Christmas Wrap Up

As always, with Christmas approaching I wanted to make something seasonal.  I've been chipping away at my Christmas in the City bundle and this year added Christmas in the Cabin to the mix.  I've got my Christmas Baubles hanging and I'm sooo close to finishing the Atomic Starburst quilt I started last year so it seemed like a pillow was in order.  I was tempted to make another Swoon pillow but then I spotted this North Star block and decided it would be perfect.  

It's a fairly simple paper-pieced pattern though the sharp angle of some of the background pieces make it a little tricky if you're not used to how paper piecing works.  I know it's meant to use scraps but I would have appreciated some guidelines for block sizes to use for each piece.  

Because I wanted to take advantage of the novelty scene I decided to use a fussy cut circle for the center.  It's been a long time since I've done an inset circle so I did a quick review using this Insetting Circles tutorial by Bill Weeks at Modern Quilt Studio.  Weeks and Bill were a big part of the original modern quilting movement and if you've ever used one of the patterns you know how much attention they pay to both the design and the process.

I used the 12" block but since I like my pillows a little bigger I  wanted to add a border.  Of course I wanted mitered seams to match the lines of the star so that took some remembering as well.  Thankfully my BQF is always there for me with this fabulous tutorial.   

Once that was done I used my first day of holiday vacation to baste it together and quilt.  For the center I kept the quilting simple in the spirit of getting things done and just outlined the star components.  I deliberately made the border the same as my Starburst quilt so I could try out my swag idea.  I definitely won't be doing that on my quilt!  As you can see most of my arcs are a bit wobbly and I don't think it enhances the design.  Back to the drawing board on that one.

Another quick review of my go to zipper closure tutorial by SOTAK Handmade and I was ready for Santa.  It was so nice to have some handwork to do while I relaxed by the tree with some (spiked) eggnog and Scrooged.

Still no quilt but now I have a pillow and a wall hanging.  I put this adorable Patchwork Bow on my Christmas list so we'll see if I can manage to make that as well before I totally wrap up this holiday.  

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow is 18" x 18"
Pattern: North Star FPP Quilt Block by Amanda at Prairie Quilt Co.
Fabrics: Christmas in the City and Christmas in the Cabin by Art Gallery Fabrics.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in SilverWhite (2309).

Cozy for Christmas

Now that these have been delivered I can share. I like to make gifts for my crafty friends so I'm always on the look out for new ideas of things to share.  My BQF started making her own tortillas from scratch so obviously she needs a pretty tortilla warmer!

This summer I found this fabulous Michael Miller Sugar Skulls fabric at Marden's which seemed perfect and paired it with some Cedar Essex.  I don't usually prewash my fabrics but since I was planning to use these around food I did.  When making things to be used in the microwave it's important to use all 100% cotton products.  There are microwave specific battings but I just used up some leftover Quilters Dream Cotton.  

There are a lot of options out there but I loosely followed this tutorial from the Bernina We All Sew site.  Rather than quilting each circle individually, I pre-quilted a section big enough to make 3 warmers (6 circles).

I found working with double fold bias binding a bit fiddly and had a hard time keeping my sewing lines on both sides of the binding, especially on the bottom where I'm binding two layers together.  You definitely want to use bias binding here since you're going around curves.  I think if I do this again I'll make my binding a bit wider or just use my usual quilt method.  It's not something I do often so maybe I just need more practice though after the 3rd one I felt like I'd practiced enough.  

Pattern:  Fabric Tortilla Warmer by Ashley Johnston for Bernina at We All Sew. 
Fabrics: Sugar Skulls by Michael Miller, Essex linen in Cedar.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Cotton.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Rusty Orange (2240) and Pale Pink (2410).

Christmas in the Keys

This is another one I pushed myself to finish up before we leave.  When it became obvious I wasn't going to finish my Bats table topper in time for the holiday I started thinking about Christmas.  I fell in love with this Christmas in the City collection and immediately started dreaming of all the things I could make with it.  

To get warmed up I decided to start with another version of the Christmas Baubles.  For those keeping count this will be my 3rd go at this pattern.  I'm not sure why I keep making it, it's fairly tedious with lots of small pieces.  Rather than marking all those 1 1/2" squares I used the diagonal seam tape method.  It's not as accurate as drawing all those lines but it's much speedier. 

But there's still all that trimming and pressing.  Eventually I finished the blocks and got them together but by then that holiday had also passed.  

I was on a roll after quilting my Bats quilt so I quickly basted this and got quilting.  It felt a bit silly to be quilting snowflakes in Florida but you've got to go with what works.  At least it'll be all ready when Christmas rolls around again.

The local quilt guild here hosts a weekly sew-in at the library so I took this with me to bind while I made new quilt friends.  They're a lovely group and I hope to get more involved when we come back in the fall.  

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 20" x 26"
Pattern: Christmas Baubles by Jen Daley for Moda Bake Shop.
Fabrics: Christmas in the City and Pure Solids in White Linen by Art Gallery Fabrics.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in SilverWhite (2309).

Something Spooktacular

Now that we're getting ready to head back up north I've been making a push to finish up all my WIPs.

