A Red, White and Silver Christmas Quilt

Last year I pieced 2 Christmas quilts that never got quilted. Last week I decided it was time to layer them and now they’re waiting to be finished as gifts. One was made from a lovely Christmas panel I purchased in Denmark, while on our Baltic Sea cruise.

I cut the squares apart (they were amazingly square for a panel – so often the whole thing is wonky!)

I decided to alternate them with snowball blocks and found a matching red and a pretty silver fabric in my stash!

Over the years I’ve used the “slap back triangles” method of adding corners to larger squares, but I often found this technique to be less than accurate. By using one of my favorite tools – Elmers School Glue™ – I’m getting great results! Here’s the scoop:

I cut the red fabric into squares the same size as the panel squares (9 1/2″), and the silver into smaller squares 1/3rd the finished size of the block plus seam allowance (9″ divided by 3 = 3″, + 1/2″ sa = 3 1/2″). I pressed the smaller squares into triangles:

Next I ran a thin line of glue along the fold on each triangle:

They were placed, glue side down on the 4 corners of the background square, and ironed in place to dry the glue. They fit perfectly!

Each triangle was sewn in place by stitching in the crease.

Since we’re in the season of being thankful for what we have, and not wanting to waste anything, I decided to sew a second seam 3/8″ from the first one:

Once all 4 corners were stitched it was easy to cut between the sewn lines to get 4 bonus blocks:

Once the snowball blocks were finished I alternated them with the panel blocks to make the quilt top. I didn’t have enough bonus blocks to border the top, so I improvised and added corner border sections to the top right and lower left (the squares are just laid in place in this photo).

I’ve decided to share the rest of the story when I get the quilt done, so I’d like to finish this post with some Thanksgiving thoughts.

Over the years we’ve hosted Thanksgiving dinner many times. Some years we’ve had up to 27 guests attend, but this year we shared the holiday with just my parents and my brother and sister-in-law, Kurt and Mary Sue. Mary Sue mentioned that the last time just the 6 of us had Thanksgiving dinner together was probably before we had kids! But now our kids all needed to spend time with their in-laws, leaving the six of us to have a lovely evening together.

Family is a wonderful blessing! And I’m so very grateful for mine. I’m thankful for my church family also, and many more material blessings than I can count. I’m also grateful for quilting ~ and each one of you. But my dearest joy is knowing Jesus as my Savior ~ and I’m so glad we’re entering the season that celebrates His birth!