Christmas 2014 Embroidered Ornament Tutorial

Hi everyone:

If you're looking for a quick Christmas gift this year, you'll love this idea! It's simple and fast and so easy to personalize. 

Christmas 2014 Ornament

While I hand embroidered a snowflake to my ornament, you could certainly choose to use the recipient's initial, a word, such as Joy or Peace, or even "Christmas 2014". If you do want to stitch a snowflake, just download my FREE Snowflake Brrr design and use the smaller snowflake design in it.

If you still have some time after making the Christmas ornament, you might want to tackle the Snowflake Brrr design and create a pillow or wall hanging with it. I know you'll have time to create that project too!

Snowflake Brrr design by Chatterbox Quilts

But let's not get ahead of ourselves: let's learn how to make the Christmas 2014 ornament first!

You'll need:

• Two pieces of fabric - one for the front and one for the back. I used squares that were about 8" each.
• A piece of ribbon or rickrack about 6" long for the hanger. I chose a piece of coordinating rickrack.
• A piece of heavy fusible web, just slightly smaller than the fabric pieces.
• A CD, bowl or jar lid - something to trace the circle that will be the finished size of your ornament. I used a CD and found it was perfect for the size I wanted.

Trace the circle onto the right side of one of the fabric pieces. I used a Frixion pen so I could easily remove the traced line later. 

After tracing the circle, I embroidered the snowflake inside the circle, centering the design in the circle.

Snowflake embroidered inside the circle

After I finished tracing the design, I layered the fabric pieces together and cut out along the traced circle with pinking shears. I also cut out a circle from the fusible web with regular scissors, making sure this circle was just a bit smaller than the fabric ones.

Finally, a use for my pinking shears!

Front and back fabrics all cut pinked out

Layer the ornament as follows: back fabric, wrong side up; ribbon or rickrack, folded in half with raw edges in; fusible web; top embroidered fabric. Fuse the ornament together, following the manufacturer's instructions.

Layered up and ready to be fused

Hang your ornament and enjoy! (You did make one for yourself, didn't you?)

All finished and hanging in my house already

If you have additional time, consider adding some embellishments to the ornament. A running stitch or maybe even some beading all around the edge would be lovely (why didn't I think of that when I did this ornament?!). There are lots of ways to jazz up this little decoration. 

I had fun creating this ornament and it only took an hour to whip up.

I hope you'll try stitching your own embroidered Christmas ornament and would love to see your creations.

Happy quilting!

Tutorial - Seasonal Mug Rug

Hi everyone:

Charlie is still recovering from the Christmas holidays

In a previous post I showed you some of the Christmas gifts that I made this year, but there were more. Yes, I made gifts for my office co-workers at school. I made something I've never attempted before - mug rugs! Easy and simple, right? I could whip these up quickly since they were small. But … I had to make 4 (I ended up making 6 so we could have 2 at home) and … I wasn't content to just use Christmas fabric since that would be practical and easy. Yes, I can complicate any project - and I usually do! 

I had some seasonal charm pack fabric in my stash and while I could've just used a different charm square for each tree, which would be the quick and easy method, I decided to piece them together to make the design more interesting. Remember that complication thing I mentioned? Well, you can see how this project started to "snowball" and took me a bit longer than I thought it would. 

Here's how I made them.*

Seasonal Mug Rug Tutorial

• Choose your charm squares and cut them in 4 - you'll have 4 - 1¼" x 5" strips from each charm square. You'll need 8 charm squares for each "tree" (8 - 1¼" x 5" strips).

• Piece 8 strips together to create a rectangle for 1 tree. Piece the extra strips together to create 3 more rectangles. 

• Cut a long triangular shape approximately 6½" x 3" from freezer paper. Ensure that the height of the triangle is shorter than the height of the pieced charm square rectangle and that the width of the triangle is less than the width of the charm square rectangle. Centre and press the freezer paper triangle to the charm square rectangle.

