Snowflake Cushions

I found this beautiful free Snowflake pattern from Kathy Schwartz, a Canadian who blogs at Tamarack Shack and is half the design team behind Highway 10 Designs.  Snazzy Snowflake was originally designed in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday.  I had three pieces of batik fabric which I thought would look great as snowflakes.  I made the snowflake block in the light and medium fabrics and put it on point by adding four triangles to the sides to make it big enough for a cushion.  I used the dark fabric for the back and binding.

I only had a limited amount of fabric since I was working from stash so I made the envelope backing a half inch larger on all sides so I could use it to self bind the cushions.  I sewed the binding down and then sewed another row of stitching in the binding ditch to make the seam stronger since this was the only seam holding the whole thing together.  I didn't quilt the snowflakes.

Here's a picture of one cushion in a rocking chair I am painting teal.  I only have one coat of paint on it so far so you can still see the black paint through it.

While I was making these cushions I was wishing that the contrast between the snowflake fabric and the background fabric was more crisp so the snowflake design was more clear, or maybe it is just because of the mottled prints, but I began thinking of them as snowflakes in a snowstorm!  I gave two to my sister and one to my d-i-l's mother for Christmas.

2 More Gift Bags

Yesterday I showed a picture which included a drawstring giftbag.  I made it for my father's Christmas presents.  He's already given it back to me so that I can fill it up again for next year!

I made the gift box block using this tutorial and pattern from Tiny Orchard Quilts.  I then turned the gift block into a drawstring gift bag based on this tutorial from Jeni Baker of In Color Order.  I fussy cut the ribbons on the gift box block from a striped fabric.

I then made another gift bag but fancied it up a bit by making the bow on the gift bag in 3D.  I followed this Missouri Star Tutorial on making 3D pinwheels but only used two sections instead of four for the bow.

Here's the gift bag I made for my sister's Christmas present.  I added some of the striped fabric around the top of the bag too.

I made my sister's gift bag before I had fully decided what I was making my sister for Christmas, so it was a tight fit, but I managed to get it in there.  It made it more compact for mailing.

It might be better next time to know what size bag is required by making the present first!  You can see a sneak peek of my sister's present behind the gift bag which I'll talk about in my final Christmas sewing post.

Christmas Placemats, Napkins and Table Runner

I made placemats and napkins for my cousin and her spouse.  The napkins were made following this tutorial by Donna Jordan from Jordan Fabrics.  You can see stitching lines on the opened napkin which gives you guidelines on how to fold the napkins.

I made some Christmas Tree blocks and partial blocks following this tutorial by Lori Holt from Bee in my Bonnet and turned them into coordinating placemats.

I also made a placemat for my father who is 92 with some fabric showing vintage toys and decorations.

I also made this table runner based on a quilt pattern again by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet called Bringing Home the Christmas Tree which can be found in her Vintage Christmas Book.  This picture taken without flash shows the true colours of the runner better.  When I was little, we had a red station wagon, without the wings, but this reminded me of it so I had to make it.

This picture with flash shows the texture of the quilting much better - snowflakes, of course!

This picture shows the runner and a few other Christmas projects from previous years.  I'll blog about the bag in a future post.

Sorry about the dullness of most of these pictures, but we were having rather dull rainy weather when the pictures were taken.

3 Christmas Quilts - Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Along Finishes and 2 Matching Gift Bags

 I didn't plan to be away from the blog for this long, but all of the sewing I was occupied with was for Christmas and mostly presents for people who look at the blog and I didn't want anyone peeking!

First off here is a finish to the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Along I was working on as the clues were being given out.  This is a picture taken today on our deck with just a recent skiff of snow.  I kept this quilt for ourselves and it was on a chair in the living room, but we had a green Christmas this year and it was quite warm so no one needed to snuggle under it, maybe next year.

I quilted it with snowflakes, of course, and it has a nice soft plaid flannel backing.

I then made two more totally in flannel on the pieced fronts and the solid backing and binding.  The pink quilt has polar bears in hats and scarves and was made for a four year old and the red quilt has penguins in hats and vests and was made for a six year old.  Both girls are my s-i-l's nieces.

To gift these two quilts, I made two flannel gift bags lined with cotton fabric to make their insides a little more slippery and a little sturdier.  I based the gift bags on this bag tutorial from Jeni Baker of In Color Order.  Sorry, I didn't realize this photo was blurry until after the quilts were mailed so could not retake the photo.

