A little break

I'll be taking a break for some family time. I'll be back late next week, with lots of finishes to share.

wishing you peace and comfort, friends.

Holiday Craft Bash: Wrap up

Good morning! I hope that the tutorials shared during the Holiday Craft Bash have helped get your house holiday-ready! I had so much fun sharing with you. It was certainly challenging and there were a couple of stressful moments, but overall, it was a great experience. I learned a lot, and I am so happy I was able to work with Meredith, Jessica and Debbie!

To recap, here's a list of the tutorials provided:

Debbie's projects
Scrappy Classic Stocking
Joy Centerpiece
Randot Table Runner
Winter Night Pillow
Christmas Tree Farm
North Pole Tree Skirt

Jessica's projects
Abominable Snowman Stocking
Leg Lamp Pillow
Frosty Advent Calendar
Grinch Placemats
Buddy the Elf tree skirt
Charlie Brown ornaments

Meredith's projects
Flowering Pleats Pillow
Vintage Embroidered Tree Skirt
Christmas Table Runner
Santa Canvas Wall Hanging
Christmas Tree Coasters
Embroidered Stocking

My projects
Scrappy Stocking
Hexagon Tree Skirt
Christmas Plus Pillow
Zig Zag Table Runner
Embroidered Gift Tags
Happy Trees Mini Quilt

Thanks for playing along with us! As a grand finale, some pretty awesome final prizes have been arranged! There are two grand prizes. First, you could win a fat quarter bundle with ELEVEN prints of Kate Spain's Cuzco line!

This prize is courtesy of Sewn Studio.

The second prize, from Anna Maria Horner, is a THIRTEEN-pattern collection.

Lovely prizes, yes??

To enter, share a project you've made from one or more of our tutorials over in the flickr group! That's it! Each project is a separate entry, so get to making!

Meredith will draw two winners this Friday, December 21st.

Good luck, friends!

Winner! Cookies!

My to do list never seems to end, but I'm enjoying the month of December, are you? It is flying by, though.

Let's get this winner announced, first thing!

The winner of this mega box of scraps is sshuttrbugg!

She just responded to my email, so I will be shipping her scraps out asap! Thanks to all of you that entered. I will definitely do another scrap giveaway!

Saturday, we had our third annual cookie day at my mom's. A few friends came, and we made dozens and dozens (and dozens!) of cookies. Each person brought a couple of recipes, and at the end of the day, we went home with a nice variety of tasty treats!

Sadly, I didn't get pictures of all cookies, but my friend Julie made these homemade oreos!

Amy made these candy cane crinkle cookies.

I made this cranberry pecan shortbread. I also made these chocolate peppermint crinkle cookies for the second time.

I'm off to make my fourth (and final, for 2012) tree skirt! Yay for custom orders!

SMS Giveaway Day!

December is here, which is insane. Truly. I've enjoyed participating in Sew Mama Sew's giveaway day several times now, and today, I'm sharing a box of scraps!

This box holds just over 2.5 pounds of scraps. Yes, 2.5 POUNDS. I love to use scraps, and I thought I'd share the love!

Some of these pieces are more like fat quarter size. There are lots of modern fun fabrics in here!

To enter, just leave a comment (only one!) and make sure I have a way to contact you (if you are a no-reply blogger, you have to leave me an email address!).

I usually include international winners, but for this giveaway, U.S. participants only. This box is too heavy to economically ship elsewhere!

Thanks for visiting today. I'd love it if you came to visit another time, but I know you've got tons of giveaways to enter right now! Head on over to Sew Mama Sew to enter more giveaways! I'll choose a winner Friday morning!

ETA: Comments are now closed. Thanks!

HCB: Zig Zag Table Runner Tutorial

And here we are. The last Holiday Craft Bash tutorial!

Today, I've got a Zig Zag Table Runner for you. This was almost the tree skirt, but I felt it would be better suited for a table than under the tree.

Directions below are for 1/4" seam, unless otherwise noted.

List of materials:

-1 charm pack (or forty 5 inch squares)
-1/2 yard of coordinating solid
-1 yard of backing fabric
-FQ of binding fabric
-batting
-60 degree triangle template

Directions:

1)Sew charms into pairs.

2)Next, sew the pairs into four-patches. (if you are using a charm pack, remove two squares). You should have ten four-patches.

3)Cut your solid fabric into 8 1/2" strips along WOF.

4)Now, using your triangle template (you can get one here!), cut eleven triangles from your solid fabric.

5) Again, using your template, cut a triangle from each four-patch. Consider rotating your template over the fabric, to get a different arrangement of the fabrics.

6) Alternating solid and scrappy triangles, sew three rows of triangles.

Each row should have seven triangles, and two rows should start/end with a solid piece.

7) Sew these three strips together, with a solid-start strip on either side of the scrappy-start strip. You will have jagged ends!

8) Now, we'll square up our short ends.

9) Cut your backing fabric slightly larger than the front.

10) Baste!

11) Quilt as desired. I chose to quilt the scrappy triangles in a free motion loop and the solid portions in "organic" zig zags.

