Bits of Red and Green

I'm enjoying sitting by the tree today reading and stitching, and was reminded of two small projects that were made for the bazaar so I thought I'd share them before all of the holiday decos start coming down.

We were asked to make tree decorations for the Holly Bazaar so I dug into my scrap bin and whipped up a dozen little scrappy Christmas trees. No real rhyme or reason to the width of the strips, just sewed a slew of them together and then stitched a tree pattern with a variegated green/blue thread. Almost any combination of fabrics worked but it helped to include prints that had some red in them to liven things up a bit.

They were backed with two different red scraps and a simple ribbon tied with a knot was hand stitched near the top for a hanger. About 4-5 inches tall, they are very sweet. Any decos left at the end of the bazaar were packaged up and delivered to our shut-ins, so they all got to be enjoyed.

And my niece Julia kindly crocheted five more of these adorable little stockings for me this year. I like to stuff them with chocolates and candy canes and tied off with a ribbon to keep everything contained. Then I packaged them in clear cello bags. They are fun for the little ones but would be nice at a table setting too. Last year they were put on the bake table but this time around I made sure that they went to the craft table, and, as usual, they were a gone in no time. The pattern comes in two sizes.

We're waiting for an ice storm to roll in overnight so I'm going back to the tree to enjoy my stitching and a nice cup of tea, hoping that it doesn't bring as much bad weather as is forecast....M

Merry Christmas!

With all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas now behind us, I'm settling in to enjoy what I consider my day of indulgence. Usually on Boxing Day I stay in my PJs, find a puzzle and work on it until it's finished in the wee hours of the morning - no running, no meal prep, no nothing, except a little quiet time for moi. This year, I'm switching it up a bit and picking up my cross stitch. There'll be Christmas carols, munchies and likely a holiday bevvy or two - my perfect day of stillness amid all of the hustle and bustle.

Merry Christmas to you and yours and may you find time to enjoy your special moments as well....M

One Quilter's Trash...

You know that saying, "One man's trash in another man's treasure"? Well, there was a little bit of that going on for the Holly Bazaar this year as well. Jan had brought remnants from a friend in to the quilting group so I brought them home to take a good look at them and found 6 panels of this fruit print that had obviously been cut for a project and never used. 

I couldn't get them out of my head and so when matched up with this green and cream, they became the fodder for a set of four placemats.

Originally the green was to be a narrow strip separating the cream and the larger print...

but as time went on I transitioned the green to the binding instead, using only two prints for the placemats themselves. Simple diagonal quilting was enough to finish them off.

And this butterscotch check made for a nice backing.

There were two more panels left so I whipped them up into matching potholders, only this time I used the check instead of the cream print.

In a moment of inspiration I realized that I could lay them both out at the same time to machine quilt them rather than quilt them individually. And one or two strokes with my Hera marker was all that was needed to get them started; I used the guide on my walking foot to do the rest of the spacing. Easy peasy. 

Even with my small projects I like to pin them so things don't shift in the quilting.

I played a little thread chicken along the way. Thankfully I ran out close to the edge, so not a lot of ripping out.

In my wisdom, I didn't take photos of either of the finishes, but they did turn out nicely and now someone is enjoying them on their table. Just love making good use of scraps, both mine and someone else's....M

I Made A Christmas Topper, Too

It's always nice to have good variety on the Holly Bazaar's craft table so during October and November I was busy trying to ensure that happened.

This little topper pattern I found on Pinterest, but I could find neither the maker nor the pattern name, so I made up my own pattern from the image. Interestingly, similar to the nine patch that I showed a few posts ago, it also had a fair bit of black in it, which is unusual for me to use in Christmas pieces.

It was helpful to lay everything out and then systematically work through the pieces and sections, 

starting with the corner units.

After all of the quilting that I put into the last runner the quilting on this one was a breeze!

The inspiration photo that I was working from showed a black binding, which made sense given the black cornerstones, but that just seemed a little too lugubrious for the holidays, 

so I used the red that was in the topper. Much more Christmassy.

And it's backed with a red gingham, which continued to cheer it up.

Ta-da!

It must have sold fairly quickly because I don't remember seeing it hang around on the craft table for very long. I love knowing that my pieces are being enjoyed by others....M