Archive for the ‘sew it’ Category

This is the busiest December I can ever remember.  I’m up to my up to my eyeballs in cookies again this year.

Despite all the cookies and all the work, I’m trying to work on a few little sewing projects.  I’m making bed warmers for gifts.

And here and there, I’m working on a new runner the buffet table where we place our Nativity Set.

At first I thought I would make a runner out of red wool…. but the more I thought about it, I decided to make a runner as quiet and understated as my Nativity set.

For the main fabric, I chose a Robert Kaufman Essex Linen- in the color Flax.  It is the most awesome fabric and I love sewing on it.

The snowflakes are a creamy white bamboo felt.  I found a wonderful method for making snowflakes on Purl Bee.  I printed their template, cut them out and stitched right on top the paper.  I shortened my stitch to make tearing away the paper easier.  The other trick I found out the hard way is to back stitch at every point, so I don’t tear the stitches away with the paper.

Once the snowflake is stitched, I’ve used my nice, small, embroidery scissors to cut around each snowflake.  I’m stitching little sequins and beads on the snowflakes to give a little sparkle.

I’m planning on hand quilting the runner echoing around each snowflake.

I’m still playing catchup for my Bee’s Knees Quilting Bee Blocks.

This is the October block for April. It was paper piecing and I’ve found something out about myself:  Paper piecing goes against my nature.  I’m just too “waste not” to be very good at it.  I even called my friend Amy to talk about the block, and she said the biggest hurdle for paper piecing is to get over wasting fabric… give yourself plenty of extra.

But I must be stubborn, because I kept trying to get away with pieces too small.  I must admit, that despite my frustration, I love this block.  It’s very pretty.

I’m 100% sure I’ll never make a whole quilt from it, but I’m very happy I had the chance to make one block.  It was a good challenge for me.  If you’d like to try your hand at paper piecing, this block pattern can be found here.  And I used this paper piecing tutorial here.

Now I just need to whip up November’s block and I’ll be all caught up.  With any luck, I may even finish it today…. in November.  Wouldn’t that be novel?