Quilts for Christmas

The quilting bug has hit around here. What started out as a simple idea to have a homemade Christmas has turned into a labor of love and creativity to bless those around us, plus several long nights of sewing as we are all procrastinators at heart. We are now on quilt #8 between 4 of us, and if Christmas would wait another week I might have finished 2 more. Granted, 3 of those quilts were in the works and just needed some finishing touches (like batting, stippling, and binding) but the others were from scratch. The favorite quilt of the season being the jean quilt. I have been collecting and stashing jeans over the summer in anticipation of making more of these. They are so nice and heavy, besides cute when you wash them and dry them so the ends are ragged. I cut my squares 5x5" and sewed them wrong sides together in no particular order and made a cute lap sized quilt for our good neighbor Russell who is always there for us to offer advice, help deliver a critter or two, borrow some sugar, or share a cup of coffee. I had some plaid flannel in my stash for the back that was just perfect. In a true homemade Christmas spirit I was able to use everything we already had and didn't spend any money on it {yippee}. To finish it off I tied it with some black string and some buttons. He loved it!

Hannah got to spend a few days and work on a project last week~ but I am sworn to secrecy on that one. The boys have also been quilting (all by themselves, other than me constantly reloading the bobbin and helping with the stretching). I find it very interesting that the girls don't care too much about quilting, but the boys are fascinated by it. Trent decided to make 2 jean quilts for some good friends of his whom admire his jean quilt (that he also made by himself last year) every time they come over. Good job Trent!

And because Cole was actually done with all of his homemade Christmas presents for the family (unlike some of us, ahem) he decided to start a jean quilt for himself. The true chicken man that he is he stitched the words "Cole's Silkies" on the top. Good job Cole!