Xmas finish: stockings for my siblings

ONE of my 4 goals for December got checked off:

finished making three Christmas stockings, for me and both of my siblings.  

Made from my own pattern and technique, detailed with a tutorial here.  It had been so long since I sewed up the first of the 3 stockings that I actually referred back to my own tutorial.  Hooray for taking good notes!  (And posting them online where I can find them again.)

Interior: reproduction fabrics (left) vs. back of actual vintage quilt (right)

Raw materials?  One vintage 1930s quilt, well-loved and used by the whole family during our growing-up years; I was so surprised that Mom still had this among her possessions.  
 

Reverse sides

There was no salvaging this quilt.  There wasn't even enough "good" area to make a throw pillow.  So these Christmas stockings are the perfect choice:

• They will be taken out and admired once a year
• They will receive minimal handling
• They might never get washed (have you ever washed a Christmas stocking?)
• Many of my holiday decorations invite nostalgia and strong memories--these will fit right in 

 

Although I had set four December goals, these stockings were my must finish item.  So I'm linking up with One Monthly Goal.  Check out some other finishes there!

Elm Street Quilts - One Monthly Goal December finish link-up

I like that writing down my goals helps me to remain focused--even when I take a detour mid-month.  I should do this more often...

Merry Christmas (I'm not sewing)

In the Christmas spirit, I thought I'd share...

Holiday-themed sewing ideas that I had taken pictures of:

This was a pillow for sale.  Would be a very easy make--I even have plenty of Xmas-themed fabrics.  Next year? 

 

 Photo taken by me in Sydney, Australia.  I was there for Christmas 2016.  I think I kept this photo because it reminded me of the Bernina & Zen Chic quilt-along that took place in 2017-18.  I have a thing for triangles, sigh.  Must work up something triangle-y for 2019...

Although I'm not sewing today, this is the time of year when I start planning my sewing projects for 2019.  Hope you have some time with family or friends, and that your sewing brings you joy in the New Year!

How to turn a Quilted Wallhanging into an Advent Calendar

For years, Sweetie has been on the hunt for a crafty/DIY Advent Calendar.  And been thwarted every time.  But not this year!

Charlotte, the long-needled Southern pine (flocked, for modesty)

This year, as we took out the holiday decorations, and put up our gaudy Christmas tree (aka Charlotte), she happened to mention an "advent calendar" that I apparently had put away last year.

I was perplexed.  I had no such advent calendar.

Ah, but I did have a neglected small holiday wallhanging.  Made from scrap fabrics, it was inspired by a project Barbara shared over on her Cat Patches blog.  In 2015 this was a class at the shop, teaching all the different techniques I know for making half-square triangles.  (How many techniques do you know?)  But it had languished in our house since then, not even getting a hanging sleeve put on.

 

So, how does one turn a quilted wallhanging into an Advent calendar?  I quickly rejected the idea of creating pockets, since the wallhanging was quilted and bound and finished.  I settled on buttons.  Twenty-five buttons, nicely spaced, that would hold small "somethings".  (What exactly was to be hung from the buttons was not mine to decide.  Sweetie is excellent at internet research.)

 In addition to a robust fabric stash, I have a surprisingly large button stash as well.  I found 16 identical green buttons, and filled in with red and silver/metal buttons, all from stash.  In order to be able to hang things from the buttons, they needed to be shank style.  Unfortunately, only the metal buttons came with shanks.  So I sewed each red and green button on over an object in order to make a thread shank after the fact.  Do you recognize said object?

It's a bobbin-holder.  I have used a toothpick for this task in the past, but I wanted to raise these buttons pretty far off the surface of the wallhanging.  This gave me uniformity from button to button, and worked like a charm.

Other note: my thread here was YLI Jeans Stitch, a high-quality 30-weight polyester thread that is strong and remarkably lovely to stitch with.  Its heavier weight meant that the shank built up nicely with fewer individual stitches.

Button with thread shank: a thing of beauty

And what, you may ask, is adorning this Advent Calendar?

Umm, would you believe Lego ornaments?  Sweetie managed to find a kit to construct Lego Friends countdown calendar ornaments--make one each day, then hang it on the tree.  And, because Sweetie is secretly still 8 years old (falling easily in the 6-12 age range suggested on the Lego package), this seemed like the perfect thing to make 25 little "somethings" to hang from the buttons.


