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Nativity Block Quilt Ideas!

What can we do with these block patterns?
Let’s build a quilt with the free printable PDF Nativity Blocks Download.
WAIT! I’ve decided to offer the Embroidery files FREE for these blocks also.
What a DEAL!
Every few days I’ll highlight another of the block plans. But you can see them ALL, here in my Nativity Block Blog.

Consider Having a Title or not: I like “Silent Night” as well as “Il est Né, le Divin Enfant” You may have an even better idea.

The download for the Free Nativity Quilt Tutorial (designed for the “One-piece” Joyful Birth Quilt) has patterns for the palm fronds and holly that you can use if you want. I pasted “pieces” of that tutorial on the mock-ups for the blocks. I didn’t get carried away with it, because I’ll actually put them on when it’s on my “design wall.” I’m not even certain about the color for the sashing, but I do want it to look Christmasy. I have some fabric that looks like sand, and/or rocks and/or palms – Can’t decide!

All the time I was drawing these patterns I spent a lot of time in the Scriptures. I wanted to get everything right and to express the joy of this story! I hope yoou’ll feel that way too.

I have other suggestions for using them, too! Read on!

You might be able to tell I was trying to make these Nativity drawings appealing to children. That’s another reason why I’ve described some of my thoughts and feelings about each block. Of course, I don’t expect you to add all that “script” to the quilt, but I wanted you to understand where I was coming from.

Here’s a totally “faked” composite. Even all the blocks are still edited differently! I’d love to see what you do with it!

So what about other ideas now!

Something we did for our family was unroll the full pantograph down the hall and let the kids color the pictures. For these “blocks” I suggest something similar. Let your children color these block pictures. Since they’re free, you can print as many of the blocks as you want. You could even use them for a Sunday School class.

Something else I started was to applique and embroider them. Here are a couple of examples–one very involved and the other “not so much!”

Here are “How-To” steps for the embroidery.

I don’t have pictures of kids coloring the blocks and will try to get some!! But HOW ABOUT paint!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

On this shephered I used Tsukineko ink and applied it with their little Fantastix coloring sticks. The sticks are like empty magic markers. They suck up the ink and don’t let it go (or run). It just goes where you want it to go. I find it seldom goes past the stitching lines. (See the example above.)

I also like to use Shiva Paintstiks. I NEVER apply the paint like a crayon! I smear it on a paper plate(palette) and lightly brush it onto the quilt with a stiff brush.

Have fun with your kids!

Merry
Christmas!

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Cool off FREE! We’re Having a Heat Wave!!

We’re having a heatwave!    “95°”   That’s a respectable heat wave.  So let’s price all the desert-y hot patterns in the 95s.   

$10.00 $8.95, $14.00 $11.95, $16.00 $13.95, $20.00 $17.95 

I grew up in southern California.  I thought I knew what it meant to be hot!!  But I remember the first time I really got a handle on the thing – heat that is.  Our family was on vacation and staying in a little motel at Lake Mead.  When we walked out of the door it felt like stepping into an oven.  After we got out onto the lake where my dad was fishing. I jumped in the water to cool off.  It was like a bathtub!!

Years later, my son living in nearby Las Vegas actually cooked an egg on the sidewalk.  Yes, he did!  It can really happen.

But a heat wave seems never-ending.  The long-hot summer!  Maybe you can picture it – maybe you’re living in it.    I’ve collected up all my MeadowLyon Pantographs and Pictograms that made me think about hot weather – like “Modern Southwest” pictured over a free-style, mock quilt.

My Dad and brothers built a desert cabin just outside the town of Joshua Tree, near 29 Palms, CA.  It was rugged with only one room, but it did have two sets of French doors across the back and a gasoline powered generator mounted on an old lawn mower chassis that Dad could fire up when we wanted electricity at night.  Before that we used a lantern. 

I loved hiking up Rattlesnake Hill right behind our house.  After I got to the top I could see out over the valley and into the National Monument Park where they used to “shoot” westerns.  I used to dress up in my little cowgirl outfit and run around trying to “rope” our Cocker Spaniel Rusty.

Ropin’ Horseshoes – Rodeo Kids  Mustang Stampede.  Snakeskin

Oh, Yes!  Did you notice that straight rope twist and corner on the Rodeo Kids layout?  It’s FREE right now. So put “Rope Twist” in your cart.   
While you’re at it, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and sign up for our NEWSLETTER so you’ll know when we have special offers, new patterns and sales!

When my friend Helen in Las Vegas asked me to draw a pattern with southwest images for her I remembered so many things I had seen and loved in my childhood.  I drew them into “Southwest Vistas.”   

Oh yes! Cactus!  My mom was a crafty sort and she just had to have some of that decorative Cholla Cactus wood.  I can remember her with a handerkerchief tied around her face like a mask and wielding a big butcher knife held by big heavy gloves – scraping the “stickers” off the cactus!!  Those stickers are terrors!! They are the enemy!

I know that from experience.  But, Cactus Flower that was another thing!  They were friendly and had the brightest colors!! 

 I’ve rounded up all the “hot weather patterns and put them on sale for you – just for memory’s sake. Titles like: Southwest Vistas, Spiral Suns (an all time favorite!), Spinning Kokopeli, Modern Southwest, Mosaic, Laguna de Cancun, Great Plains on the Move, Mustangs, Rodeo Kids, Ropin’ Horseshoes w Knotty Pine, Snakeskin, Cactus Flower, El Dorado, Pueblo Pottery (see a special tutorial below!) , Barnyard Dreams,  Sunflowers, Giant Sunflowers, Chicken Feathers,  MooCow,  Illusion, Tornado, Mayan Glyphs, Portico Blooms, & Bengali Mosaic.  Whew!  is it hot in all those places???

 

  But don’t worry –  YOU’LL NEED TO COOL OFF with FREE SODA FOUNTAIN BLOCKS SET.      The first 20 orders will get a PDF set emailed to them FREE within 24 hours!  Just wrap your lips around them straws!  On the Soda Fountain page you’ll see ideas for using them!

 

Now back to the longest of the hot days.  They make me think of eating MEXICAN! I’ve attached a couple of favorite recipes for you down below.  That reminds me – Do you know about EPAZOTE?  It is the quintessential Mexican herb.  Add it to your favorite chili recipe and you will be transported south of the border!  Yep, but it’s hard to find out here in Kansas. I finally asked the guy at Acapulco and he gave me some sprigs.  “Where did you buy this?” I asked.  “I grow it myself!”  

But now a little more quilt talk.  I’ve got a new pattern to celebrate the heat – “Pueblo Pottery.” It’s a fun interlocking panto with all the flavor of the southwest.

 I have an idea for you to use it on a quilt  Remember the “Southwest Vistas” Pictogram (that’s a non-repeating panto) up above?  I made a Southwest Pueblo quilt to showcase it. I used some simple improv piecing in desert colors to suggest the plateaus and native pueblo style houses.  The round oven, the round beams, the ladders and drying racks all added a bit of interest, color and nostalgia.  All this supported the amazing stitching of the “Pictogram” or vice-versa, the pictogram accented the strong southwest feel of the quilt.

I added more color to surround the main body of the quilt and have loved the

 

 

border ever since. So I’ve combined the blocks from that border into a quilt layout.

Here’s how you can put it together. And how it will look in a different colorway with the Pueblo Pottery design quilted over it.

So crank up that Air Cond and have fun sipping your sodas and putting together this fun desert quilt!  Oh and don’t forget the recipes below.

      

 

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T-Shirt Quilts: Pantos That Work Great! + Best Quilting tips for T-Shirt Success.

Upstairs in my walk-in attic I have a box of T-shirts meant for a quilt or two.  I thought how fun it would be to have a t-shirt quilt for the grandkids to use when they visit.  They’d be sleeping under all the memories of their Mom or Dad.  In particular I have a number of Hawaiian T-shirts and Hawaiian shirts and/or muumuus that he children wore when we lived in Hawaii.   Here’s my plan for those great memory pieces. I’m showing it “virtually” stitched with my “Hawaiian Hibiscus” pantograph.  (I’m including the titles of the Pantographs on the pictures simply for reference.)

Not sure about piecing circles?  I’ve posted a tutorial for adding them.  Don’t worry, it’s not hard!  Making Circular Insets for T-shirt Quilts.     

Another box is filled with old cub scouts t-shirts.  They’d be great and I plan to include some of the neckerchiefs and patches in the piecing (see my mock-up example).  I’m showing how I would stitch it with my 8-inch double “Jitterbug 15 interlocking “ panto.  (You could also use the -one row at a time- “Jitterbug 11 interlocking” panto.)  Doesn’t it look great!  It reminds me of boys at that age, JITTERY!

  

There are many  standard blocks which sport a square in the middle, so get out your pile of magazines and find a block, or do like I did and open up Quilt-Pro and find a block you like that’s not too time consuming.  Here’s a simple star stitched with one of my favorties, “Maori Moko”.  It’s a 15″ pattern so if you want a smaller one that’s similar choose the 9-inch “Maori Moko Border” and use it as an E2E.  Knit is stretchy anyway, so there’s no problem placing some of the pieces on the diagonal.  Another option would be to include the star points only on the outer corners and fill the center with rows of T-shirts.  However, I like the tilted squares because it adds so much interest!

.   Here’s another idea for a little girls t-shirt quilt.  One is straight placement with colorful sashing on which I over-layed our “Oh so popular”  Flowerburst pattern.  It comes in 2 sizes. “Flowerburst 15” and “Flowerburst 10”  Another is a version of a star block using Drunkard’s Path inserts to give a flower effect. You can actually place your t-shirts in some or all of the squares available.  I over-layed that one with “Dolly’s Tea Party.”

 “Zebra Stripes”   seems perfect stitched over this flaming black quilt.

Just in case you’re making a T-shirt quilt for a guy who’s into cars, like Joe.   FREE -I’m giving you my new “Tire Treads” borders PDF for a limited time.  I didn’t quite finish the “Hub Caps” block but hope to get it done this week.  Oh, gosh! That attic is so full!  “Car Classics”  and Tire Treads are both on this image.  See Sportscars at the end of the blog.

 This is a “Real” quilt.  Finally!  Connie Zwego quilted it in red with the “Snakeskin” Panto.

 Here’s a great T-shirt quilt with Car Classics stitched on it, by Deb Rolek.  I saw her a few weeks ago at the Quilters Musical.

  Or simplify with straight sashing, but make it lively!  “Sports Nut” looks great over all these team shirts!

Okay now, I’ve shown a variety of examples to get you going.  But I do have some real meat to this Blog.  Here are some super “Tips” I’ve gleaned and used over the years to help you along your way.  

Copy and print this section for your files.           Also, see below a list of patterns well suited to T-shirt quilts.   25 are on SALE THIS MONTH. Continue reading T-Shirt Quilts: Pantos That Work Great! + Best Quilting tips for T-Shirt Success.