Log Cabin Santa Ornament

I really wanted this air mail fabric, but it was expensive. Finally it went on steep enough clearance so I could justify buying a half yard to make something for Amanda. Then I needed an ornament that would show it off. Hence, this very large log cabin Santa. You make a log cabin block and cut it in half, which will yield two ornaments. My block was 8". It's one of the larger ornaments I've made, but it does flatten, despite being very long. My ornaments are usually much smaller, but it's cute and it does show off the fabric nicely!

Selvedge Tree Ornament

In 2015, I made a selvedge tree mini quilt. On the day we left for vacation in November, I woke up at 5:30am with the idea to make a mini one as an ornament for Amanda. Since I was already packed and we didn't need to leave for the airport until 10am, I was able to complete it before we left.

Finished size: 4.5" x 5"

Folded Fabric Hexagon Ornaments

While working on the second Triangle quilt, I decided to make my nieces ornaments to match their quilts, using heart buttons leftover from my batik bags. The left ornament matches the Airplane quilt and the right matches the Triangle quilt. They are the same size as Amanda's hexagon postage ornament.

Folded Fabric Hexagon Ornament

I made this ornament in February. The only other time I've made an ornament for the exchange that early in the year was the little red suitcase. I was looking for ideas on how to quilt my Dresden plate quilt when I came across this ornament, so of course I had to take a detour from quilting to make one. I saw the idea at A Spoonful of Sugar, but the instructions are at Sewing and Beyond. Once I figured out the process, I adapted it a bit and ironed everything into shape before stitching it down. I started with a hexagon with the edges measuring 4" and this resulted in an ornament measuring 4" across with 2" edges. The button is 3/4". I had plenty of Christmas fabric, but I decided that this postage stamp print would show the best once folded, and I prefer to have postage-themed ornaments for Amanda over Christmas-themed ornaments. I made a folded postage fabric ornament in 2014, but this one is a little more intricate.

Churn Dash Quilt

I bought two remnants of this pink and blue fabric that were only a half yard each. With the large pattern, I didn't want to cut them up too small, and I was able to get ten 8" squares out of each. I decided on a churn dash block to highlight them. Fortunately it wasn't too hard to find coordinating fabrics. I really like the contrasting white, but that limited my choices for quilting as I didn't want to quilt with colored thread on the white fabric or with white thread on the pink and blue fabrics, so I ended up outlining each block.

Piecing a Granny Square Quilt without Sashing or Blocks

After two scrap quilts, I still had a shoe box full of 2.5" squares of fabric, but I was left with a lot more of some fabrics and colors than others, so I needed a quilt design that worked with those imbalances. Granny squares provided the solution. In a three ring design, individual squares can be used for the center of the block, the inner ring only requires four squares, and the outer ring requires eight. I had previously made a granny square quilt that involved individual blocks and sashing. One of my scrap quilts involved a granny square design, though those also were able to be pieced as blocks due to the orientation. I knew I didn't want to using sashing or have seams between my blocks, so this quilt was going to have to be pieced in diagonal rows.

My 2.5" squares were organized in stacks, which were sorted by color and fabric. I started by reorganizing them into groups based on quantity. If I only had 1-3 squares of a fabric, it went into the group of fabrics that could only be used for the center ring. If I only had 4-7 squares of a fabric, it went into the group of fabrics for the inner ring. If I had 8 or more squares of a fabric, it went into the group of fabrics for the outer ring. Of course, the fabrics for the outer ring could also be used for the inner rings as well, and quantities left changed as I committed them to a block. I picked one fabric for the center, and coordinating groups of four and eight fabrics for the next two rings. Each group became a little pile.

Scrappy Granny Square Quilt

I started this quilt last year. Then we moved, and all the little squares got packed up. (Sound familiar? In two years, it's my second scrap quilt that's been interrupted by a move.) It completes my second 2018 goal. Even after two scrap quilts, I still had a shoe box full of 2.5" squares of fabric, but I was left with a lot more of some fabrics and colors than others, so I needed a quilt design that worked with those imbalances. Enter the granny square.

This quilt was pieced in diagonal rows to avoid sashing or seams between blocks. With 13 colored squares per "block" and 80 "blocks," this quilt involves 1,040 2.5" colored squares, plus 455 white pieces - 108 rectangles for the border and 347 interior squares - for a total of 1,495 pieces.

My previous granny square quilt had a big granny square block on the back, a design I wanted to repeat. I didn't have enough of one fabric to just do one block, so I extended the design. Unfortunately, it didn't quite align properly on the bottom and left sides. I quilted it in a grid pattern. The front uses white fabric, but the back uses a grey and white print since I didn't want that much white on the back, and I bound it in a grey and white polka dot fabric. 

Finished size: 66" x 85"

Want to make one? Check out the tutorial on how I pieced the top. 

Blue and Beige Triangles

Another triangle quilt, though a slightly different design than the last two. This blue and beige print has been on my list of goals since 2016, so I've probably had it quite a bit longer than that. The blue arrow print was purchased right before our most recent move, but the other two blue prints have been in my stash awhile, as was the lightest of the beige prints. I finally made the decision to finish it up and purchased two beige prints, as well as solid beige and blue fabric, since my previous triangle quilts included solids. Originally, I planned a diagonal design, but, because the arrow print was a remnant, I didn't have enough fabric to do that and the solid beige fabric got eliminated in the redesign.

