Storytelling Tees: The Christmas Star Quilt

The Christmas Star Quilt – Free Pattern Download

I love Christmas!

I love the food – all the food! I love the family gatherings and the parties with friends.

I especially love traditional holiday hymns and popular songs of good tidings and joy. I love that Jesus is the reason for the season, and I love the incredible significance of His birth.

Oh, and I love to decorate! I love Christmas trees overflowing with homemade children’s artwork and exquisite ornaments collected over a lifetime. I love beautiful packages tied up with string, stockings hung from the chimney with care, and setting out cookies and milk for jolly ol’ Saint Nicholas.

I absolutely love the story of Christmas as well as Christmas books and Christmas movies.

I love to make Christmas quilts and quilts that tell stories, and I really love to use a fun collection of t-shirts to help me with the narrative!

When I think of the many wonderful symbols associated with Christmas, my mind quickly jumps to the Christmas star.

The Christmas Star

The Star of Bethlehem appears only once in the Bible, in Matthew 2: 1-11: “The Magi Visit the Messiah” (NIV).

On top of that single occurrence in the New Testament, astronomers, scientists, and historians aren’t quite sure how to explain its existence. And yet, as Danny Lewis writes in Smithsonian Magazine, “it has become one of the holiday’s most important and enduring symbols.”

Stars are also very prominent in quilt designs and prevalent in quilting history. The National Park Service’s “Quilt Discovery Experience” explains it far better than I can:

Stars are probably the most common motif used on quilts. Homesteaders traveling West used the stars for guidance; and they looked upon stars as religious symbols of their faith in God.

There are hundreds of star patterns. Some quilts have just one large radiating star, often called the Star of Bethlehem or Blazing Star, while in other quilts, dozens of smaller stars are used. The simplest and most popular star pattern is an eight-pointed star.

Knowing all of this, I decided that the Eight-Pointed Star would be perfect for this project!

Storytelling Tees

Of course, a “Storytelling Tee” quilt isn’t complete without the tees, so I paired my Christmas stars with the “other side” of Christmas, a popular holiday tale told by the incomparable Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Dr. Seuss began the Grinch’s tale as a 32-line, illustrated poem called “The Hoobub and the Grinch” for Redbook Magazine in May of 1955 and then published it as a 69-page rhyming book in 1957. The endearing fable has certainly withstood the test of time with numerous television, film, and theater adaptations.

According to Merriam-Webster, the word “grinch” has even entered the popular lexicon as an informal noun, defined as “a grumpy person who spoils the pleasure of others,” a “killjoy” or a “spoilsport” – if that’s not a sure sign of sustainability, I can’t imagine what is!

Yes, I even love the Grinch.

I specifically chose this t-shirt theme for my Christmas Star quilt because I absolutely adore how the Grinch turns from greed and selfishness when he experiences his own Christmas miracle…

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!

I believe that “more” of which the Grinch speaks is a critical life lesson for us all!

The finished project, a Storytelling Tee celebrating the story of Christmas and highlighting the Christmas Star:

For the quilting (the stitching that holds together the quilt topper, the batting, and the backing), I chose a loose, vertical wave pattern. I took the computerized pattern from edge-to-edge using a longarm sewing machine. I am very happy with the outcome as it is a bit whimsical like Dr. Seuss, yet it is not so much that it takes away from the stunning Christmas stars.

I found the perfect backing fabric! It is part of the Dr. Seuss Enterprises line by Robert Kaufman and depicts scenes of the Who’s in Whoville, the Grinch, and even sweet, little Max.

This project is such a fun quilt to create – a “choose your own adventure” type of experience. I am honored and excited to share the free pattern download as part of a “Christmas in July Pattern Parade” with 21 other quilt designers.

This blog hop (very similar to a quilt shop hop) will take you on a journey to find fun – and FREE – holiday projects in all shapes and sizes and doable for all levels of sewing experience.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of today’s post to find links to each blog.

To get you started, here is mine:

The Christmas Star Quilt – Free Pattern Download

I’ve shared a lot of love today, so I have just one more piece:

I’d love to keep in touch!

Please click here to join my email list – and enter for a chance to win your own copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

With love and hugs,

Ashli

Christmas Pattern Blog Hop

Please take a look at all the designers participating in this year’s Christmas Pattern Blog Hop – and be sure to download their free project patterns. You can even search for photos of the projects using #CIJPP on social media. Finally, a huge thank you to Carole with From My Carolina Home who orchestrated this event; it’s my first such experience, and she’s made it fun and fabulous!

Table Toppers, Home and Kitchen
Inquiring Quilter
Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Cooking Up Quilts
The Quilted Diary
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Morning Glory Designs
Scrapdash
Days Filled With Joy