12) Trim your quilt square. Make your binding.

As usual, I used a 2 1/2" wide binding.

13) Apply your binding.

Finished!

Thanks for checking out the Holiday Craft Bash tutorials, and thanks especially to Meredith, for inviting me to contribute! It was a challenge, but very fun!

And be sure to check out the last tutorials from Jessica, Debbie and Meredith this week! Please make sure you add any finished projects to the flickr group!

Monday

I cannot even believe the response to the happy trees mini! Friday, Sew Mama Sew posted the project in a collection post, and over the weekend, it got tons of views. How exciting!

I had a busy week, although I didn't end up working on all of the items I mentioned last week.
I have the x & + bug.

I now have fifteen blocks! I've been cutting for them as I cut for other projects. They are so fun to make.

I finished the top for that postage stamp pillow I mentioned last week.

On a whim, I cut into my Happy Drawing panel and stitched up these fun little stuffed animals for Mr. Oliver.
I think they will be a fun gift for him!
I intend to stitch up a few extras.

I'm also working on a set of stockings for a custom order. I really love these fabrics together! I'm using my tutorial found here.

In knitting news, I finished a shawl on Saturday, and started a hat!

I haven't blocked the shawl yet, but I hope to do so soon. And the hat is about halfway done already! I love how fast a hat can happen.

I probably won't be back in this space until the weekend.

For those of you in the states, have a very happy thanksgiving! And for the rest of the world, have a wonderful week! <3

HCB: Happy Trees Mini Quilt

Hello, hello. I cannot believe how fast November is flying by! Here we are, nearing the end of our Holiday Craft Bash.

Today, I've got a little mini quilt tutorial for you. This little mini definitely gives me a Bob Ross vibe.

When I was planning my project for this week, I wanted to use some of the scraps generated by my Hexagon Tree Skirt.

List of materials:
fabric scraps, cut into triangle shapes
Fusible interfacing (I use Pellon SF 101)
Batting (approx. FQ size)
Fat quarter of background fabric
fat quarter of backing fabric
1/4" yard of binding fabric
small scraps for tree trunks
Basting spray I use the June Taylor brand, found at Joann) or safety pins

Directions

1) Iron interfacing to wrong side of tree and tree trunk pieces. I laid mine out on a strip and ironed all at once. Just make sure you don't iron directly on the interfacing!

2) Cut out all pieces.

3) Baste your background fabric to your batting.

4) Plan your layout. Make sure you work with at least a 2" border, and lay out the trees in a desirable fashion.
At this point, it's helpful to take a picture of your layout!

5) Pin your first tree (starting with the trunk if applicable) to the background. Using a walking foot (if you have one), topstitch the trunk and tree to the background. You can use decorative stitches if desired.

6) Continuing with the remaining tree pieces, applique your happy trees.

I went out of order with some of my trees, to create a little interest.

7)Once you have appliqued all of your trees, create a ground level with a few lines of quilting. I used brown thread for this, but feel free to use whatever feels right! You could use white for snow, perhaps. But in Texas, the ground is brown in the winter.

8) Now, we need to attach our backing fabric. Baste the back fabric to the other side of the batting.

9) Now, quilt around the trees! You could choose to quilt over them, but I like the effect of quilting around them.
I tried to create some movement with wavy lines. Have fun with this!

10) When you are satisfied with your quilting, trim your mini down to the desired size. My mini is 16" x 19". Make sure you leave at least an inch border, so your trees don't get covered up by the binding!

11) Make binding. I used 2 1/2" binding with a 3/8" seam allowance.

Apply your binding to the front of the quilt using your machine.

12)Apply your binding to the second side. I adore the hand sewing process on the second side, but you can surely apply it by machine if that's your thing!

13)Admire your forest of happy trees!

Please be sure to check out the other tutorials from this week!

Debbie and I were thinking along the same lines. Check out her Christmas Tree Farm mini!

Meredith is sharing her santa canvas (that you might recognize from our graphic!), and Jessica made a Frosty Advent Calendar! As always, if you make something from our tutorials, please add it to the Holiday Craft Bash flickr group!

We're taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday next week, but I'll have my last installment up the following Thursday!

patchy patchwork

I've been working on a variety of patchwork projects.

A little Shoo-fly, for my month of do/Good Stitches, in blues and grays.

Some super scrappy improv, for a "to be determined" project.

I really love this kind of sewing. Using up little bits and making fun shapes. That's what it's all about.

I finished this pillow in time for my craft show, and it sold. Now, a friend has asked for another similar pillow! So, I'm cutting some 2.5" squares today.

I also decided to make some progress on my long-lingering Single Girl quilt top. I finished the third quarter blocks this weekend.

And finally, I intend to finally sew a second Prairie Braid this week. I've got the scraps cut to size.

Variety is the spice of life, right?

Enabler alert: Pink Castle is having a one-day sale with the code "VETERAN20" for 20% off everything.

Have a wonderful Monday, full of patchwork!