• Cut a rectangle from background fabric to the desired size. My background fabric was 10" x 8", which gave me extra fabric so I could trim it later.  

• Place the charm square rectangle with the freezer paper triangle onto the background fabric, arranging it where desired. I put mine on the right side of the background fabric, about ½" in from the edges.

• Lay your ruler along the right edge of the freezer paper triangle and cut through both the charm square rectangle and the background fabric. Ensure that you cut from the top to the bottom of the background fabric.

• Repeat for the left side of the freezer paper triangle. 

•  The background fabric will now be cut apart and there will be a triangle of background fabric as well as a triangle from the charm square rectangle. Remove the freezer paper from the charm square triangle (notice how it has gone from a rectangle to a triangle - that's higher math!). You can reuse this freezer paper to cut out the rest of the "trees" for the other mug rugs. I haven't yet decided how I'm going to use the background fabric triangle - lots of possibilities there. You won't need it for the mug rug, so put this aside for another project.

•  Now to start stitching things back together! Place the charm square triangle right sides together with one of the background fabric pieces. Ensure that you have these the right orientation and piece them together. The tip (narrowest part) of the triangle will be with the widest edge of the background fabric piece and the bottom (widest part) of the triangle will be with the narrowest edge of the background fabric piece. Press to the background fabric. Stitch the opposite side of the triangle to the remaining piece of background fabric and press.

•  You should now have a raw mug rug that looks something like this. You can now trim it up so all edges are even.

• Layer the mug rug as follows: batting; top, right side up; and backing, wrong side up and then stitch around, leaving an opening to turn the mug rug. Turn the mug rug right side out, pushing out all the corners. Stitch the opening closed with a whip stitch. The mug rugs are looking pretty good, but they still need a little more interest.

• Now it's time for the fun part - adding embellishment to the mug rug. As I was running behind on mine, I decided to keep it simple (a surprise, I know!) and I stitched in the ditch around the tree on each mug rug and then added a decorative feather stitch around the outside edge. If you wanted, you could add words, such as "Joy" or "Noel" on the background fabric with fusible web appliqué. I would caution against using many 3-D embellishments, such as buttons as you want these flat so they can be used for - a mug and goodies. 

This is a great project for last minute gifts and the perfect time to try using out some of those decorative machine stitches that you have on your machine and have never tried. I know I can't be the only one who doesn't use these very often! Another embellishment idea would be to stitch rick rack along the edge or couch decorative threads in a design. You could do some quilting in the background area, but these are so small that I don't think you need more than the stitch in the ditch around the tree and some decorative machine stitching, but I'll leave that decision to you.

Have you ever made mug rugs? What is your favourite pattern for these?

*These were inspired by a video for a tree table runner that I saw from Missouri Quilt Company. 

Quilt Gifts for Christmas 2013

Hi everyone:

It's another cold winter day in Calgary today - I'm beginning to think that we're entering another ice age! What better to do when it's too cold to go outside but to blog about quilting?

Zoolights at the Calgary Zoo

I was busy making several quilty Christmas gifts this year and since the day has now passed I can share these with you. I got a late start on making these, but managed to get them all done on time and mailed out. It's amazing what you can do with a tight deadline - and that seems to be the only way I actually get projects finished!

Christmas table runner made for my parents. 

I made a table runner for my Mom and Dad and have one for myself in similar, but slightly different, fabrics. I still have to quilt this one, but why rush it since I won't need to use it until next Christmas. 
I used the Peace and Joy table runner pattern from Linda Lum DeBono's book, Sew Merry and Bright, (I added different appliqués to it) and a bundle of fat quarters from Connecting Threads that I had in my stash (didn't even need to buy new fabric - yay!).

Table runner detail

The snowflake and reindeer appliqués are cut from AccuQuilt GO! dies and I edged them with a narrow zigzag stitch and used gold metallic thread. I used different quilting motifs in the various fabrics and was pleased with the end result. This project took me a few days, mostly due to the intense quilting on it.

