CHRISTMAS PROJECTS

I finished the Christmas table runner that I showed you in my last post.  I was happy to have the paper piecing finished!  And I'm happy with the finished product!  It's a large table runner - 22" x 47".

An indoor picture that shows the quilting a little better.  I used a lot of different green fabrics for the trees.

This one shows the backing and binding better.

Next, I worked on finishing a lap quilt measuring 60" square.  It is made with scrappy strip 8" blocks and solid red for the sashing and border.  Whenever it comes to quilting, I usually don't have any idea how I plan to quilt it until the time comes.  I decided to just quilt wavy lines across the whole quilt not including the border.  I wanted something nice for the border, so I went to Pinterest and didn't see anything there, but I did see some of Lori Kennedy's designs.  I remembered that I had torn out some pages of her designs from my American Quilter issues, so I found this one that I thought would be good - if I could do it.

I decided to try it on some scraps.

I tried another one of her designs also:

I liked the holly one better, so tried it on the red fabric with green thread.

Lori's instructions are so good and she breaks the design down in steps.  If you haven't tried any of them, you should check out her website at lorikennedyquilts.com .  She has many design there.  I'm so happy that she shares these in her blog and in magazines.  If you haven't joined the American Quilters Society, it is well worth it.  Their magazine comes out 6 times per year.

Here is a picture of quilting the design on the actual quilt border.

And a picture of a section of the quilt.

Thanks to Lori Kennedy for helping quilters like me!!  

A NEW PROJECT AND UNSEWING

I found the Yuletide Forest pattern in McCall's Quilting Magazine, November/December 2017 issue, and saved it.  The main problem with it is that all the trees are paper pieced and I really don't like PP. However, I really liked the table runner, so decided to make it for our coffee table.

Here it is on my design wall, not sewn together and the paper is still on the trees.  The second tree on the right has to be fixed as I accidentally cut off the seam allowance.

This is a close-up.  There are 2 of each red fabric for the 4-patches.  For the trees, I used a variety of green fabrics.

This is the offending tree block.

This morning I decided I needed to sew some velcro onto Abby's unicorn pillow to get it finished for her birthday and the first strip that I sewed on had black thread on the bottom (which is actually the outside of the pillow), so that won't do.  Another need for the much used seam ripper

My craft show last weekend was quite successful and there is another one tomorrow.  Is it really the middle of November already???  I better check out my inventory of Christmas gifts that I have purchased this year and see what else I need to get.  Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet?