Hexagonal Christmas Tree Skirt and Dala Horse Pillow Covers

The Christmas tree skirt is finished!  It has been living under the tree for a week now and I love it.

I have a real thing about decorating with red and white for Christmas and the tree skirt reflects that.

I used this Diamond Quilt tutorial I wrote a few years ago and just cut a hole in the middle and a slash up the side to turn it into a tree skirt.  I was worried it would be too big, but actually it looks a bit small under the tree.  If you have a large tree and want to make this up I would recommend adding an extra round of diamonds.

I also made a few pillow covers for my mom.  We come from Scandinavian stock and love dala horses so these fabrics were perfect.  I had been holding on to these fabrics for a few years waiting for the perfect pattern, but this year I decided to just use them.  No piecing, no quilting, just letting the fabric shine.

A little pop of piping along the edges makes them look a bit more polished.  I used this tutorial for the piping.

All of the must do Christmas sewing is done.  Well, I want to make the kido's some D-ring belts like this, but that should go fairly quickly.  It will take more time to change out the thread than to sew them.  And I think all the shopping is done.  Now all we have to do is wrap a few things and enjoy the Christmas lights.

I hope you all have a great Christmas holiday!

Dala Christmas Apron

Apron modeled by Aleah

I bought this super cute Dala horse fabric by Lecien a few years ago and have been trying to find the perfect project to use my perfect fabric in.  It was paralyzing.  So I decided to just bite the bullet last week and make something that I could use regularly.  I used the entire 1/2 yard to make this apron.  It has a 3" sash on the top and a 1-ish" border on the bottom.  The red dot was the perfect shade of red.  I Love It.  No regrets.

It has a nice big bow in the back and long ties.  They aren't as long on me cause I don't have a 20" waist.  :)   I sized the waistband so that the apron skirt ends at my sides.  I am going to enjoy using it year round.

In other news I put up the lights and ribbon today and the tree gets decorated tomorrow.  I really like Christmas lights and decorations.  We also went to Aleah's 5th grade Christmas choir concert tonight and it was one of the best kid concerts that I have been to.  They did a great job singing their holiday songs.

I hope you are having fun getting into the Christmas spirit too.

Hexagonal Christmas Tree Skirt

Tomorrow our Modern Quilt Group in Des Moines is having a meeting and the theme is "Christmas Ideas".  We are all suppose to bring something holiday/gift themed to share with the group so we can get in gear and have all of our sewn stuff ready for the holiday season.  (Yeah....we can dream.)

I decided that I would finish the Christmas Tree Skirt that I cut pieces for two years ago so I could have something to share - and use.  I used my Diamond Quilt tutorial (the first tutorial I ever wrote!)

(Funny side note about the tutorial.  My husband was talking to a co-worker a few months ago and quilting came up.  It turns out that the co-worker and his wife had commissioned a quilt for their niece.  The quilter gave them some quilt ideas and they ended choosing my Diamond Quilt!  It is a small world.  Anyway....)

It came together quickly (about 2 hours of sewing).  I had already laid out and pinned the fabric into "row bundles" so the sewing was pretty straight forward.  For the quilting I decided to do a scallop starting in the center and circling out.  I'm not sure that was the best design choice, but it doesn't matter because I have to pick it all out anyway.  (grrr)  I kept on having trouble with "eyelashing" on the back of the quilt.  I tried everything I could think of to fix the problem, but it only cleared up when I changed the machine needle.  At least it unpicks quickly because the tension is so loose.

Once it is re-quilted, I will cut out a hole in the center and a slit down the side and bind it.  It probably won't be done for tomorrow, but I'll have a bit of something to show.

It measures about 24" on a side and about 50" across the middle.  You can find the tutorial here.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Christmas Quilt Finished...before Christmas!

 I ended up finishing this quilt before Christmas and I love it!  I love the colors and the fabrics.  I am super in love with the red polka dot flannel backing.  It is so nice to snuggle under.  It is still on our couch and I don't know that it is going anywhere soon.  (Kinda like the ribbon on the columns.)

I was planning on straight line quilting on either side of most of the seams but about 1/2 way across the first row I remembered how much I hate straight line quilting.  I feel like any wavy-ness in the line shows up a ton and I was wrestling with the quilt non-stop.  I didn't wear my quilting gloves like I normally do and wonder if that was part of the problem.  But I didn't think that I would need them with the straight lines.  Anyway, I quilted the bottom of each row 1/4 inch-ish from the seam.  

I was really frustrated with my inability to do the cool straight line quilting everyone else seems to do so easily and well, but a day later I decided that I actually liked it with less quilting.  I think sometimes we can forget how beautiful our quilts are just with the piecing.  It is nice to take a quilt "to the next level" with quilting but a quilt can be just as beautiful and enjoyed just as much with simple quilting.

