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.