I've slowly been getting my Sewjo back and as Halloween approached I realized I didn't have any of my Ghastlies to put out.  I'd picked up this cute little bundle of Art Gallery fabrics at Portsmouth Fabric Co. and thought it would be perfect to whip up something spooky for the holiday and when I saw Prairie Quilt Co.'s Nocturna block for the Soul-a-long hosted by Mija Handmade it sealed the deal.  

It was an ambitious choice given that I'd barely set up my quilt space and I have almost none of my quilting tools.  If I did it again I'd definitely get a log cabin ruler, this is a bit wonkier than I'd hoped.  The blocks are basically just a courthouse steps block with some pieced logs.  I found it easiest to piece all my logs and then assemble the blocks.

It also was a mental challenge to cut and piece the inverse blocks where I swapped the colors.  Having these block buddies definitely helped me keep my sanity!  Thank you Aimee!!!

I originally planned this as a table runner but after playing with a few different layouts I decided to make it a square.  For the quilting I started by just doing a stitch in the ditch around the bats but then I went a little wild and did these FMQ bats.  Some are definitely better than others and it helps that they're very subtle on the busy background but I love the effect!

I just love to relax and hand tack my bindings.  It's such a nice way to slow down and appreciate all the little details.  I can't wait for Halloween to roll around again so I can put it in action!

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 24" x 24"
Pattern: Nocturna by Prairie Quilt Co. for the for the Soul-a-long hosted by Mija Handmade.
Fabrics: Assorted prints from Spooky n' Witchy and Sweet n' Spookier by Art Gallery Fabrics
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo
Thread: Aurifil 50wt in Blossom Pink (2530) and Pale Pink (2410)

Atomic Starburst

I've wanted to make the Atomic Starburst quilt by the adorable Violet Craft for ages and the MCM vibe of this Christmas in the City collection seemed like the perfect match.  I decided to go off book and size this down to make it a bit more of a throw size and I also added a border to frame it up.  

A lot of people have made this quilt but very few give details.  The best are these videos and blog posts by Canary Quilts.  I especially appreciate her measurements for the background paper piecing pieces and her tip for how to cut piece 4 makes all the difference. If you're new to paper-piecing here is another nice tutorial by I See Stars Quilting.  In general I used the template so that my diamonds didn't have bias edges but for the ones with a directional print I found this triangle ruler worked perfectly.  

Another place where I didn't love the pattern as printed was attaching the sashing.  I started by cutting the strips to size and adding them but quickly decided it would be easier to just sew them on to a continuous strip and then cut them to size.  I did this for both the side and the top sashing.

This is another super useful tutorial by Quilt Addicts Anonymous.  She's using a different pattern but it's a similar diamond quilt tutorial and around the 9 minute mark there's a good explanation for cutting the filler triangles and she also has great tips for matching the points on your sashing.  Matching all those points is a bit tricky but once you get the hang of it they go together nicely.

I was on a roll so I went ahead and basted this one but I doubt I'll have enough time to quilt it before I leave.  Now I have to decide if I take it with me or leave it here waiting for my return.

Christmas Caddy

There's nothing like a handmade gift and I definitely wanted to make something special for my BQF.  I spied this cute little Woppet Bucket pattern on Etsy and thought it would be adorable with some of the Christmas in the City fabrics I've been using for my Christmas Star quilt.  

I was on a deadline so I didn't stop to take any pictures of the process.  The pattern is well written and easy to follow and overall I was pleased with the result.  I do like my bags to really stand up on their own so I think if I made it again I'd try a heavier fusible than the Shape Flex 101 suggested or possibly do a quilted outside.  It requires a bit of scrolling (why doesn't IG have better search capabilities?) but Princess In a Pouch has some great tips for using different fillings.

Pattern: Woppet Bucket by Cleverwoppet.  
Fabrics: Prints from Christmas in the City and London Red by Art Gallery Fabrics.  

Thread: Aurifil  50wt Pale Pink (2410)

Pining To Sew

I have a slight pineapple obsession and a huge love for Tula Pink so obviously I was going to buy the Pining for You kit that came out with Daydreamer.  I'm not usually one for kits but with all the transitions happening in my life this was the perfect project for grab and go.  I don't have access to my stash right now so having all the fabrics I needed pre-assembled made this feasible though with 50 different fabrics I might have underestimated.  

The blocks are just challenging enough to be interesting but go together quickly and easily.  They are also fairly basic without a lot of points to match.  I did find it best to press the snowball blocks toward the center rectangle and the crown strips towards the triangles.  That way the seams would nest when I sewed them together.  I also found it useful to square up the snowball blocks and the top flying geese crown block.  Doing that made my borders line up best.  There are definitely a few wonky crowns but in the spirit of going with the flow I decided I could live with that.

I did them in sets of 4 as the pattern is laid out.  I could do a set in about 3 hours which is a reasonable block of sewing time to carve out in a day.

It was definitely an adjustment setting up a workspace at our home in Maine.  I was really missing my studio but I made it work and was able to get all of the blocks made before we left for the season.  

Once we got settled again I squared up all my blocks and got to sewing them together.  Buying a 15 1/2" square ruler definitely made the process easier.

And in almost no time I had a finished flimsy.  I decided to make it a little bigger and added a border so it should fit on a king sized bed.  Now to figure out how to get this quilted so I can put it in action.