Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Quilts and Classics: Christmas in the City/1931 Ford Delux Coupe

 This is the final installment of Quilts and Classics. It seems like the year has flown by!

The background stories of the new calendar, Quilts by the Water, will begin on January 1.

I firmly believe you can never have too many Christmas quilts. The blocks in Christmas in the City were designed by Tula Pink in her book, City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. The blocks are each 6".  I had this idea to work with very low contrast red and mostly white in the upper left corner, while simultaneously working with very low contrast green and mostly white in the lower right corner, then working toward the middle, gradually using less white, adding more green and red, until the middle diagonal rows had hardly any white at all.



Still just two colors (the dots are just fabric I used for background as I photographed the blocks).


Gradually starting the process of adding a touch of both red and green to the blocks.
Kind of an even mix.


More color, less white.
Not much white.

I think all the blocks are completed at this point. 

It was so much fun trying to make the transition seamless, with just the right amount of blocks in each category.

The backing.


You can never go wrong with a candy cane stripe binding on a  Christmas quilt. 

We took the first "fun" photos at a sporting goods store with this awesome deer.


One morning I was headed out of the house and walked past the dining room. Everything seemed just right to snap a quick picture. For some reason, this photo got some major traction on Instagram that year. 

It was reposted on the instagram feed of Make Modern Magazine and ended up with nearly 6,000 "likes"!! So I repost it every year. Haha. 

After seeing Christmas in the City, another quilter made her version using patchwork squares rather than pieced blocks. It's a much faster way to achieve the same idea and it's so very pretty.

It seemed the perfect quilt to photograph with the Christmas red classic car.







I hope you have enjoyed the back stories of the quilts in the Quilts and Classics calendar. It has been fun going through old photos of these quilts and sharing some of the background.

Quilt: Christmas in the City
Quilt designed by Cindy Wiens
Quilt blocks designed by Tula Pink
Quilted by Darby Myers
Size: 60" x 60"

5 comments:

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Charlotte M. said... #

I have loved this quilt since you were working on it. Such a wonderful way to put those blocks together. Happy holidays to you this year Cindy. We leave Cali on Sunday for North Carolina. Then, Christmas planning can begin!

Needled Mom said... #

It is still one of my favorite Christmas quilts.

DianeY said... #

I find it interesting that you started on the outside and worked toward the middle. i would have started in the middle and worked outward. not for any reason. I guess just how my brain works.

Anne / Springleaf Studios said... #

It's been really fun hearing all the back stories for your calendar. You always found the perfect match of quilt and car. I also enjoy hearing about your approach to design. Looking forward to next years calendar stories.

FlourishingPalms said... #

All your photos are so beautiful! I've seen many quilters who've made blocks from this book, and every one is unique. Your Christmas version is stunning, and al-most makes me want to make one. Would you believe I've never made a Christmas quilt? Makes me sound Scrooge-ish, doesn't it? Well, I've made Christmas wall hangings, but never a large quilt. I'm glad for you to have finished this one in time to enjoy during the weeks ahead. It's wonderful!