A Very Cross-Stitch Christmas

Amanda has a long track record of creating cross-stitched ornaments for our exchange. After several years of procrastination, I finally made two tiny cross-stitched ornaments for Amanda, so naturally she sent me two much bigger cross-stitch creations! She selected the succulents because I have a bad track record with plants and managed to kill the succulents I bought earlier this year. She titled this ornament "Succulents you can't kill (a terrarium in cross-stitch)" or "How I spent 30+ hours of my life in December 2022." She estimates it actually took longer than that. I appreciate all her time and effort because they will last me forever!

Unicorn Doll Quilts

I was looking for something else when I came across Elizabeth Hartman's Lisa the Unicorn pattern, but once I saw it, I knew it would have to take precedence over my 2019 quilt goals because of course it was perfect for my nieces. My sister emphasized the doll size quilt because they do not need any more stuff. Using 2.5" strips, the pattern resulted in blocks way larger than that, so I scaled it back to 1.25" strips. 

Claire initially wanted pink, purple, and teal, then changed her mind to rainbow, though I still emphasized pink/purple in my rainbow layout. I had to make two anyway, so I made one of both. The only thing I had to buy was a fat quarter of teal fabric because my stash is lacking in teal. I probably would've made the background blue for both if I'd had enough fabric, but I was otherwise using what I had on hand.  

You can see they did not turn out exactly the same. Clearly something went wrong in my adapted measurements, and the ear strips differ, as do the horns. I had the perfect unicorn fabric for the back, and used my trusty silver dots to bind them. 

 

Finished size: 16" x 20"

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2016

This last ornament is courtesy of Chris and his mad crochet skills! The horn is a seashell, which is screwed into the head (and covered in glitter if you can't tell in the photo)! This unicorn will definitely be joining me in the craft room year-round!

Mini Quilt Ornament

A couple years ago I had the idea to make Amanda a mini-quilt ornament. I am glad I waited for inspiration because it is much better as a Lisa Frank mini-quilt ornament than anything I would have previously made! Each image is 1" square. I used Jolee's Easy Image transfer sheets. They were different than the printable, fusible fabric sheets I used for the fabric photo book I made last year. (Coincidentally, I used the same pink fabric for both projects!) Those were fabric-y -- you printed and ironed -- where these you print, iron, and peel off the backing for a transfer. These worked much better for this project.

Finished size: 4" x 5.5"

Rainbow Sprinkles Ornament

Once I saw an ornament with sprinkles inside, I knew I had to make one for Amanda. It was just too rainbowy not to! I used a heart shaped ornament because that's what I had on hand, but a round one would definitely be easier. The challenge with the heart shape is that the varnish pooled in the top of the heart and was much harder to get out and thus coat evenly. The sprinkles at bottom of the heart look much better because that varnish had dried longer. For as simple as this is, it does require a lot of attention. Nonetheless, it's so colorful that I may have to make one for myself!

Rainbow Stars and Stripes Quilt

My scrap challenge has proved to be a useful motivator for starting projects I've been meaning to get around to, simply so I can maximize my scraps, and this idea had been floating around awhile. After I took apart the dragonfly quilt, I knew I wanted to repurpose the fabric, but I was limited by the shape of the scraps. Fortunately I was able to create a nice pattern with what I had to work with.

While I always like the look of quilts with a lot of white in photos, I was nervous about how one would turn out in real life, but I am really pleased with the results. I considered quilting with colored thread, but I'm glad I didn't, though I think this is the first quilt I've ever quilted with white thread.

I was pleased to finally find a use for this great multi-colored striped fabric for the back, as well as the orange batik dots for the binding, though I barely made a dent in the batik.

A close-up of the fabrics

New items purchased to complete this quilt: batting, though I should probably count the solid white fabric as well, because I can't remember why I bought it in the first place

Finished size: 39" x 52"

Rainbow Ornament

This adorable ornament is made from stationery I've had since childhood. I decided to create an ornament out of it by mod podging it to a 3" wooden disc. I was going to paint the disc, but I decided to use the lined stationery to create the background instead, and I am very pleased with that choice! I used a grommet to give the hole a more finished look.

Stationery circa 1985

Kaleidoscope Rainbow Stripes

I used this stripey rainbow fabric in quilt block #9 of the Quilt Block Project. I made these four blocks awhile ago and I finally decided to turn them into a finished project, however small. The blocks create a really nice design, though the project is only doll blanket sized.

Finished size: 23"x23"

Dresden Plate Rainbow

I'd wanted to make a Dresden plate block for awhile, and I finally got around to it. I don't have the special ruler to make the pieces, so I just cut them all individually. Since I wanted to use 8 colors and have 16 spokes, the math worked out nicely. They actually came together more quickly than I expected. When I pieced them together, however, they unfortunately did not lay flat in the center and I ended up with a bit of a Dresden cone, but I was able to rectify it. I planned to stitch it in place using the clear nylon thread I'd used for the dragonfly quilt, but it was giving me fits, so I wound 8 different colored bobbins and sewed each spoke individually.

Finished size: 12.5"x12.5"

Rainbow Hexagons

About a year ago, the clock on the wall in my office at work died a slow, painful death. As it stopped keeping time accurately, it made weird noises. When we reported it to facilities maintenance, they didn't fix it, they just removed the entire clock, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. From where I sit, I can't see most of the hole, but one of my coworkers looks right at it. He has commented that I should make something crafty to cover the hole, but it wasn't until this month that I realized I could use an embroidery hoop to make a convenient circle. I got an 18" hoop at Hobby Lobby and painted it silver. All the fabric is from my stash. The hexagons are pieced together, and then I stitched the whole loop down on the black background. I managed to get the whole thing in the hoop without too much trouble.

Other art for the office: owls, butterfly, polyhedrons

Mini Rainbow

It's so cute and tiny! These are scraps from my radial rainbow mini quilt. I was going to use them for the back of the quilt, but when I came up with a better idea, I still wanted to use them.

Finished size: 8" x 3"

Radial Rainbow Mini Quilt

I got the image for this quilt in my head while working on rainbow mini quilts #1 and #2.

I am amazed at how well it turned out. I was very afraid the intersections wouldn't line up at all. It turned out exactly like I imagined it:

It wasn't until after I had finished it that it occurred to me to add some color to the corners, but by then I was nearly out of these scraps anyway. I considered cutting it into an octagon instead of a square but decided not to.

I finished the front but then could not decide what to do on the back that would be suitably match the front. Three weeks later, the solution popped into my head:

I would have liked a nice scrappy and colorful border, but I used up the very last of the purple on the back. The purple square is actually pieced from a longer, narrower scrap.That's the risk of working with scraps.

It was so pretty I just had to take some in progress pictures:

How I assembled it:

Ta da!

Shamrock Rainbow Mini Quilt

This was the first of two scrap fabric rainbow projects I started over Easter weekend. I couldn't decide how to quilt this one, so the second project got finished first. A couple weeks ago I had run across this shamrock fabric remnant while organizing my fabric scraps. It was originally used for a St. Patrick's Day ornament for my grandma, and it lends itself well to rainbows. The back is just plain green and it's only quilted along the top and bottom of the rainbow strip.

Close up of the sparkly shamrock button:

Finished size: 10.25" square

Rainbow Mini Quilt

This is actually the second scrap fabric rainbow project I started over Easter weekend.

I kind of like the back more. It's not as busy.

Finished size: 6.5" square