Quilting detail

Table runner back showing quilting detail
Look at those snowballs!

I made a wall hanging for my brother and his girlfriend for their new cottage. This panel and fabric were in my stash too - another yay! 

Wall hanging for my brother

This project did go together quickly and the quilting wasn't as intense on this one, so it was completed in a couple of days. 

Wall hanging detail showing quilting

I made a few more Christmas gifts for close girlfriends. They were a big hit. 

Something to keep you warm at night

Merry Christmas, girls!

I don't think any words are needed for these - a picture is worth a thousand words!

Have you ever made any "controversial" gifts as Christmas presents? I'd love to hear your stories.

Happy Holidays 2013 - 2014

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!

Floral arrangement sent by my parents

I hope you all had a great Christmas and a wonderful start to the New Year.

Teeka & Charlie enjoying Christmas with me

I was frantically finishing up several Christmas gifts this year and partying before the Big Day. For some reason I was running late on not only completing my gifts, but on doing my Christmas baking. Yikes, this never happens in my house! But don't worry, everything was finished in time and I was able to sit back and enjoy the baking and the many chocolates that I received as gifts. I also received a new toy for Christmas and I'll tell you about it in a future post - once I've figured it out (right now it's getting the better of me, but I'm sure that this situation will soon be rectified - may need a bit more chocolate to accomplish this!). 

Table runner detail - a gift for my mom and dad

Now the Christmas trees (yes, we have several) are all down and the decorations put away safely to patiently wait until next December. Our house now looks rather barren as I tend to go a bit overboard on Christmas-fying the house. You might mistake it for the North Pole if you didn't know better. (Yes, I'm in Canada, but I'm not that far north!). 

I'm gradually easing into 2014 and you can look forward to more video tutorials and patterns, but for now I'll leave you with some holiday pictures of Christmas at the Hirst's.

Our side of the front doors

One of our Christmas trees - ready for Christmas morning

My son's collection of Nutcrackers - he receives one each year
The cat has already been "rearranging" these.

I like to change up the decorations on this wall decoration to suit the season
The presents share space with the Christmas robins.

Rudolph guards the Christmas peppermint candle and keeps watch over the presents.

Some of my daughter's snowglobes.

The main Nativity scene - a present from my in-laws one Christmas. We have several in the house.
The angels and trees are also all presents, as is the manger.

Book Review - Christmas is Coming

Hi everyone:

I promised I'd tell you about the other Christmas/holiday/seasonal book that I added to my library this year. Here it is: Christmas is Coming: Appliqué Quilt Patterns to Celebrate the Season by Cheryl Almgren Taylor. 

While I didn't actually meet Cheryl at International Quilt Market, I did see her signing copies of this book at the Martingale booth. I've always been a fan of Cheryl's designs and find her style instantly recognizable. I don't know how she does it, but Cheryl makes even holly and Christmas ornaments her own.

Christmas is Coming by Cheryl Almgren Taylor
Photo courtesy of Martingale

There are 13 projects in the book and it is divided into 3 sections: Home for the Holidays, Celebrate the Season and Rejoice and Be Glad! The projects in the book are for fusible web appliqué, so the designs are already reversed for you. Cheryl includes basic quilt making instructions for piecing, fusible web appliqué and foundation piecing. Christmas is Coming includes a variety of designs great for gift giving from quick table runners to more elaborate wall hangings and even a bed runner, if you don't have time to create an entire quilt.

Welcome Wall Hanging from Christmas is Coming

The Welcome Wall Hanging reminds of Christmas Eve service with its traditional church appliqué and the snow-covered fir trees. 

Christmas Bouquet Wall Hanging from Christmas is Coming

For something which would take a little more time to create, but would be treasured forever, Cheryl has included the Christmas Bouquet Wall Hanging. At 36 ½" square, it would also be lovely as a table topper. I think I would add some hot-fix crystals to this project for some holiday bling.

