When I was putting Christmas things away, trying to coax my many Christmas pillows back into the closet, the thought occurred to me that I might just have one too many pillows.  How many Christmas pillows does one actually need?  Is there a legal limit?  Had I crossed it?   I didn't remember having so many pillows - it was as if they had been breeding when I wasn't looking.  

These are just a few of the Christmas pillows that refused to cooperate and go back into the closet.  So I started thinking...I couldn't get rid of them, getting rid of anything Christmas is blasphemous...but I could re-invent them!  And that's just how this latest Christmas quilt came to be...I took the pillows apart and made myself a new Christmas quilt.

Some of the pillows were made by my friends and given to me as Christmas gifts - and I LOVE them - so it was with a bit of trepidation that I cut into them.  I certainly didn't want to ruin what they made so I did my best to preserve as much of their work as I could.  

Michelle made me the red-work Snowmen and she gave it to me in a beautiful frame...after looking at the pillows I could use I realized I might need a few more pieces so I took apart some of the framed pictures I'd been given...I was on a mission!!!  Dawn made the beautiful cross-stitch Santa and Jan made the embroidered Snowman...I made the top right pillow years ago, the one with the snowman face button.

Mari made the top left Santa - it was a beautiful quilted pillow and I left the quilting on so it's a bit thicker than the other blocks but I love it.  Michelle, I think, made the little cross-stitch Santa in the bottom left corner and Denise made those miniature flying-geese borders...all paper pieced and the paper was still on because those borders were part of a framed picture that broke as I was trying to stuff everything into the closet...that's what really started this project...a broken picture, a few tears, a pile of things I loved that just needed a new way to be.  I made the two blocks on the right, top and bottom.  The bottom green Santa was from a Christmas stocking that had my name on it; it was part of the family set but then I decided we needed new stockings so I stuffed my stocking and used it as a pillow on the guest room bed for many years.

The top right block was paper-pieced by Denise, it was part of the framed picture that broke.  Below that, the red Santa, I made for a Christmas gift but decided it was too stupid so I made it into a pillow and kept it.  The bottom block, Winter, I also made and it has a date of 2001.  I gave it to the girl that year for Christmas...she gave it back!  The girl barely puts up any Christmas stuff, it's probably because she grew up in a house where Christmas was regurgitated on every surface!  

I could not love this quilt more - I see my friends when I look at it - friends that I love.  Now my goal is to get this hand-quilted before Christmas rolls around, because if there is anything I need, it's another Christmas quilt!