Christmas Presents 2013

The gifts have all been given, so here's a quick post about the handmade gifts I made this year!

A handful of kitchen towels, made using this tutorial.



I made my own fabric covered buttons too!



A couple of scarves, one sewn and one knit.





And one block that never materialized into a finished gift! :)



Wishing you all a happy 2014!

Christmas Star Quilt

I did it! I finished this quilt before Christmas!



I finished it several days ago, but the weather has been so overcast and gloomy lately on the days that I've been off work, I haven't wanted to take pictures. The only reason I was able to take photos today is because I'm home with a sick kid sleeping on the couch. I tricked the sun- it knew I wasn't supposed to be home today!



Lots of straight line quilting, because I still keep talking myself out of free motion quilting on a "real" project. Those practice sandwiches are piling up though!



Now it's back to the mad rush of finishing the handmade gifts I have planned! The list keeps getting "amended" each day we get closer to Christmas... Happy Holidays Everyone!

Christmas Quilts: Making Progress!

Which is a good thing, since Christmas is TWO WEEKS away. Yikes.



I finished this wreath block into a mini quilt and gave it to my mom as an early Christmas gift. The quilted circles gave it a modern feel that I hadn't intended, but I like it just the same!



You can find the pattern here.

And I'm quite close to finishing up my Christmas Star quilt.



I went with option A, if anyone's keeping track. ;) I hope to finish it up in the next day or two, otherwise I'll barely have time hang it up before Christmas has come and gone!

Christmas Star Block

I made this star block over the weekend and just love it!



If I had all the time in the world, I'd love to make a full-size quilt of these stars. But I'm short on time and fabric, as I'm using the leftovers from the advent quilt I made a few years ago. The fabric is from Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas collection. I just love her holiday fabrics! I've been hanging on to a layer cake of her Joy collection too, just waiting for the right project to come along.



The above quilt is a pattern I designed for work, and you can download it for free here.

So now I'm trying to decide what to add to this block to make it into a decent wallhanging size. Here are a few options I've mocked up in EQ7:



I'm leaning towards A... what's your pick?

In a Paper Piecing Mood

After all the garment sewing of Kids Clothes Week, I was ready to jump back into some quilting! Paper piecing is definitely my fav, so I whipped up a couple more blocks from my Speech Bubbles collection:





I think these two are destined to become a pillow. It's a little conversation-- "love you!" and "love you too!" :)

And as soon as I saw this block on Quiet Play, I knew I had to add it to my "to sew" list! I hate how the all the retail places start bombarding you with Christmas stuff earlier and earlier-- makes ya completely sick of the holiday by the time it actually gets here. But I will allow it for sewing/crafting purposes. ;) Ya gotta have time to make the Christmas stuff! So here it is, my first official Christmas sew of the season:



I think it was this little bird that got me hooked. Isn't she cute? I only wish I had used a different fabric for her belly. It is a different white-on-white fabric from the background snowflake fabric, but I don't think you can see that very well. Ah, live and learn!



Back in June I went to the Chicago Quilt Festival for work, and while I was there I "splurged" on a Curve Master presser foot. They were also selling these wooden seam rollers, so I got one of those too.



I haven't played with the presser foot much, but I've used the seam roller and it's perfect for "pressing" the seams in paper pieced blocks! I love not having to walk across the room to my ironing board after every little seam. If you're a paper piecer, I highly recommend!

For the first time, I'm linking up with:

Mini Tree Quilt

I made a little Christmas tree quilt... with enough time left to actually enjoy it a bit before Christmas. It's a holiday miracle!



Back in November, I mentioned that I saw this plate at Target:



And thought it was the perfect inspiration for a quilt. I'm so proud of myself for actually getting it done! So many times, I see non-quilty objects and say to myself, "That would make a great quilt design!", but that's as far as it goes. Nice to follow through for once!



This quilt was a nice distraction from all the holiday gift sewing I've been doing. Too many late nights, and a bit of rushing, has made for some frustrating work. The seam ripper has been working overtime lately. Luckily, this was a problem-free, relaxing project. But now it's back to my elf-ly duties as I desperately try to finish all my half-finished gifts!