Christmas 2010

It’s been so long since I posted.  I started working  on Christmas presents early this year (I had a lot I wanted to make!)  and then didn’t want to post them in case the recipients were checking the blog!  So, here’s what I’ve been working on over the past few months.

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The first quilt was made for my Aunt Patti & Uncle Jerry.  Patti sent me a picture of a quilt she liked in an artist’s open studio that was made using batiks with circles.  So, I whipped up this wall hanging with some batiks I had.  I decided to to add the circles using raw edge applique because I haven’t quite managed circles yet.  I’d really like to learn how to piece circles sometime this year, but for now raw edge applique works for wall hangings.

I have to give a shout out to Weeks & Bill Ringle of Funquilts for their amazing binding method.  I definitely still have room for improvement, but I’m really happy with this method of binding.

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The next project was a set of rag letters for my great nephew, my niece, and a daughter of a dear friend from high school.  I’ve read research about the benefits of tactile manipulation of letters in improving the understanding of kiddos learning their letters and thought these would be perfect for the little ones in my life.  They’re pretty time consuming to make but are great ways to use up small pieces of fabric and batting.  I also got to practice my free motion quilting and tried doing different patterns for each letter.  Here’s a link to the blog, Ohsohappytogether where I found the tutorial: Rag Letters Tutorial.  I made little drawstring bags to hold the letters using an alphabet fabric which I think complements the rag letters perfectly

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The next project was for my Mom and Grandma, rice heat therapy bags.  These bags are great for aches and pains, they contain rice which  holds heat for about a half an hour after 2-3 minutes in the microwave.  I love to heat one up and put it under the sheets a few minutes before I go to bed in the winter, it heats those cold sheets up right away!  It’s very easy to make, but while the tutorial recommends putting essential oils in with the rice I found that to be too overpowering and  instead I cut up dried cinnamon sticks and put a few tablespoons of those in with the rice.  The tutorial is available from Sew, Mama Sew!

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I made the next quilt for my Dad for Christmas.  I used all blue fabrics for the star pattern.  The back is a much more modern look with solid blocks of color.  I have to say that the back is a bit more up my alley, but I think Dad will prefer the front.   A friend from my quilt guild, Beth, helped me pick out the binding color which picks up a green some of the fabrics in the stars and gives the quilt a crisp, but slightly surprising edging.

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