sewing saturday

 

Sleigh Ride 20" X 25"

For this week's sewing round up, I am sharing this year's finished Christmas quilt. 

It took longer to quilt than I thought it would, because it needed a lot of stitching. I used all metallic threads for sparkle, and added in one couching thread as reins. 

While quilting I folded the backing up to cover loose batting and liked the bold bright red, so I used that to machine sew a binding on with a buttonhole stitch. To do that, you sew the binding to the back of the quilt, pull the finished edge around to the front and use a decorative stitch to tack it down.

I have had that lighter blue fabric for a while now and it's such a pretty scene  I never used it... til now. I"m happy I did!

All the little bits are fused to the scene in applique and the pattern was very fussy to make. It's been sitting in the stash for years wondering how I'd finish it. 

I also collected these little christmas bulbs years ago, and was happy to have the right amount to add to this quilt. That little bit at the bottom is all that is left of a Debbie Mumm print, also stashed and stored for years!!

Hanging on the wall

I have a lot of fabric stashed and stored and some people might say it's too much. 

I think it's my wonderland of possibilities

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge is a starting point for me each year. Angela chooses a color of the month and encourages us  to use our scraps in that color in our own way. I have done this for years now and it gives me a focus and reason to sew in times when it's hard to focus. I know sometime I will just do those blocks in those colors... so there is always a project to work on.

HST cut-off project this month

Since the link party is weekly,  I choose 3 or 4 blocks or projects to do each month. This year I did Lozenge blocks, mini hst quilts from those, Improv log cabins, flying geese and picked up Deb's endless star hand piecing blocks to mix in. 

 This month was to use dark neutrals...and I almost missed doing some log cabins or geese. I sewed these two blocks last night while listening to the end of my audio mystery book, and it gave me a lot of satisfaction to just sew after a busy day.

I want to start sewing some of the chosen logs and endless stars together into units next. 

 

I've practiced so many craft and art forms over the years, but my love of fabric remains strong.

I have designed paper piecing patterns before but this is a different way to do it...

 this woman explained how to design your own paper piecing foundation pieced pattern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_DobhnZNL0
 

Do you have goals for a new year in quilt making? Are you planning to explore a new craft in 2021? Are you considering reorganizing your studio space this year? I'd love to know what your plans are! 

LINKING TO

 scrap happy Saturdays

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

oh Scrap Sundays