Monday, December 5, 2011

Holiday Pinwheel Ornaments

I got this idea from a Ben Franklin craft store. They had created these simple pinwheels and used them in a Christmas garland. I liked them so much, I made them into Christmas ornaments. They are quick and simple gifts.
Quick and dirty instructions:

You'll need scrap fabrics cut into 3 inch squares (2 per ornament), fusible webbing also cut into 3 inch squares (one per ornament), super glue (I like Gorilla Glue brand), ribbon (9 inch length per ornament), and buttons of your choice for the center (additional gem embellishments are optional).

Take one 3in square of fabric and on the wrong side, iron the fusible webbing square. Once fused, peel the backing paper and iron the other 3in fabric and fuse that wrong side to the webbing. You should now have a nice 3in square that looks like double sided fabric.

At each of the corners, cut 1in on the diagonal. Take two corners and fold them down to form half the pinwheel. I machine stitched about 4-5 straight stitches (and then backstitched again) to hold down the corners. Repeat for the next two corners and you have your pinwheel.

To add the ribbon for ornaments, fold the ribbon in half and sew to the backside of the ornament. I just did 5 stitches forward and then backstitched it.

To cover up the stitches, super glue a button of your choice to the front. You can also stitch the button on, but I hate hand sewing so I prefer the super glue method. :)

An additional embelleshment you can try is adding a craft gem to the center of the button for some added bling. And voila! You're done!

These make quick, inexpensive yet thoughtful Christmas gifts. I've also used them as wine bottle necklaces for hostess gifts this holiday season and you can also use them as gift tags on presents by attaching an actual gift tag to the ribbon and then tying the ribbon onto the gift.

My last final of Fall Quarter is today so hopefully I will have more for you in December! Happy Quilting!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Applique Greeting Cards

So I'm totally new to this blogging thing but thought I'd give it a shot since I love to share my ideas/opinions with others.

I am currently a full time student and also employed full time so I don't have much free time to quilt anymore. A few weeks ago, someone I cared about passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. He was always challenging me to step out of my comfort zone and on the day I found out about his death, I did.

I have always been afraid of applique quilting, but in the spirit of honoring his memory, I decided to do something small. I found a template online and did my first piece of applique- a two piece cupcake on a 6 in square. It ended up being so cute that I sewed the squared directly onto some cardstock.

If anyone's interested, I can post a tutorial later but for now you can just enjoy the cute picture. :)

Happy Quilting!