My favorite ornament so far?  The microscope.  This is in honor of my parents, who were both scientists.  And my brothers, who are both engineers.

I can tell you're jealous.

And thus, after several years of longing, we have our crafty/DIY Advent Calendar.  Turns out, it was (almost) here all along.

Anything you would do differently?  I welcome helpful comments and suggestions.

She Likes It! Christmas Quilt Unwrapped

Now that the Christmas dust has settled, and the shredded wrapping paper gone to the bin, I can happily report on the largest quilt I've ever made: she likes it!

Here is the inspiration.  A painting from her house, that her husband said encapsulated the kind of art she likes.

Also, "her favorite color is purple."  These are the fabrics I pulled.

And I put them together pretty much in that order, using a variation on Elizabeth Hartman's Metropolis pattern from her book Modern Patchwork

One quilt "block".  King size.  Purple?  Check.  But not quite in line with the inspiration artwork.  No problem, this quilt has 2 sides, I'll just make it reversible!  And so, I moved far far away from my comfort zone...

Bought a giant swath of stunning fabric: Discovery Tree, from Frond Design Studios (whose mission is "to keep hand-designed art in fabric") and started playing around on my design wall.  My main concern was how to let the fabric be the star--not cut it up into blocks and lose all its fabulousness.

I had one repeat of another Frond fabric, Metamorphosis Hurricane, so I worked to insert one of its motifs into the fiery party.  And I was off and running!

"Running" is not quite the right word for it.  Despite using a free-form, improv cutting and piecing technique, I was tortured about every cut and placement.  I spent hours deliberating over which fabrics to insert, as I gently pried apart the flames to inject variety and break up the five repeats within the main fabric.  Used two different colors of Moda Grunge fabric along the top and bottom, but continued the set-in bits of color there as well.

So worth it!  The look on her face, the squeals of "I can't believe you made this for me." And, "How did you manage to keep this a secret for a whole year?"  Yep, Christmas joy, right there.

Thanks for reading along this far.  I have a tendency to gush over my completed projects.  It's the main reason I started blogging: to track my finishes, and to tell a complete story with each quilt.

Since this is such a big finish, I'm linking up with TGIFF



hosted this week by Kathy's Kwilts and More.  Follow the link to see some other amazing December finishes--I think many of us have been keeping mum on Christmas projects.

To Cathy. Love, Alla

A Special Stocking

One of my goals for September--Memento Stocking--finished!


Last seen during fabric auditions. I showed some of my color ideas to the recipient, and she gave me carte blanche.  As long as I used the pocket and name tape from the uniform of the Marine being honored, she had no opinion about the rest--yay, who doesn't love picking fabrics?

This stocking was made using my tutorial. I have had a great time personalizing each stocking I make for a specific recipient, and using special, meaningful materials.

I used part of a sleeve from the uniform to make a bias strip for the toe detail.  I also added batting to the cuff to make it feel more substantial.

Name obscured for the family’s sake

I felt so very honored to make an item that will remind the family of their fallen loved one.


Linking up with Finish it Up Friday, hosted this week by Sarah at Georgia Girl Quilts.  Happy to have a finish(!) and to check out marvelous, motivating work by others.

Cheers!

Christmas in July anyone?

It's July!  Already?!  Am I the only one who said, "Wow!" to this flip of the calendar?

Much busy sewing is happening this month, for various outside purposes.  The one that's got me most excited?  A blog hop: sharing ideas for Christmas sewing projects.

I will be one of the participants, so I'm getting going on my super-secret sewing right away.  No spoilers, but here's a picture to set the mood

Is this style dated?  Didn't think so...

Check back for the big reveal after July 14th.  There are 25 participants to this blog hop, so there will be lots of inspiration to get you in a holiday mood, with plenty of time to actually get some handmade Christmas sewn this year.

And if anyone reading this has Christmas-y things they have blogged about in the past, I'd love to come visit! 

I leave you with a previous Christmas-in-July blog hop post from 2013: made a new outfit for a fancy Santa.