Back in the Summer it was our annual village show, and from baking to photography, egg decorating and lego models, we each found things to create and enter into it (and did pretty well too!) It was a lovely occasion, despite the rain and we all had a lovely time being a part of it. I have for the longest time had a Christmas quilt cut out in my sewing box and with a “Patchwork” category in the show, it was just the push I needed to get it out, sewn up and finished. It was a little stressful at points, especially as I am not the best at binding, but despite this, back in the Summer I made my first Christmas quilt and entered it into the show (que cringe!) – it wasn’t the best, was a lot smaller than I anticipated, but I was so chuffed with my little nativity quilt I created!
When I initially saw this Nativity quilting panel on Leeds market a couple of years ago I absolutely loved it. It was at a time in my life I was just getting into quilting, and I loved the idea of a family quilt that would come out each year to tell the Christmas story. The colours were bold and bright, the images fun, and it was ideal to make a family Christmas quilt. Of course when I came to make it, the idyllic scenes in my mind didn’t quite play out – it is by no means big enough for us all to get under and snuggle, which is pretty funny, but I do love it and it is enough for a first attempt.
I chose to alternate the nativity scenes with bright bold squares of plain fabric – they are not traditionally festive colours, but rich and work with the nativity squares to create a fun and family friendly look. I backed this patchwork panel I created with a simple plain red (which felt festive) and then quilted it and finished it off using left over scraps of the same red to make some (shocking) binding!
I forgot how much I love making patchwork quilts. I am still such a beginner and aire on the side of caution by only doing basic square, but I love this one all the same. I think it is such a great way to talk about the nativity and Christmas story together with the kids and help them think about the true meaning of Christmas. I love that the kids can take a square each and talk about it, or we can sing a song that it reminds us of – so simple but so lovely.
I really enjoyed making this little Christmas story quilt for our family, I do wish it was bigger, but I am chuffed with what I created for our home. I certainly look forward to a day when I can better my quilting skills and make more detailed quilts, sewing is a lot of fun to me and creating things is good for the soul – even if they are a little imperfect!