments from kindergarten, as this is what Christmas is about to me.

I’ll spend this Christmas with my family – husband, daughter, grandson (2 ½), parents, and in laws. Any Christmas I get to spend with my family is a great one (I have to share them with other people you know...).

We celebrate Christmas Eve here in Norway, and eat our Christmas dinner (dried and salted ribs of lamb (which are steam cooked for hours), potatoes and mashed Swedish turnips –yummy, yummy) before we open all the gifts. As we have a young boy in our midst this year, we might do the gifs first. We also walk around the Christmas tree, holding hands and singing carols. This is not husbands favourite part as it is my family’s tradition.

On Christmas Day we have a long traditional brunch with lots of food, stories and laughs, go for a walk, and have dinner at the in laws in the afternoon.

20 comments:

  1. Very nice Christmas stuff! I love the way that one star comes over the smoke from the chimney.
    One year I had the pleasure of a Norwegian Christmas Eve with some Norwegian friends (we were both living in France at the time). It was wonderful! Merry Christmas!

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  2. I just love your Urban Christmas. Living in a tropical area does not afford much of the normal Christmas spirit, but it's fun to decorate for the fall and Christmas season. Thanks for sharing about your traditions.

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  3. It's wonderful to hear about your Christmas traditions. Your work is so creative. I particularly like the smiling cats and the way the stars have an extra swirl and a dot in the middle.

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  4. I really like your Urban Christmas. You do really pretty work.
    Happy Holidays.
    Cleary

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  5. Love your Urban Christmas and the smiling cats. Thank you for sharing about your traditions. It is similar to the traditions we have in Iceland. Happy Holidays
    Paula

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  6. Wow! Both are amazing, but I LOVE the city!

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  7. Thank you for sharing your beautiful quilts & quilted table runners in my Virtual Christmas Quilt Show. Your projects are so beautiful. Inspirational. And your cats are so very cheerful!

    I also loved hearing your insights on your traditions for Christmas. We also go for a walk on Christmas, usually on the beach!

    I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

    I'll be randomly selecting the winner(s) on December 25th. More quilts will be entered, as well as more sponsors donating prizes. I hope you'll keep coming back to check out the beautiful quilts in this show.

    I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

    SewCalGal
    www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

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  8. I adore "Urban Christmas", absolutely gorgeous and I've enjoyed looking back over the posts telling the story. Thank you for sharing.

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  9. Love the Urban Christmas quilt...no...the Cats...no.no.no...can't decide which I like better!!!

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  10. Both quilts are lovely. Absolutely love the cat table runner! Thanks for sharing.

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  11. I really love both of your virtual show quilts! Thanks for sharing them. The urban Christmas is absolutely beautiful and so original. Have a wonderful holiday!!

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  12. Both quilts are darling, thanks for sharing!
    Merry Merry and Ho Ho Ho to you and yours!
    Marge
    Delaware Quilts

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  13. I loved the 1st quilt, then carried on reading and saw the 2nd one. They are both absolutely fantastic.

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  14. Awesome quilt works! Love them! 8-)

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  15. Santa's Cats is my favorite!!!

    Thank you for sharing

    SheilaC

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  16. Your Urban Christmas is just beautiful. I love the colors.

    Dinner for Christmas Eve sounds fabulous! I love lamb so what time should I arrive???????

    Merry Christmas.

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  17. OOOOH how I love Santa's cats!!!! They are just soooo darling!! The Urban Christmas is very lovely too!

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  18. Love your Urban Quilt and also the cat table runner is adorable. Thanks for sharing.

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