Christmas Stockings in August

Surprise, surprise--I've completed yet another Christmas project.  I promise my next patchwork undertaking won't have red, green, or Santa anywhere near it, because I realize just how insane I am.  To be fair, I was raised this way, and in South Carolina right now, my mom is quilting her Christmas stockings and planning her Christmas tree skirt, so obviously it's hereditary.

It's been a couple weeks since I've updated you on my Thimble Blossoms Merry stockings.  I seemed to make very little progress on them for various reasons, but most of all, it's the end of the fiscal year and I'm pretty much just exhausted every day.  The last thing I want to do is work more when I get home (even if that work is more play).  I want to make dinner and read magazines and watch TV.  Finally, last Friday, I decided to end this craziness and just finish everything.  Just do it, Emily!

This sounds completely ridiculous, but I really worried about Nick's stocking.  I make a lot of things for myself, and I know I can fudge it and still be happy.  No one else will notice!  But making something for Nick, who I never make anything for, really worried me.  Thankfully, he loved his stocking front when I pieced it earlier this month, and that was half the battle.

To quilt his, I followed the chevrons: each one is quilted right through the middle.  I did use a "hand-quilting" stitch on my machine, which used a lot more thread than I expected.  Also, it isn't shown, but both stockings are lined with a red Kona, a little darker than the red shown here (JoAnn's doesn't have the best selection).

I also didn't want to fully quilt the backs of each stocking, so for Nick's, I just freehanded a few snowflakes here and there--just enough to keep the stocking back and lining attached.

I made myself the pinwheel variation, and I have to say, I'm not totally in love with it!  I think it's really busy, which is totally my fault.  However, I am still proud of myself for trying it, and I'll still use it at Christmas.

I quilted mine using the lines of the pinwheels: I did two straight lines on either side of the diagonals.  Simple.

To quilt the back, I went a little crazy and outlined a few Santas freehand.  It's subtle, which is fine.

My last steps may be to embroider our initials--I still haven't decided on that.  What do you think?

Also, I wanted to show you a picture of my sewing area:

I've been using my mom's Husqvarna Designer I since May, but she's decided she wants it back, so I've packed it up and am taking it with us when we leave for South Carolina Thursday.  (Don't worry--I'll still have a post for you Monday!)  My poor little table feels so empty, even with everything on it!  I share this space with my dining room table and fabric/cookbook storage, which is why everything looks crammed in--it is.  But it's mine, and until I have an actual sewing area, it will work!

How was your weekend?  Anyone else working on Christmas stockings, tree skirts, or presents?

Small Patchwork Projects

After finishing my quilt top last week, I immediately wanted to get started on another quilt, but I'm lacking some of the materials to get going.  Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of fabric (too much), but I never buy solids for background and I don't have a lot that "goes" together.  I like to make things from the same lines, too, and the easiest way to do that is buy bundles or precuts.  None of which I have!

I didn't want to get behind on patchwork though, so I made a couple small projects.  The first was this drawstring bag from Pretty in Patchwork Holidays.  The tutorial was made available on Sew Mama Sew! last holiday season, but I found the book at Barnes and Noble last week and it won me over!  There are a ton of really cute projects in here, and most are small enough to finish in a weekend.

Again, I never buy solids, so the red and white Swiss Cross bag, as much as I loved it, was not an option!  But last month I won six yards of Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee line from Pink Chalk Fabrics, so I thought I'd use some of that to make a log cabin/cross patchwork design.  I love that design and think it's one of the best mixes of traditional and modern when done in contemporary fabrics.

The bag was so simple and I used three of the prints from the line, though I had a ton of fabric left over (I received six one-yard cuts).  I stuffed my finished quilt top inside to keep it safe from flying cat hair...not that Eleanor ever joins me at the sewing machine.

Right.

I also had a chance to work on our Christmas stockings.  For these, I used Creative Thursday's Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Thimble Blossom's "Merry" pattern.  I bought fat quarters and had pretty sizable scraps!

While using the same line, I didn't want matching stockings, so Nicholas chose the four fabrics he wanted and I chose my four.  Mine are blue; his are the green and red.

Nicholas chose the chevron design for his stocking and I chose the pinwheel, but both gave me the chance to try my hand at half-square triangles.  At first glance, this technique was way over my head, but I did some Googling and looked for tutorials and it made sense.  The hardest thing for me was ensuring all squares were exactly the same size.  Which, of course, they were not.  I should've made a template!

I was able to cut, piece and sew Nick's stocking front yesterday.  I guess I should have paid more attention to the direction of the design?!  Oh well, Nick likes it and I kind of like how crazy it is too.  While the pattern says to use a print and a neutral, I liked the look of two prints.  The chevron isn't lost in the faux-ric-rac or the trees.  There are definitely some mess-ups and my points aren't perfect!  But once it's quilted I'm sure it'll be fine.

I'm trying to only focus on quilting and patchwork during the week, as I mentioned in an earlier post, so over the weekend I like to shift back to clothing.  I'll admit, though, the shift is a little difficult!  Since learning these basic patchwork skills, I've noticed I'm not as drawn to buying yardage of quilting cottons or using them for garments, though I've always used them.  Maybe I'm starting to realize there are different ways to use different fabrics?  I wouldn't call it off completely, but my thought process is different than it was even a month ago.  

Did you work on anything over the weekend?  Next week I hope to have two stockings for you!