I plan to make two more of these flannel snowflake quilts before the winter is over for gifting to my d-i-l's niece and nephew.

Sewcialites and Gingham Picnic

The tenth weekly block for Sewcialites came out on Friday and I made it up that same day.  Here is my block 10, Sincere.

 And here are my ten blocks so far.

I also made two Gingham Picnic blocks using the same fabric for the centre stars.

As well as four more Gingham Picnic blocks using fabric from two previous weeks for their centre stars.

That brings me up to date working on both of these projects.  I really love this fabric.  Too bad I didn't buy more before Bluprint ceased to exist.

Dear Jane Quilt, Two More Blocks

The last couple of Thursdays, which is the day I usually work on my Dear Jane quilt, I worked on some Christmas projects instead.  However, the last Thursday of the month is the day that our little group of "Dear Janer's" get together for a zoom chat so I sewed up a couple of blocks.

First up is block F1 which I paper pieced.  A few of you will likely notice that my block is spinning in the opposite direction to Jane's, oh well....

F1 closeup.

I took one look at F13 and decided I really didn't care for it and not just because of the appliqueing it would involve.....😱 so I simplified it and made it with squares and some snowballed corners to create diagonal lines.  I thought my diagonal lines would be a little narrower, but they will do.  If you squint I think my block and Jane's are similar enough.

F13 closeup.

With these two blocks, I have now completed rows A to F.  I now have 144 of 169 blocks made, only 25 to go.  Still loving making this quilt!

Sewcialites

On Sunday, I sewed up the Sewcialites block from Friday called Gracious.

And here are my 9 blocks so far.

Still loving each of these blocks and fabrics!

Sewcialites and Gingham Picnic

Yesterday I made the next Sewcialite Block Soulful:

And here are my eight blocks so far.

I also made two more Gingham Picnic blocks.

Working on two quilts at a time is great fun!

Sewcialites Quilt Along, Block 7

I did get block 7 made yesterday, so I am keeping up with this weekly quilt along.  Here is my Block 7 called Kindred.

And here are my 7 blocks so far.

I am really liking these blocks and the fabrics.

Appliqued Candy Dish Runner Finished

I actually finished this Candy Dish table runner by Edyta Sitar in late August, early September.  I quilted the basket part of it with black thread since the base and handles were black to help differentiate the basket from the background since the colours were similar.  I then did an allover dense quilting pattern in the background.  Here's a close up of one basket.

Here's what the whole runner looks like on my bureau.

Just for fun, here's a picture of the runner held up to the light of the deck door for a stained glass affect.

I didn't have a lot of fabric to bind this quilt and actually used two different but similar pieces.  I did a new to me technique using a strip of fabric which was 1.75" wide instead of my usual 2.5" but still gave double fold binding using this tutorial.  It lays really flat so works well for a table runner or something small or, like me, if you are running short on fabric.  I would use this method again in a similar situation but like using 2.5" strips of fabric for a large quilt.

Appalachian Autumn

I completed one block of Bonnie Hunter's Appalachian Autumn quilt.  That's all I'm going to do right now as it will make a nice table topper at 25" square.  I will bind it with the fabric laid out around the perimeter. 

 All the fabric except the binding came out of my scrap bins.  I may well make this quilt at another time full size.

Sewcialites Block 6 and Gingham Picnic

The new Sewcialites block came out today and I got it sewn this afternoon.  This week's block is called Devoted.

And here are my six blocks so far.

While I'm making each new Sewcialite block, I'm using the same fabric for the central star and making two new Gingham Picnic blocks.

And here are my twelve Gingham Picnic blocks so far.

Loving both of these projects!

Dear Jane - 4 More Blocks Made

I made four more Dear Jane blocks today giving me 142 of 169 with only 27 remaining.  I haven't made any triangles recently which means I have 9 of 56 made with 47 remaining.

I  paper pieced the center part of block C13 up to the teeney-tiny triangles and then pieced the rest.

C13 closeup.

I paper pieced the double X and pieced the outside border of D1.

D1 closeup.

I converted block E1 so I could make it using Cathedral Window techniques.

E1 closeup.

I pieced the central triangles of E13 and they ended up larger than expected, but I like that it fills the centre block so I left it that way.

E13 closeup.

So here are all my blocks so far.

Working on Dear Jane every Thursday is really moving this project along and I made 13 blocks this month.  Best of all I am still really having fun making this quilt!