From sewcalgal.blogspot.com—for sewing, quilting & embroidery enthusiasts
 
Comfort and Joy: 14 Quilts for Christmas by Mary Hickey is a delightful book. The book offers several designs in colors perfect for the holidays, yet most of these designs would work any time of the year. This book is published by Martingale & Company, who always does an excellent job producing high quality books. This particular book is well written and has an excellent balance of photographs and instructions, perfect for all levels of quilters.

Personally, it is difficult for me to select my favorite design in this book, as I love all of them. I love the "Christmas Star Banner." This design is lovely for the holidays, as well as any holiday celebration, and to decorate anytime of the year. The "Ribbon Wreath" quilt is definitely perfect for the holidays, but I can also see this design being adapted for many occasions and color schemes. And the "Little Forest" design is a spectacular design that clearly works anytime of the year. But at Christmas, how perfect to display this delightful quilt.

But then I love the “Watching for Santa” design, and the “Midnight Star” is gorgeous, and “Santa's Village” is delightful. “Frolicking Frosties” is sew much fun, and the “Great Kindergarten Angel Christmas Pageant” is a showstopper … along with all the other designs in this wonderful book.

I'm hoping to keep it a secret until Christmas morning which projects I make. But certainly I'll be making several Christmas gifts using designs and insights from this book, as well as making items to proudly display at my home. I do hope you'll join me and have some fun making Christmas gifts and decorations from this special book.

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from The Applique Society

Our friends at Martingale and Company have brought together 14 Christmas themed projects to bring holiday cheer to you and yours. The traditional red and green color scheme used in most of the projects, along with other complimentary colors, makes these projects just sing Christmas!. Projects include lapquilts, a table runner, a unique banner and my favorite the "Frolicking Frosties". the Frosties are plump, round and adorable snowmen. The book includes basic quilting instructions as well as a primer on the author's two favorite appliqué methods, Face-and-Turn appliqué and Fusible appliqué. Plenty of photos and illustrations will help you fly through these projects.

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