Thursday, December 03, 2015

Throwback Thursday {Volume 5}

Welcome to Throwback Thursday @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge! On the first Thursday of each month, we have a visit from the Ghosts of Quilt Projects Past!
 
Now the 1st of December has come and gone, I'm feeling like Christmas-y-ness is fully legit. Bring on the lights! Crack open those Advent Calendars! Hand me a candy cane hot chocolate from Tim's! I can still do without the creepy little elf on the shelf or the schmaltzy holiday pop music at the grocery store, but I digress.

On with the Christmas themed TBT! I love pulling out that red and green Rubbermaid tote from the storage area and putting up the "Early Decorations." This wall hanging is one of those. I like to hang early in December so I can enjoy it for as long as possible!
I made this paper-pieced beauty back in 2010. One of the nicest things about Christmas decor is that it doesn't have to be fresh and modern every year. Traditional is in!
I attempted not to repeat fabrics in the trees in the manner of my Q-Squared pal, Q-D. She's kind of known for that. In fact, she was the one who brought this pattern into our little group. I think we've all made one now. Well, except for Anja @ Anja Quilts. She doesn't do paper piecing!

I loved making the trees, but when it came to that border, there was no way I wasn't repeating fabrics. Honestly, the border nearly killed me. So many skinny little triangles. It went on forever!
That feeling was exacerbated by the fact that I made not one, but two of these lovelies. The second one was a Christmas gift for my mom. I should threaten to take it back unless she throws away the sad little cardinal wall hanging I made her early in my quilting obsession. No pics of that. Ugh.

As you can see, these were made well before the advent of process pics or a design wall. The design floor had to suffice. As I haven't yet unpacked the "Early Decorations", I went with vintage pics. Yes, vintage. That's what we're calling poor lighting and badly cropped pics these days. Just go with it! ☺ I'd love to make this again (sans border). I'm thinking Cotton + Steel Sprinkle as the background. Heck, maybe the whole thing in C+S.  Reimagining projects is one of my favourite parts of Throwback Thursday.

Now it's your turn! Link up a Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/International Day of Glitter project from your dark quilty past. We've got another sweet giveaway up for grabs from Fabric Please!
That'll go a long way toward stuffing your own Christmas stocking! How to win? There are three ways.
  1. Link-up a blog post telling all about a quilt from your past. Don't forget to link to A Quarter Inch from the Edge in your post or grab the Throwback Thursday button for your sidebar.
  2. Leave a comment on this post telling me about your favourite childhood Christmas present (mine was a dollhouse kit that my dad and I spent the months of January and February building!)
  3. Leave me a comment telling me how you follow Fabric Please (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram)
The giveaway is open to International participants until Sunday, December 6th at 11:59 Atlantic Time.




Thank you to everyone for supporting this little link-up for the past 5 months. I've still got lots of Throwback projects to blog about so we'll see you back here on January 7th, 2016!

J

36 comments:

  1. Hi I'm a Canadian quilter too, living on PEI. I am planning to attend my first MQG meeting in January. Cannot wait. I met some of the folks at our Kindred Spirits Guild meeting. My blog is at Grannycanquilt.wordpress.com. My favourite toy when I was a child was my Skunky. He was a black and white stuffed skunk. Apparently he travelled everywhere with me until he succumbed old wounds sustained between myself and my older sister. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your Throwback project actually looks quite modern. Maybe it's the bright colours against the crisp background... It has aged very well. Great to put a little Christmas joy in your décor!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a smashing quilt! seriously wonderful. My favourite present was also a doll house. But a metal one with stairs and a wee light bulb in the living room. LUVED it it!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Can I call my dark and design floor pictures vintage even though I still take those? Lighting is still bad around here, and I still use the floor, although this week I did graduate to using a blanket on a wall instead of the floor. These are stunning quilts - paper piecing is not for me, so good for you for making my share too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. As a kid, my favourite present would be the record player/radio my sister and I got to share. We could play the 'cool' radio station in our room then, and listen to our 3 or 4 LPs, the likes of The Partridge Family and Barry Manilow! As an adult it would be 2004 and again 2008 when we took our daughters and Brady, then just 5 months old, to Florida.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love your little trees! It looks wonderfully festive and I can see why you want it up as long as possible! How big is it? The border is striking, was that paper pieced too?! Questions, questions!

    Oh boy, my childhood was a long time ago...my favorite present was a doll. Her name was 'Little Miss No Name'. She had huge eyes, awful hair, wore a burlap dress with patches and was an orphan. I'm not sure why I wanted such a sad doll. No idea whatever happened to her, but one year my husband found one on Ebay and gave her to me for Christmas! She's like a bad penny...LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am *so* with you on the in store Christmas music and Elf on the Shelf. I saw a silly internet meme last night that I loved: a photo of Orlando Bloom as Legolas that said "the only elf I want on my shelf".