Home for Christmas Bed Runner from Christmas is Coming

If you want to add some holiday cheer to your bedroom, the Home for Christmas Bed Runner is perfect. You could change the fabric on one of these houses to mimic your own home. 

Christmas Pageant Wall Hanging from Christmas is Coming

I love the touch of whimsy in the Christmas Pageant Wall Hanging! As Cheryl describes it, "This small wall hanging brings back memories of holiday plays at school and Christmas pageants at church." You could use fabric from your children's clothing or even your own to personalize this delightful project. 

I added Christmas is Coming to my quilting library as I liked the variety of designs and the "traditional" feel of the book, and of course, fusible web appliqué is my favourite technique!

Do you have holiday or Christmas quilting books in your library? Leave me a comment to tell me which book is your favourite.

Book Review - Modern Holiday

Hi everyone:

Can you believe that we're already in December? I think that the holiday season creeps up quicker each year and every year I'm determined to create at least one new Christmas quilted item. I'm not talking about a whole quilt, mind you; a table runner or a pillow would be just fine. 

I have many Christmas quilting books and magazines and enjoy adding to my collection. This year I have added two new books to my quilting library, one of which I'll be reviewing today: Modern Holiday : Deck the Halls with 18 Sewing Projects - Quilts, Stockings, Decorations and More by Amanda Murphy.

I met Amanda Murphy at International Quilt Festival in Houston this year and she was kind enough to spend some time talking to myself and Lee of Lala's Lovelys. I had recently acquired her Modern Holiday book so was especially pleased to talk with her. 

Modern Holiday by Amanda Murphy
Photo courtesy of C & T Publishing

There's a project for everyone in Amanda's book. She uses fresh, modern fabrics for the designs in Modern Holiday, which range from full-size quilts to wall hangings and table decorations. 

I love Advent calendars - we have two in our house that we put up every year - so I was pleased to see one in Modern Holiday. While we fill our Advent calendars with chocolate treats, I think I prefer the presents in Amanda's version. The yo-yo bows on the gifts are a nice embellishment which adds texture to the project.

Countdown to Christmas from Modern Holiday

Snowfall is a full-size pieced quilt which uses the connector corner technique to create an intricate design. I enjoy projects that use simple techniques to create complex designs and Snowfall "falls" into this category. The contemporary fabrics against the white background give this quilt a fresh, crisp appeal.

Snowfall from Modern Holiday
 

If you don't have the time to make a quilt, how about some seasonal pillows? These Snowflake Pillows are only one of the pillow patterns in Modern Holiday that can be used to decorate your home during the winter season. Amanda uses fusible web appliqué to create these quick designs.

Snowflake Pillows from Modern Holiday

One of the more complex patterns in Modern Holiday is Trimming the Tree with its quilty ornaments. I appreciate the fact that the ornaments were pieced and did not require specialty fabric to achieve their look. While this project might take a little longer to make, the result would definitely be worth it.

Trimming the Tree by Amanda Murphy

I liked the use of traditional blocks, such as Flying Geese and Hexagons, to create fresh new holiday designs. Complete instructions, colourful photos and a great variety of projects make Modern Holiday a "must buy" for your Christmas quilting library.

In my next post, I'll be reviewing the other holiday book that I had to add to my collection. 

New Christmas Pattern

Hi everyone:

I'm excited to release my latest pattern, Christmas Lanterns. This is a pieced design using half-square triangles and squares. I used a modern Christmas fabric for the sample, which is a real departure for me! 

Christmas Lanterns designed in Electric Quilt 7

I liked the combination of deep red, aqua and white, rather than the traditional green and red that I would usually use.

Christmas Lanterns in modern fabrics

In addition to Christmas lanterns, you can also find other seasonal patterns, such as Bundle Up and Snowflakes a' Fallin' in my website store. 

Bundle Up table runner

Snowflakes a' Fallin' table runner

These are all easy patterns to create and make excellent gifts - Christmas is coming, you know!

Now I'm off to work on some Christmas gifts of my own.