Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Potholder Swap

PotholderSwap
I'm sneaking on the computer one more time before Christmas to show you this little potholder. I made it for a swap the KC Modern Quilt Guild had with the Portland Modern Quilt Guild after Susan Beal came to speak at a meeting. I really liked the construction of this potholder and I hope I can remember how I did it so I can repeat the steps again. I quilted the front and back separately with batting on one side and insul-bright on the other. Then I sewed right sides together and turned in inside out, top stitching all around. I guess I do remember! 
PotholderSwapback 
I'm loving Basic Grey's Grunge fabric right now and used a nice lime green for the back. My partner was Elsa Hart and she said she loved lime green, yellow, orange and grey so I included most of those colors. I thought being in Portland, sending a little "Sunshine" would be nice so I found a scrap of that too! 


We could actually use a little sunshine here in Kansas about now. It's been dark, cold, and rainy for so many days. I'll share the potholder I received after Christmas and hopefully we'll have some sunshine so I can get a good photo or too because it's just beautiful!


Take care and have a very Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Christmas Table Topper

ChristmasTableTopper
I have one more little Christmas item to show you. Another quilt that's been on the UFO pile for a good, long time. It was a UFO back in 2009 when I first blogged about the things that got me stuck. Then I finished the top and got stuck on how to quilt it. I passed it off to Angela sometime earlier this year to quilt and was so happy to sew the binding on over my Thanksgiving trip to Texas.

It's fun to look back and read what I was struggling with and how far I've come in the last couple of years of sewing. I remember picking out every piece of this fabric at Stitch On. I think it may have been the first project I chose individual fabrics off the bolt. I was so nervous!
ChristmasTable
The pattern is Christmas Cookie Crumb Catcher from Chickadee Hollow Designs. I decided to omit the applique and embroidery. The embroidery was what drew me into the pattern initially but when I was actually finishing the top I wasn't really interested in doing either. 
Christmas Table Back
I knew I wanted something interesting quilted into the center square which is really beyond my abilities at the moment. I think Angela did a beautiful job highlighting the center and I love all the loops in the different borders. 
Gingerbread
I'll leave you with this picture of Jenna with her Gingerbread house. We've made a tradition of going to see the Gingerbread House display in Lawrence and then making our own. It's so much fun to work together on it. I pipe the icing and she places all of the candy. Teamwork!



Well, I'm off to to do some wrapping and laundry and work on one final present with Jenna since she's on Christmas Break now. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! 

P.S. Laurie is the winner of the Sleigh Bells Stockings Pattern. Thanks to everyone for playing along!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Sleigh Bells Stocking Pattern Giveaway

stocking2
Thought I'd take a moment to pop in and share a couple Christmas stockings that are new to our house this year. We've been enjoying some fluffy red and white stockings from Target the last few years which were great but I'm so excited to have something I made waiting for Santa this year.


Shea from the Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio asked me earlier this year if I'd like to test her new Sleigh Bells Stockings pattern and of course I jumped on the opportunity. Even in the testing phase, her patterns are so well written and I just loved the designs.
stocking2close


I chose Basic Grey Grunge fabrics. I love that they read as solid but the distress print gives a bit of dimension and illusion of texture. I tried a little hand stitching around the circles and absolutely loved the way it turned out. The detail of the white trim on the cuff gives it such a finished look. 

Jenna claimed this stocking as soon as she saw it and I'm so excited that she loves it. She was a little unsure about sending it off to Shea to photograph but I promised her it would be in good hands. In fact, this stocking got to take a trip to Houston to hang in Moda's booth at market this fall which was pretty exciting! It's back home now and I can't wait for Santa to fill it. It's such a good size and I think Santa will find the shape of it easy to work with since the toe points at such a great angle.
stocking1
This is the other style I tested. I really liked all the little piecing on this one. As part of the testing process, the blocks on my stocking ended up smaller than the actual pattern. I just quilted it along the seam lines where the blocks join. My husband will get to dig into this one Christmas morning.
stocking1close
stocking2back
Here's a peek at the back.


So are you wondering where my stocking is? Life has been a bit hectic the last few weeks as I've been teaching a little more, volunteering, finishing up a great college class, recovering from bronchitis, and preparing for guests, a trip and Christmas. I'm so glad I had a chance to work on these earlier this fall before the pace of everything picked up so much, but my stocking will have to wait until after Christmas. I'm sure Santa doesn't mind waiting until next year to see it! I'm going to try star blocks in the same colors of fabric.

Shea's been showing some great versions of these stockings on her last few blog posts: half square triangles, Kelly's raw edge applique, and Lisa's silk stockings. The wonderful thing about Shea's patterns is that she includes so many color photos of options in the actual pattern that you can be inspired to create something that's just perfect for your own taste in fabric and design.
pattern

So....How would you like your own copy of The Sleigh Bells Stockings Pattern? I have one to give away if you'd like to join me in some more Christmas sewing!

One entry - Leave a comment telling me if there was something you always found in your stocking Christmas morning. I remember an apple, orange, nuts, and a big bag of M&M's at the bottom of my stocking every Christmas with some other fun goodies mixed in of course.


Second entry - Follow my blog or let me know you're already follow.

You have until midnight Dec 18 and I'll post a winner on Monday. Good luck!









LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails