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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Christmas projects

Koko at Christmas 2013

In December, I went into hyper Christmas crafting mode. Kitschy Christmas fabrics are a favorite of mine, so I used lots of fun fabrics to spruce up our house.

Quilted Tree Skirt

This tree skirt was actually one of the few sewing projects I finished in 2012. In a moment of weakness, I caved and bought a half yard set of these (maybe Michael Miller?) prints. I love the cuckoo clock and the vintage Christmas carolers on these. We have a trim line tree and most skirt patterns are too large in diameter, so I made a giant compass to trace out a circle in the perfect width. Then I divided the circle template into 8 sections and cut two of each print. I backed it with extra fabric, did an envelope binding and quilted the outside. I tied brown grosgrain ribbon to each side of the opening to tie it in place.

Gingerbread tea towels

I totally fell in love with this gingerbread print this year. I didn't want to chop it up for patchwork, so I used it to edge the bottom of these kitchen towels. If I were to do this again, I would definitely prewash both the fabric and the towels before sewing them together. It takes a lot of ironing to get them to look decent now.

Christmas pillows and quilt
Patchwork Christmas Quilt

After several years of quilting, I finally got my act together and made a Christmas quilt and pillow set for our living room. I've been meaning to do this forever and I'm so glad things finally fell into place. I actually finished this up the day after Thanksgiving and we got to enjoy it all season long.

Patchwork Christmas Quilt
Patchwork Christmas Quilt
The main inspiration came from a Christmas bundle at Pink Castle Fabrics. I added a few other red or green prints and a charm square pack of In From the Cold by Kate Spain. I sewed together patchwork strips and then alternated those with a low volume spring green floral print. I used up almost every last bit of those fat quarters and even included a strip on the back of the quilt.


Patchwork Christmas Quilt

For the pillows, I sewed several strips together and then I cut them in half at different widths. Both pillows have the same order and progression of fabrics, but the heights of each row are different.

Patchwork Christmas Pillow

2 comments:

  1. It all looks so cozy! I love the Christmas pillows. I seriously need to get on the ball and get my Christmas quilt done. Every year I wish I had one during Christmas time. I'm so glad you are back to blogging. I've missed seeing what you are up to and all the great things you are making. You are so talented and it is very inspiring to see what you make.

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  2. oh goodness!! i love all of it!! what a wonderful explosion of gorgeous holiday handcrafts!!

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