Monday, December 28, 2015

Mr. Snowman! and Christmas finishes

I hope Christmas was a blessing to all and that a wonderful time was shared with family and friends as we remembered the birth of our Savior.  I thoroughly enjoyed some extra time off with hubby as he took vacation time from Wednesday through yesterday.  What a treat!  And since school was out, my son shared that time with us as well.  Christmas Eve was spent at a church service singing old Christmas carols followed by a local tour of the Christmas lights.  We are looking forward to a little more special time together as we celebrate the new year towards the end of the week.  With that, I plan on getting a little quilting and sewing done this week.  But first, a view of all things quilty from Christmas.

Love this cutie!  I made this table  runner from a from Missouri Star Quilt Company pattern last winter.



The week before Christmas, a friend brought her version over for quilting.


I quilted this quite similar to what was done on my, but it also has it's unique touches.  Once stitching was done close to the edge of each appliqué piece, the snowman was quilted with swirls with white 50 weight Aurifil thread  and surrounded in the blue by freehand lines in a lighter blue thread.  


Love these freehand snowflakes for the two light blocks.  One small circle was drawn in the center so there was a bit of symmetry but that was it.  The same light blue Aurifil thread was used for the snowflakes so they would stand out on the light fabric.



This outside border was done simply with loops and simple snowflakes in a medium gray Aurifil thread.  It was pretty busy so there was no reason to do anything intense.  



The back was a medium blue that was also used on the front.  The quilting really shows up well.




Hope you enjoyed Mr. Snowman.  I think you can still get the tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I love snowmen; they are so innocent looking and one of my favorite childhood movies was Frosty the Snowman.  

These adorable machine embroidered pot holders were also a finish prior to Christmas and were given to a wonderful quilty friend.

Two of each of these placemats were made for our Christmas table but did not get done in time.  The binding on the poinsettia is almost done; three more to complete.  The poinsettia should be complete today so we will use at least the three through January.





They look gorgeous on our dining room table.  The fabric is Robert Kaufman from last Christmas.  I really enjoy combining embroidery and quilting.  My Bernina 770 is really getting some embroidery use.  I stitched around the edges of the major parts of each embroidery design to provide some quilt stability and then stippled in the green area with Floriani metallic.  The seams were all stitched in the ditch with my 97D foot.   That foot is awesome!  I skipped the red area but the light cream fabric and outer green were quilted with a larger meander.  Since the fabrics were busy, the focus on these placemats was the fabric and the embroidery designs.  


Then last night I was able to give this wall hanging to a sweet friend whose birthday was the day after Christmas.  I forgot to take a photo once the binding was complete but you'll get the idea.  It was stitched in the ditch except for very light swirl and feather quilting in the outside purple border.  I tried using two layers of batting as well and love the effects.  I really like how this wall hanging turned out and I think the recipient did too.




Finally, I don't get a lot of quilted or hand crafted items from friends for Christmas but a package arrived from San Antonio with this very special gift to be treasured always.  To say the least, I was thrilled.




Have a wonderful and safe New Year's week!  Finish up Friday is today over at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com so join me and check out all the other wonderful Christmas finishes.

7 comments:

  1. The snowman is adorable, love your quilting! The gift you received is so special, looks like it was make to fit the hanger. I especially like the scrappy blocks surrounding the saying.

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  2. Beautiful quilty Christmas items! You have a wonderful New Year's too!

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  3. Oh how lovely - the snowmen are so gorgeous! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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  4. I really like all your quilty things...awesome quilting and embroidery!

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  5. Loved visiting your site. Can't figure out where to follow you though. Thank you for your inspiring projects.

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  6. Such darling projects. I especially love the sayings.

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