Penguin Quilt

 

Like the reindeer quilt, this quilt was also on my list of aspirational goals for 2025. It experienced some delays in completing it. I almost finished it in May - it was completely quilted and ready to bind - but then I decided to rip out all the quilting and buy a walking foot. With so much straight-line quilting, it had pulled badly. It took about 12 hours to undo all the quilting, but it was worth it. The walking foot made a big difference, especially when it came to the binding.

Penguin Cocoa Mug Ornament

 

I have wanted to make a cocoa mug ornament before, but didn't necessarily want to go through the effort of working out the dimensions. I started with a toilet paper tube cut in half, then I rolled up some quilt batting scraps to fill it out and glued a pieces of brown felt to the top. Next I cut the felt to size, whip-stitched it and folded it over, then whip-stitched it to a circle to create the mug and inserted the cocoa. I rolled some felt to create the handle and glued it in place, then stitched in on. I wanted to decorate the mug, but didn't settle on a design until after I'd stitched it. (The penguin brads were previously used for stockings.)  I considered using pompoms for marshmallows, but ended up rolling felt strips and gluing them in place. The cocoa insert is only glued in where I inserted the baker's twine for the hanger.

 

 

Finished size: 2.5" high by 2" wide, plus handle

A Trio of Stockings

The appliques on these stockings all came from the same fabric. I had prepared the designs for applique when I made stockings in 2019, but I never got around to finishing them because applique is a bit of hassle.

Penguin Stockings

I made some mini stockings in 2019, but I last made mini stockings for Claire and Lucy in 2017. Even then, I had enough for 2017-2021, so there wasn't a lot of motivation to make more, even though I had plenty of potential fabric. As it turns out, Lucy was obsessed with the mini stockings this past Christmas. I included the annual stocking as their first "Countdown to Christmas" gift, and she was sad when she didn't get another one the following week, so that motivated me to finally makes some more. I'm now good through 2028, so I've got to stop. This penguin matches the red set I made in 2017. 
 

Penguin Stockings

My sister is having another baby in November! This meant doubling all the stockings I made earlier this year. I found these cute penguin brads and knew they would be perfect for stockings. The set also had blue and green penguins, so those may show up in later stocking designs.

The blue snowflake fabric was the only one I didn't have enough of to duplicate, so that will be for Claire this year, and the new baby will get a different design.

Penguin Stocking

Last year I made Santa stockings for Claire and her friends. When I went home for Christmas, my sister thought it would be nice to have a stocking for each year. So I came home and started churning out stockings with every kid-friendly holiday fabric I had. Turns out I had 6 fabrics that met the criteria. I had to backdate two since this is her third Christmas, and I figured four years into the future was plenty. This is will be the 2014 stocking, to match the baby-friendly penguin ornaments I made for her first Christmas. I love these penguins!

Zippered Penguin Pouch

I made this zippered pouch for the penguin ornaments I made last Christmas. I'm surprised it didn't occur to me to make a storage bag for them to being with, but recently I've been brainstorming reasons to make bags in order to use recycled zippers. I think this bag will be large enough to store the mini tree skirt and little stuffed penguin tree topper as well.

I'm particularly please with how the zipper tabs turned out

Finished size: 7.5" x 6.5" x 1"

Baby Penguin Ornaments

My newest niece will be seven months old in December, and my mom wanted me to make her some ornaments that would be safe for her to put in her mouth. I've had this penguin fabric for a while now, and it seemed ideal for baby-safe ornaments. Each ornament is like a tiny 2" x 3" quilt, backed with plain red or green fabric. My favorite penguins are the ones wrapped in lights. 

ETA: Here is the finished tree all lit up and penguiny!

2015 Update - Claire (18 mos.) helped decorate the penguin tree this year:

Penguins

I could not resist making several of these adorable penguins for the ornament exchange.