Vintage Christmas Quilt Along

Hi everyone,

In my previous post, I talked about the new Vintage Christmas quilt along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop. This quilt along lasts 12 months and features blocks from Lori Holt’s book, Vintage Christmas. Each month, we’ll sew 4 blocks and you can join at any time!

Let’s take a look at my remaining three blocks from January (see my earlier post for details on the first block).

Candy Canes block

Vintage Christmas Quilt Along, Block 2, Candy Canes

This block came together pretty quickly. If you’re using directional fabrics, be careful how you place the reds/pinks and whites so they are all facing the same direction.

Candy Swirl Block

Vintage Christmas Quilt Along, Block 3, Candy Swirls

This block was the easiest to sew this month. Again, watch your directional fabrics if you want them to face the same direction. In this block, I kept the directional fabric going vertical for the outer ring. For the darker reds in the middle, I made two of the half-square triangles with the print oriented vertically and the other two with the print oriented horizontally.

Christmas Candles Block

Vintage Christmas Quilt Along, Block 4, Christmas Candles

This block has some very tiny 3/4″ pieces! The are situated in the candle flames and in the greenery at the bottom. These small pieces are challenging so go slow. If I were to make this block again, I think that I’d foundation paper-piece those sections (by drawing my own pattern based on the block).

Vintage Christmas Quilt Along, First Four Blocks

You’ll notice that three of these blocks have a darker background fabric, and one block has a lighter background fabric. I’m using the kit from Fat Quarter Shop so these blocks will all pop nicely against the sashing when I put the blocks together.

Join me again in February where we’ll make four more blocks! Let me know in the comments if you are quilting along with this BOM. I’d love to see your progress. You can also follow my progress at Instagram at @nwquiltedcat.

Happy quilting!

Jen

Wishing you all a very happy 2025! We started the year off with a short hike through a beautiful forest. The trail contained so many hues of green from the giant sword ferns to the mosses to the trees. The trail was quite muddy from all of our recent rain, but we were fortunate to have cloudy conditions and no rain during our walk.

For 2025, I’m doing a themed quilt along with the Fat Quarter Shop called Vintage Christmas. For this sew along, you’ll need this quilt book by Lori Holt. You can use your own fabrics or you can buy the quilt kit once it is restocked.

Each month, we’ll make 4 blocks, each finishing at 6-inches. The quilt along runs until December so you’ll have a beautiful quilt finished in time for Christmas 2025, assuming you can finish the quilting, ha, ha!

I’m using the quilt kit, and here’s a look at my book with some of the beautiful fabrics.

Vintage Christmas book and fabric kit for the quilt along

I do starch my fabric, usually one block at a time because I don’t have the time or space to starch the entire kit all at once.

When I work on these smaller 6-inch blocks with many pieces, I like to label them with Alphabitties and place them on little design boards. You can make design boards by using a foam board, batting scraps, and fabric scraps for the binding or purchase them here.

Vintage Christmas block one with Alphabitties on a design board for easier piecing

When sewing these blocks, go slow and careful to maintain accuracy. I do lower my stitch length slightly and backstitch where the pieces will be exposed on the edges. I don’t like to use steam in my iron so I do a final press when a hot, dry iron and Flatter spray. I also use wooden clappers and let the blocks cool completely with the clappers on top.

Here’s a look at block one called “Away in a Manger.”