It’s 2011. I have a lot of Christmas fabrics (still do!) and I’m itching to start patchworking again.
Along with that I also have a lot of small cross stitch pictures I’ve stitched over the years.
What should I do with it all?
I know, I’ll make a crazy patchwork quilt!
So I created a few ‘rules’: each block should have a cross stitch as its centre, they should all be hand-pieced and somewhere on each block I should embroider the date of the block’s completion.
Of course this was in the days before I had a smartphone and even thought to take in-progress photos – something I still struggle to remember today if I’m honest!
This became a project that got me stitching again. It kept my hands busy when, at times, my mind was going crazy with stress, worry and all the usual rubbish life has a habit of throwing your way.
There are dates stitched into blocks that make me smile and make me cry. This quilt was created as I lost in-laws, saw my own parents get poorly, I got married, we tried and failed to start a family then realised how blessed we were and powered through to being happier than ever, we changed jobs multiple times, we lost our dog, we adopted cats and lost cats. This quilt was a journey, a memory-maker and keeper of secrets, it was my masterpiece, my scrappy Christmas quilt filled with memories and fabrics filled with their own memories. This quilt is personal to me.
So without further ado, let’s travel to 2023 when I finished the quilt…
It’s about 66″x66″ so my husband was trying his best to hold it up!
These photos were taken late May-early June of 2023 and yes, you are correct…this was our previous year’s Christmas tree still thriving in its pot right next to it!
There are 25 12″ blocks separated by a 1″ black sashing which, I hoped, would give it a stained glass window effect and I think I achieved that.
Every single block was hand-pieced using a piece of white or cream fabric as a foundation to stitch my scraps, and ribbons, to. I cut up old sheets and pillowcases and used old faded or stained pieces of fabric I had collected and hadn’t wanted to throw away. This truly was a scrap quilt in all senses of the word. There are memories stitched throughout. I wanted to channel how my Gran would ‘make do and mend’ and also I wanted to get closer than I had done in previous attempts at learning to quilt to previous generations of quilters and how they’d use whatever they had on hand to create beauty. I even embellished the quilt with trinkets I’d purchased in 1999 when I travelled, with my Mam, to Kansas and got to visit some of their quilt shops as well as in surrounding states. I’d purchased some ceramic buttons from Haley, at HandCraftedLove and couldn’t wait to add them to my quilt as well. It really is filled with love and memories.
The reason why I decided to write this post about a Christmas quilt at the end of July is because I wanted to use it as my run-up to The Festival of Quilts 2026.
You see, the reason why I decided to finish this quilt a little sooner than it maybe naturally would have been completed is because the festival was looming and after visiting for the very first time the previous year, in 2022, I came away from that absolutely inspired to enter something into the 2023 show, which just happened to be the 20th anniversary.
The Festival of Quilts is Europe’s largest quilt exhibition and it takes place every year at the end of July/beginning of August in Birmingham at the National Exhibition Centre, The NEC. There are hundreds of businesses there, selling everything from thread to fabric, to sewing machines and even holidays! There is also a competition that absolutely anyone can enter, where you enter and send your quilts for their judgement and exhibition of them within the halls. Quilts from all over the world are displayed in the NEC and it is an absolute joy to see, even my husband – a non-quilter – loves the ‘art gallery’ of quilts where you walk through row upon row of colourful, pictoral and often sculptural masterpieces.
The only project I had in mind to enter was this quilt that I’d named, Christmas Wishes. It was at this point I decided I needed a little help from my sewing machine so after hand-piecing over half of the quilt with the sashing I brought the big guns in and got it finished very quick. Up to only recently I have been very cautious about actually quilting a quilt so this actually overwhelmed me to the point where I flitted back and forth between hand-quilting and machine quilting. But alas, the machine won again and I did very minimal quilting to the point where there isn’t enough. I knew this would be ‘judged’ when I entered my quilt into the competition but I just wanted to share it with people, which is rare for me who usually keeps all my crafting to myself.
I literally outlined the 12″ blocks with quilting and that was it! It stressed me out wrangling it through the machine. I felt overwhelmed and just wanted this thing of beauty to be complete.
And then the time came for me to part with it. I was so stressed at the prospect of this. I’m sure any quilter who has entered a competition will understand what I mean when I say the thought of having to allow someone else to handle it without me present was panic-inducing and knowing it would be out of my possession for a week, including being in-transit, just sent me spiralling into control-freak mania! We ended up driving to the NEC in Birmingham, where the competition is held, one day to drop it off, I waved goodbye to it and blew it kisses (yes I did!) and then we went somewhere for a day trip. Then a few days later we attended The Festival of Quilts on the first day, Thursday, and as soon as the doors opened at 9:30am we both power-walked through to where it was on display and I shrieked with delight at seeing it displayed for all to see.
Little old me had a quilt displayed at the NEC among so many talented and incredible people and their amazing creations. I was, and still am, humbled beyond belief. I was among the 20th anniversary competition entrants and I was so proud.
This was the first year they had the ‘For the Joy of Sharing’ competition group and while the shy and modest crafter in me wanted to enter that group, the curious crafter within wanted to know what the judges thought of my quilt – so I entered into the Contemporary category. In fact, it was a while after the competition was over when I found the ‘angels’, who unpack, display and repack the competition quilts, had included the judge’s comments inside my packaging. I was not surprised to discover my quilting “needed attention”! The only comment I disagreed with was that my colour scheme was not cohesive and balanced enough – being scrappy by nature it never had a colour scheme to begin with except for the naturally agreed-upon red and green of Christmas featuring heavily. I love constructive criticism though, so it only served to spur me on and make me improve. Not only was I grateful to myself for getting the courage to enter into my first-ever competition, I was incredibly grateful to the judges for their honesty.
I have this sign in my craftroom! I was so chuffed to see it had been sent to me when my precious quilt was delivered back to me, safe and sound, by a trusted courier who works with the NEC for this very purpose.
I think the happiest memory of seeing my quilt on display at the NEC was watching other people look at it. It was definitely not the most popular quilt as there were magical beauties all around mine, but it got some appreciative glances that made me smile inside. But then I had to go because I was terrified of seeing someone pass scathing criticism of it!!
Along with entering the competition I got to see my name in print in the guidebook with my quilt’s description, another proud moment for me.
Have you ever been to The Festival of Quilts?
Have you ever entered into a crafting competition?
What do you think of Christmas Wishes?
Are you going to The Festival of Quilts this year? It’s next week and I am verrrry excited!
And just in case you were wondering…that potted Christmas tree is no more, it lost its needles during that very hot summer and never recovered 😟.
Happy stitching everyone x
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