The Fabric of Christmas

There are two common premises stitched together here. Save the community center. Artist enters a work for a fellowship. The third thread is what brings the leads together and also gives some heart - brother needs to make a quilt for his sister's wedding. I can't say that I can think of many movies that follow that one.

Amy nearly ticked me off early because of course there had to be an early animosity between the leads. The way Amy reacted to the inspection report was childish and even irresponsible. But once Amy and Liam make the deal, that attitude disappears completely. This sudden change is not unusual in this type of movie.

The occasion for the setting is more about Lauren's wedding than Christmas, but Christmas is part of the wedding theme.

I have never seen either lead. I was impressed with the acting because it usually falls off with lesser known stars and Reel One Entertainment. I'm not saying it was the best of the year, but it was natural enough. There is some quiet chemistry between Ferelith Young and Harmon Walsh. Walsh's character is supposed to be a little stiff. The chemistry comes more in the support each character gives the other than in witty banter. I think that this support in several areas helped me stick with the story through the central section.

I am often rushing to get to the end by the time the conflict and climax come, but not this time. For one thing the sister's wedding gives the viewer a good moment, which was not unexpected. If you count that as a climax, you might say there are two. I liked the way everything was done from the wedding on.

BTW comment on make up. I wasn't impressed with Ferelith Young's makeup in some cases, especially the wedding. That is obviously a totally personal opinion.

The casting was terrible. These two had zero chemistry and were poorly matched. She looks like she could be his mother and gives him advice like he's a child. The other casting was equally as bad and seamed forced. Her competitor was a very talented actress.

As a quilter, don't know anyone who works like this, Throwing fabric around and saying you're a fiber artist is so overly dramatic. She sewed with the square upside down and in the center of the square, which is not at all how you create a square. The ideas that a new sewer is going to make a quilt in their spare time by Christmas when they were past Thanksgiving (less than. Month) isn't even reality. The pattern they chose was very advanced for skill level and timeframe.

Her shirt was inside out with the tag showing and who did her hair? Not flattering at all.

The set was nicely done and some key clothing items were nice.

The is your standard Hallmark-esque movie. The main actor and actress have a nice chemistry, but Ferelith Young needs to STOP with the lip smacking sound. In one scene she did it 5x in about 15-20 seconds. If someone was playing the drinking game, they'd be comatose by midway through the movie.

It makes me wonder if the director or any cast member has mentioned it to her before. Definitely something to work on.

As a child of a volunteer firefighter, Harmon Walsh's character of 'nitpicking' the safety hazards rang true and made me laugh as it was a nice nod to my own memories of my father warning us all against certain dangers people don't think about.

Ferelith Young puts a lot more substance into her acting here than what you'd expect, considering that this appears to be just one more Christmas romance movie where boy gets girl, or girl gets boy. In fact, without her, it definitely would be just another one to sit through, because that's what you do at this time of the year. However, she makes this movie.

The story is also a bit different. A creative quilt artist meets a fireman who is more concerned with the outdated fire extinguishers in the community center where she creates. Opposites can attract.

Although low-budget, I can find no fault with the expertise of everything else. I'd probably watch this one again next year.

I have watched numerous romance movies from hallmark, reel and others. This was a pleasure to watch, thanks to the lead actress. She smiled a lot during the movie which is often done in romance movies, but in this case, it was nice to see her smile. If another person acted the role, this movie will be hard to watch. Making quilt is not as exciting as I thought it would be bu the leading actress made it fun to watch. I think she is under-rated and should be in more movies. The side story with the sister was a nice addition. The supporting actors were good also. The useless drama in such movies was toned down, which was nice. Highly recommend it as a clean, family oriented movie.