    I think the paper pieced trees look great, but I am really impressed with all those triangles on the border! The points look great, and I can definitely understand why you envision this one without that border.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those tree blocks are great, I can see them ringed around a tree skirt! I had not finished many Christmas quilts until the last year, (still have some old ufo's though!), and prepped my TT post for today without even thinking to look for an old Christmas project..

    One of the best gifts I remember from childhood was a fishing pole that was wrapped like a large stick-cat! The pole was the main body and wire was used for legs. I could not figure what the heck it was!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I follow Fabric Please by email.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I follow Fabric Please on Instagram and Facebook.

    ReplyDelete
  11. All of those beautiful triangles and trees make me want to run home and plug the tree in. All of the colors on an string of Christmas lights.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I received a 108 piece cooking/tea set when I was about 10. I loved that set. Thank you for the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I follow via e-mail. Thank you for the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is from 2010?? It seems like you just made this. And peer pressure will not work to get me to make one of these!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh come on, it was easy breezy fun to make!!

      Delete
  15. When I grew up, money was tight. Christmas time usually meant a new toy and I remember getting a pink metal washing machine that I could turn the handle and the agitator would actually spin. I still have that toy but it is a little rusty as I must have disobeyed my mom and actually put water in it for play. I also remember our Norwegian neighbors bringing a tin of homemade krumkake each Christmas that we loved to eat.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I follow Fabric Please! on Pinterest. kthurn@bektel.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. My favourite childhood Christmas present that I remember was when I was in my teens. It was hot rollers!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Good luck to everyone! Looking forward to reading your Christmas memories and seeing your quilts! Rita @ Fabric Please!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I remember getting my first pair of designer jeans, Body Lingos! Before that I had to wear Wrangler's like my older brothers. I felt SO glamorous, and there were some velour tops in the package, too. I still love velour! I follow Fabric Please! on Facebook, and thank you for hostessing your fun linky.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Cute throwback! My favourite Xmas present as a child was a little mini-oven with mini cake tins and mini cake packets that actually worked and cooked up these tiny little cakes. Install get a small thrill when I remember it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. My favorite Christmas present has got to be a dollhouse too! My dad built it for me and I adored it. It was 2 stories and had a bedroom upstairs and two rooms downstairs. It had little shingles and a closet in it. It took years before I realized he had written a message on the back of it that I only saw when the house had to be moved away from my bedroom wall. I can't even imagine how many hours of barbies and beanie babies were played in that house! My parents ended up getting rid of it when I was in college I think and I was devastated. I had all intentions of keeping that house forever! Lol.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I forgot to add how lovely your wall hanging is! I haven't ventured in paper piecing yet, but I plan to try it this coming year and see if it is as scary as it seems. Also, I follow Fabric Please on Facebook.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Awesome wallhanging Jenn! It sure would be wonderful done in C&S

    ReplyDelete
  24. My little record player with Elvis Presley's "Return to Sender" 45 rpm was my fave. I must have played that record a million times.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I follow Fabric Please on FB, twitter and Instagram. Amazing customer service!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'm sure those points drove you nuts, but they were just meant for paper piecing--so crisp! Your quilt is delightful with all the bright colors. Favorite childhood Christmas present. I;m sure there were other things that I loved at the time, but I'm going to have to go with my Barbie Fashion Designer set. It's actually a plastic light table. I still have all the papers with it with the outfits I designed. But the thing is that I still use it for tracing pattern pieces when I make paper pieced quilts!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Brilliant wall hanging. I am sure those narrow triangles drove you demented, so well done for persevering and completing them. I have linked up a post which I did yesterday, and which coincidentally was about some of my earliest stitching.

    ReplyDelete
  28. No question, it had to be the year I got the Barbie camper. I was so excited. I remember that it was all put together, except for all the stickers. I was told by my yawning father that Santa didn't have time to put the stickers on :)
    Love the wall hanging - it would be beautiful it Cotton and Steel.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Love the 'vintage' photos!
    I have never made a Christmas quilt, I have contributed blocks to friends' projects but never made one for me. Recent Christmases have been more than 40 Celsius. No need for quilts! However, I am thinking seriously about a tree skirt.
    My dad used to buy me Lego every Christmas when I was a kid. I particularly loved the castle. I still have it all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the spirit of joining in, I found an old post from last year to add! It is THROWBACK Thursday after all! :)

      Delete
  30. My favourite childhood Christmas present was a walking doll. I still remember the Ganong "chicken bones" that we would always get in our stockings. Finally found a source of them in Alberta!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I think I want to make another one too but I liked making the border, just not quite as much as those awesome trees.

    ReplyDelete
  32. The year my sister and I got roller skates and it was 12 C on Christmas day so we could actualy use them ☺

    ReplyDelete
  33. I follow Fabric Please on Instagram. @lisainporthope

    ReplyDelete

Your comments make my day! I read them all and do my best to reply. If you're a no-reply blogger, I can't reply no matter how nice your comment is. Don't know what a no-reply blogger is? Check out this post - http://anyonecandecorate.blogspot.ca/2012/09/are-you-no-reply-blogger-how-to-fix.html