Baby Triangles, Version 2

I try to avoid making the same quilt twice, but I had a lot of fabric left over from last year's triangle baby quilt. Having bought it leading up to moving, I erred on the side of caution and bought more than I thought I'd need. Conveniently, my sister's friend was expecting a girl and using the same colors for her nursery, and the triangle design just comes together so quickly, plus I had leftover triangles already cut. I used up most of the peach fabrics, so I had to sub in a few fabrics Julie eliminated from her palette. I was worried it wouldn't look as good, but I like the darker pink.

Barbie Dress

A lot of Claire's Barbie clothes are made of shiny material that frays easily, and there is usually a bit of mending for me to do when I visit. I wasn't looking forward to making an entire outfit, but one purple dress was coming apart so badly that I couldn't fix it. I brought it home and took it completely apart to use as a pattern. I wasn't sure how well it would fit, but it ended up fitting well enough. It's not particularly snug, but it's not too loose either, and a bit too big is better than a bit too small.

Barbie is also sporting a pink tulle veil Claire requested.

Fabric Easter Egg

Oh, the joy of twins! You get to make two of everything at the same time, instead of going back three years later and making a second of everything you made the first kid. This egg is for my newest niece. It matches her quilt. I actually thought about making an egg before I thought about making a matching Christmas ornament. This time, I realized we had a metal nail file, so I had a better tool for stuffing the fabric into the Styrofoam.

Dresden Plates Quilt

I made these three Dresden plates before we moved last year, so I was motivated to make this quilt my first project of the year. I only had enough scraps for three Dresden plates, so my first task was figuring out what to do to fill in the rest of the quilt top. Though the design is simple, it still took a bit of calculating to figure out appropriately scaled dimensions for everything, but it came together quickly after that. I have never appliqued a quilt top, so I got some Heat'n'Bond to adhere the Dresden plates to the quilt top before sewing them down. I was very glad I did this before quilting.

Barbie Suitcases

My sister told me that Claire has been sending Barbie on vacation to Disney World, so she needed a suitcase. I told her I could totally make one, as I have experience making tiny suitcases. I just needed some Altoids tins and duct tape sheets. As it turned out, duct tape sheets were on clearance for $0.25 so I stocked up because that is quite a deal and a sign that I soon won't be able to find them. I got pink and rainbow. I couldn't decide on the size so I made two. The big tin is 3.75 x 2.5 x 0.75 inches and the small tin is 2.5 x 1.5 x 0.5 inches. The small tin is more Barbie sized, but the larger tin can actually hold Barbie clothes more easily. I got a 3 pack of the small tins in case multiple Barbies need suitcases; and it turns out she does, because Barbie has 3 sisters, so they are getting rainbow suitcases.

Stamp Book

This was another non-ornament present Amanda sent me for Christmas. She really thought ahead on this one! Each page includes a snippet of the image from every card or letter I sent her this year, along with the stamp. Fortunately I sent her a lot of postcards when we went on vacation or otherwise it might have been a little thin as there was a long drought of letters for a few months after we moved!

Ornament Exchange 2017

Because I made so many macarons last year, Amanda decided to make me a macaron ornament. It is adorable! The "feet" of the macaron are made out of a sponge; the shell and filling are clay. Originally they tried to seal a real macaron, but the cream center didn't seal and then the shell broke. It's probably better for longevity not to have a real macaron on the tree!

Ornament Exchange 2017

This "Christmas in Paradise" ornament includes glitter an various summer themed buttons, but the best one is the armadillo!

Ornament Exchange 2017

Amanda and Chris made us a sand couple instead of a snow couple. The base is wooden balls and the sand is from their yard. The noses are shells and the glasses and sandals are buttons. They are a bit too heavy to hang on a tree, but they stand on their own thanks to the little rubber bumpers you put on cupboard doors. It has been really cold even in Florida this year, but not quite cold enough for enough snow to build snow people!

Ornament Exchange 2017

Amanda actually bought this ornament for last year's ornament exchange. It ended up being more appropriate once I moved back to the cold north, and she decided to do a "warm thoughts" ornament theme this year. The frame was originally plain black, but the pink glitter really spruces it up!

Typewriter Cross Stitch

Amanda cross stitched this typewriter for me last Christmas and I didn't post it because it wasn't an ornament, but technically neither was the unicorn she sent me last year. Since neither of the "ornaments" I sent her this year were designed to hang on a tree, I decided to go ahead and post it. This was actually a notebook, but I decided to frame the cover rather than risk the stitching getting snagged.

2018 Goals

In 2017, I completed four of my six original goals, plus one add-on goal, for a total of four quilts. Not bad for a year which involved yet another interstate move. I don't anticipate a move this year, but our weekends are considerably busier now that we are in driving distance of family, so I'm not getting super ambitious with goals this year beyond what I already have in progress.

Goal 1: A quilt with these scraps of fabric:

Last year I made three Dresden plates out of these scraps. That's all the scraps I had, so now I just need to figure out what to do to fill in the rest of the top. Update: Completed! February 2018.

Goal 2: A scrappy granny square quilt out of my stash of 2.5" squares. I laid out the squares for these blocks before we moved, so they are all bagged and waiting. I'll just need to cut the squares for the sashing. Update: Completed! July 2018.

Potential projects:

• A string quilt 
• A second quilt using the abundance of fabric I have leftover from the Triangle baby quilt. Update: Completed! April 2018.

Should be manageable to finish two quilts, right?