I have noticed that quilters tend to be very generous people. We all know how much money goes into a quilt. To give one away is an expensive gift. But yet, we do it all the time. We enjoy it! We plan ahead and create these gifts months in advance because we love to make them. When we make gifts in advance, it means that we are working with fabrics long before the season matches. So lately, it’s been Christmas in July here in the Quilted Joy studio!

Jingle all the Way starting our Christmas in July

This first quilt is from Beverly. She made a Kimberbell pattern called Jingle All the Way. Not only is there some lovely embroidery, but some of the trees are chenille. Look at the detail! She made this just for fun to keep herself. Beverly used freemotion to complete it to be sure she could go around some the details on this quilt. What a fun throw to have this holiday season.

Gift for her sister

This isn’t a Christmas gift, but a gift none the less. Kim made it for her sister’s birthday. She and her sister are very close, and it shows in all the effort and time spent that Kim put into this quilt. She didn’t follow a pattern, she just made some courthouse step blocks and put it all together. I really like the outside border she added. She quilted it with a paper pantograph called Turbulence, which added lots of movement and swirls to an otherwise straight quilt.

Gifts for her Grandchildren

This is a Christmas quilt by Lisa. She is making one for every grandchild, so we’ve seen quite a few of these. She quilted on top of minky which is such a lovely backing for a cuddly winter quilt. The minky hides the bobbin thread, but not the quilting. Doesn’t it look fabulous? She absolutely loved how the back turned out. Lisa likes to quilt with our IntelliQuilter. The digital pattern she used is called Holly Panto 3 and is stitched perfectly by the computerized longarm.

This is also a Christmas quilt from Lisa. She used the same panto as before, but what stood out to me is the fabrics. The fabrics are clearly Christmas prints, but not your typical Christmas fabrics. They’re more peach than red and more sage than true green. The fun part of quilts like this is that if you don’t get them put away right away, no would know unless they look real closely.

So are you ready for Christmas? I know I’m not! But if you want to have those Christmas quuilts wrapped and under the tree before the big day and still be able to enjoy the season, you may want to start now. And of course, don’t forget the Halloween quilts, and the Thanksgiving quilts. You could even get started with Valentines… We always love to see what you are working on! Connect with us on Facebook or Instagram and be sure to share your favorite Christmas quilts so that we can all be inspired by what you’ve created!