     
I hope you had great holidays.  It has been bitter cold here and all of our quilts have gotten a lot of use.  But I can tell it is getting warmer because the cat meows at the door to go outside instead of me having to forcibly throw her out the door twice a day to do her business.  :)

And now that the kids are back in school there might also be more time to get down to the business of writing about some of the other things I have been working on!

Christmas Quilt

I finished something!  And I love it!  I bought the fabric last fall (thanks for making such cute Christmas fabric Micheal Miller!) and I think I will have it quilted by December.  That's pretty fast turn around these days.   :)

The fabrics and design are totally copied from this quilt by Amy Smart at Diary of a Quilter.  I love the gnomes, the retro ladies, the dots, the snowflakes, the reindeer, the red flannel polka dot backing fabric....I love it all!   I can't wait to finish it!

Summer Quilting Priorities

 So, this summer the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild is having a Finish-It-Up quilting challenge.  Basically, everyone picks four projects that they want to finish by our September meeting and for each one they finish they get an entry for prizes.  Here are the ones I choose.

 1.  Christmas Triangle Quilt - this was totally inspired by a quilt made by Amy Smart.  I love it and finally got together enough Christmas Retro fabric to make it happen.  I cut it out last fall, but it didn't get finished by Christmas and then it languished in a bag all this spring.  I would like to get at least the top done in time for our Christmas in July guild meeting.

 2.  The Micheal Miller Challenge Quilt - I narrowed down the provided fabric and supplemented it with other prints and solids based on the colors my sister-in-law is using in their nursery.  This will be for their new baby...if I don't get too attached to it myself.  Seriously, if it turns out at all like I am envisioning it is going to be Awesome!

 I've cut out some of the fabric to make the mini stars that will be floating in the background.  And yes, that one in the middle is tiny.  We'll see how that goes.

3.  The Diamond Stars Quilt - I started this in ... 2012? ... eek ... and haven't worked on it in awhile.  I put it away early in 2013 because I had gotten to the part where I was appliqueing the middle onto the borders and it was hard to see with the poor winter lighting.  Appliqueing black fabric onto black fabric with black thread is not for the faint in heart.  This picture is deceiving in that it looks like the sides are on.  They are really just glued and pinned in place waiting to be appliqued.  I plan on taking this on our summer vacation.  (You can't go a month without quilting, right?) I might even add some decorative stitching before I quilt it.

4.  Cogs - I don't even have a picture of this one.  It is the oldest of the bunch.  The blocks are all done - I just have to sash, quilt and bind it.

So that is it.  My summer quilting priorities.  I really want to stay focused on those projects and get them done but I have already had to stop myself from starting something else.  :)

Do you have any summer sewing plans?

Christmas in January

So it turns out that I forgot to share these pillow covers I made for Christmas.  

The first pillow is an orphan block (made from this tutorial) turned beautiful pillow.  I think this was the second block I had ever paper pieced.  It is a great block for those new to paper piecing.

I love, love, love this one.  To make it I simply drew a triangle on the fabric and sewed on a bunch of buttons.  I was able to sew on the buttons with my sewing machine by turning the stitch length to 0 and adjusting the width until it was the width between the holes in the button.  Then I just put the pedal to the medal and stitched back and forth about 20 times.

 It's hard to see, but I tried out quilting swirls for the first time.  I spiraled in and then paused and spiraled back out again.  I have wanted to try this design for awhile, but was scared it wouldn't turn out.  Yet again, my fears were unfounded.  Isn't that usually the case.  It seems the more I worry about something the less of an issue it turns out to be.  Some of the spirals weren't total perfect but overall it was a success.

 Leah Day has a great tutorial on quilting swirls here on YouTube.  In fact, she has a ton of quilting tutorials there.  I think I am going to have to work my way through them.  Do you think my husband would watch them with me instead of Almost Human in the evenings?  ;)

Double Wedding Ring Christmas Wreath

Well, here it is.  The only Double Wedding Ring that I am ever likely to make.  :)  No, it wasn't really that bad, but it certainly is time intensive.  I threw around a few ideas for the DWR Challenge, but this is the one that stuck.  A ring in solid greens and and a red bow.

  I did a tiny stipple on the white and quilted leaves on the greens.  It was my first time doing leaves but it won't be my last.  I love how they look and they are pretty forgiving.  I am loving the flange binding too!  I want to do double bindings on everything these days.  :)

I made the back so it can work as a pillow or a wall hanging.   I am entering it in the DWR Challenge Small Category.  There are a bunch of great single rings over there, check them out!

Do You Ever Wonder...

...if you should have a home decor/diy type of blog?  I wonder if I would get more done around the house if I was motivated to finish painting/peeling wallpaper/organizing closets/washing dishes so I could post cool before and after pictures about it.  ;)  Instead I sit and work on English paper piecing in the evenings.  I am working on a bunch of Christmas pillows right now - way more relaxing than peeling wallpaper.  I never wonder if I should have a "kid" blog.  Blogs are breaks from kids.

...how people seem to do "everything?"  I know they don't, but I always seem to be biting off more than I can chew and then wondering why I am making myself stressed.

Case in point, my "does-anyone-want to-sew-along-and-make-a-tree-skirt-post".   I don't know what I was smoking when I wrote that.   A "real" quilt along would be way more than I could handle at this time, but at the same time I would LOVE to sew along with other people.  So here is a happy medium idea: if you would like to follow the original instructions for the Diamond Quilt and post pictures in my new-fancy-dancy Sewn By... flickr group then we could all cheer each other on and I could answer any questions you might have about the quilt.  And it could all be done without having a nervous breakdown.  :)

Linking up!  Hop on over to see some great EPP projects!

Christmas in October

Today, I am finally over my cold!  There is nothing like being sick to make you remember how wonderful it is to be well. 

 This Christmas I am bound and determined not to have piece of fabric wrapped around my tree.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I have had this quilt in my mind for over 2 years and this year it is going to happen.  I cut out all the diamonds last month and today I laid them all out.  I Love it!

When it is all done, the points will be cut off and it will look like this pink and yellow quilt  I made for my niece.  Before binding I will cut a hole in the middle and a slit in one side so it can fit around the Christmas tree.

Would anyone be interested in making it along with me?  Let me know.  I would be more likely to get it done if others were sewing along with me!  ;)

I also have plans to make a bunch of Christmas pillows for family gifts this year.  I am really digging those gnomes.    Here's to Christmas in October!  :)

Seeing Red

There has been a lot of red happening around here.  A garden full of tomatoes means more canning and drying than I care to do right now.  Yet, I still really want home canned tomatoes all winter...want to come can for me?

I started a tradition years and years ago that the kids and I would go out to dinner one night if my husband was out of town on a business trip.  Then a few years ago I told myself that I could either go out to dinner or buy the equivalent  dollar amount in fabric.  So this year as my husband drove around the mid-west looking at corn, I made dinner and treated myself to some fabric.  :)  I have had this quilt on my mind for awhile and bought some vintage inspired Christmas fabrics to make it.

 I also bought some great reds to make up into a tree skirt for Christmas.  Yes, he was out of town tons this month!  I am going to make the tree skirt using my Diamond Quilt tutorial.  I have to say it was really handy to re-read the tutorial and not have to figure out how many diamonds to cut.

I have been using the cutting scraps to make this red and white hexi slab.  I think it wants to be a pillow.  Yep, I have Christmas on the mind, but if I don't start now it will be another Christmas with a random piece of fabric wrapped around the tree.

But I haven't totally forgotten about fall.  We went and picked some apples at a friend's house yesterday.  So this weekend we will be making applesauce and apple pie.  I love this time of year!

Christmas Traditions

On Sunday my 12 year old moaned, "Why don't we have any Christmas traditions?"

Me (defensive) : We totally have Christmas traditions.
Her:  What traditions?
Me:  We have ham and potatoes for Christmas dinner.
Her:  (Raised eyes, apparently food does not make a tradition.  It is just what you eat on Christmas.)
Me:  (Looking at the tree)  We wrap our presents in fabric every year.
Her:  That is just because you don't want to buy wrapping paper.
Me:  Noooo.  Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Her:  O. K.  (if you say so, mom, tone of voice)

 Me:  We make a Christmas ornament every year.  (Here is this year's made out of sequins stuck with pins into a styrofoam ball.)
Her:  Oh, yeah...we do.
Me:  And we make treats to bring to people.

 (From left to right, princess angel, shepherd, tambourine angel, Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus and wise man.) 

 Me:  And we read Luke 2 and act out the Nativity each Christmas Eve.  And Santa leaves you stuff in your stockings and we open presents!  (getting kind of desperate for traditions).
Her:  Ok.
She wasn't convinced, but traditions don't have to be big deals.  Just spending time with family can be the best tradition.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  :)

 On a quilting note, I have lucked out two years in a row at the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild holiday swap.  Last year I received the beautiful rectangular pillow in the back from Jill and this year I was lucky enough to get the square pillow from Amy.  (Amy, it has been loved, snuggled, thrown up on, washed and snuggled some more this month.  Thanks!)  Making and getting pillows is one tradition that I would like to keep going.  ;)

This is the pillow that I made for the holiday swap.  Remember those selvages that I sewed up during the summer?  I made this pillow out of them.  I love it and am going to make myself one next year.  (The trees are just raw edge appliqued on with the ticker-tape technique so they will have fuzzy edges.)

I hope you all had a great Christmas!  Stay safe and warm this holiday season!