Skip to main content

More Christmas Sewing

A couple of years ago my mom gave me this kit to make a quilted Christmas wallhanging. This year I was determined to get it made up so I can enjoy it. I bumped it up on the to-sew list over some other things that had definite deadlines. The sewing wasn't at all complicated and assembling the top went very quickly.

Christmas wall hanging

I followed the layout guide as exactly as I could. Some of the fabrics included were different than those used in the diagram. The red for the ornament was different from the blue and green, so I put it in the middle. But, I didn't consider how that would affect the border blocks. There is a lot of green in the lower left hand corner that I didn't notice until I had it all together.

Christmas wallhanging

I haven't put the binding on yet, but I really like the candy cane stripe fabric included for it.

Christmas wall hanging

The ornament tops are machine appliqued. I started hand embroidering the hooks, but it was taking a long time and wasn't looking that great so I ripped it out and stitched it by machine, tracing over the line three times. Much more efficient and it looks just as good as my embroidery would have.

I'm looking forward to putting the finished project up soon. But, after I got to this point, I switched gears and did some work on gifts for my kids' teachers. I started with this tutorial, but modified it a bit.

Covered Journals

I moved the patchwork strip to the other side of the cover and added a ribbon loop to hold a pen. I saw this on a different journal somewhere and thought it was a nice touch. I won't include these particular pens, but didn't have the right ones when I took the picture.

Covered Journals

I find teacher gifts to be a tricky thing, but that's a discussion for another time. I hope they like them!

Next up: Christmas-y clothes for the fam...
Labels:

Comments

  1. MushyWearDecember 12, 2011 at 1:29 AM

    The wall hanging is adorable and I'll bet the teachers love what you have done with customizing these journals!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jane MDecember 12, 2011 at 7:16 AM

    What a delightful wall hanging....Christmas-y but also contemporary. And those journals are beautiful. You gave me some ideas about kimono scraps in my collection.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grocery Bags

More gifts! These are just like the still-all-too-ubiquitous plastic grocery bags, but they're fabric.  I followed this tutorial and you actually use a plastic bag as a pattern.  The instructions are very good and include a pocket so that the bag can be folded up and is easy to keep in a purse or a car's glove box. Mostly for the sake of the gift recipients, here's how to fold up the bag.... 1.  Lay the bag pocket side down and fold it length-wise using the edges of the pocket as a guide. 2.  Fold it in half, aligning the top of the handles with the bottom of the bag. 3.  Fold in half again and then reach into pocket with your hand and turn the whole thing (pocket included) inside out. Happy shopping!
3 comments
Read more

Shopping Bags

Most stores in our town charge you a nickel for a plastic bag when you check out. I love this practice and the way that it encourages people to bring their own cloth bags or reuse their plastic ones. My habit of bringing along bags to the grocery store is well established, but I used to find myself stuck at places like the drug store or farmer's market or other impromptu stops. Then I picked up a bag at an upscale kitchen goods store that rolls up quite compactly. Now I keep that in my purse, so I always have a bag with me. I like my bag so much that I wanted to replicate it for the art sale. The final result is a hybrid of the bag I purchased and these that I made last year. The bag is a little bigger than the average plastic grocery bag. The velcro tab is used to keep the bag rolled up, but also can close the top of the bag when it is full. Most of the bag is a single layer of cotton, but the handles are faced. There is a double row of top-stitching around both edges of
12 comments
Read more

The Burda Skirt Again

I'm not sure what prompted it, but awhile ago I decided that I needed a green skirt. The last time I was at Fabricland I saw this green wide-wale corduroy. I wasn't really looking for the skirt to be corduroy and the color was a little different than I was hoping for, but since I had my eyes peeled for awhile and hadn't seen anything better, I thought I'd try the corduroy. After looking for a suitable pattern, I settled on the Burda 2/2010 skirt that I've already used three times . Because of the weight and bulk of the corduroy, I didn't want to try to mess with too many details. I'll use another skirt pattern soon. Really, I will. One of the things I really like about this pattern is the pockets. This time I made the pocket facings and part of the pocket bag out of a cotton woven solid to reduce bulk. Since I'll be wearing this skirt with tights I added a lining. Adding the lining was really simple except that I cut the lining exactly the sam
14 comments
Read more