Sunday, December 25, 2011

Looking Forward to 2012

Well, it looks like we all survived crafting during the holidays. I know I made a ton of fun things for friends, family, and especially grandchildren. There were bags made for gifts, superhero capes, pillows, aprons, centerpieces, and more.

It was a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed using both of my new machines this year to make these wonderful projects. The Bernina and Babylock serger made sewing/quilting/home dec projects quick and easy and beautiful.

In 2012, I've joined four groups that involve monthly projects: A hand stitched crazy quilt block; a free motion quilt block; a strip quilt block, and a monthly machine embroidery class. It will be a busy year for me but these are things I really hope to accomplish to improve my quilting skills.

What are your stitching plans for 2012?

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Christmas Cookie Exchange Centerpieces

This was a fun project that my daughter and I did. She asked me to make a couple of folded bags for the two centerpieces she volunteered to do at her church's cookie exchange. The colors were red and silver.

Let me tell you, there is no Christmas fabric to be found in December! I wanted some red fabric with a little silver accent or contrast running through it. I couldn't find anything so I decided to make my own. I found a pretty red fabric, sandwiched a lightweight batting in between the front and back, and went to town adding some stitches from my Bernina 830. The red fabric was slippery and I thought it might be a little tricky adding a binding or trying to fold it over. Instead, I used a beautiful wave stitch on my serger with red and silver thread. It's a little hard to see in the picture, but I think it turned out great.

The key to making this bag, is that it has to be square. Then you fold it in half, corner-to-corner, and stitch both sides. Turn it inside out and you have beautiful bag.





My daughter made the beautiful wreaths in matching colors and filled the bags with mints.

By the way, the cookie exchange was fabulous. Good food, good fellowship, and good music.

Each table was decorated by different women using the same red and silver colors and they all looked beautiful.