Countryside Wreath

The holidays are coming up in a hurry, and there are gifts to sew! 

As I was pulling out the perfect pattern for a wall hanging, (which I can't show you until it's gifted at Christmas) I noticed this Thimbleberries wreath pattern in the pile.  It just jumped out and offered to help me use up some 3-inch scraps from my scrap bag. Well, that's my story anyway. (wink)

Why not?

So, amid my other projects, this squeezed it's way into my sewing time, and it turned out great!  I decided to go with the single block version and it's plenty big.  It's 38 inches square with borders, 25.5 inches square without.  It was perfect to use up a bunch of those scraps, but I probably have enough for a couple more!  It's so tempting.  It went together in such a short time!

Don't you think that those spur-of-the-moment projects are so much fun to do?  No planning, no deadline, no fuss.

Make a Little Pumpkin ornament

Just in time for Autumn, Harvest Festivals and Halloween, (and in plenty of time for Thanksgiving,) let's put together some little 3 inch pumpkin ornaments.  So easy, and quick for a gift tag on a hostess gift, or just a little decoration around the house.  Don't let the little pieces scare you!  We'll be sewing them on top of a larger piece, so they're easy to handle.

First let's get the pieces cut.  Dig out that scrap bag!  Find a nice pumpkin orange 2 x 2.5 inches.  A piece of green for the ground at 1 x 4 inches.  From the background fabric cut a piece 1.5 x 2.5 inches, four 1 inch squares and two 1 x 3 inch strips.  And... for the back of the ornament you will need a 4 inch square of fabric.  I used a Halloween print this time, but anything will do - I often use muslin.  Look through your batting scraps and cut a 4 inch square of batting.  Finally, a six inch long piece of narrow ribbon.  Mine is 1/4 inch width.  In your bobbin, use a color that matches the fabric you picked for the back of your ornament.  It makes the back look much neater!

Ready, set, go!

Start by layering backing fabric (right side down), then batting on top of it.  

Next, place the orange square right side up slightly below center. 

 (I have 1.5 inches of batting showing at the top.)

Place four 1 inch squares, right sides down, in the four corners of the orange fabric.  Stitch through the whole works.  Diagonals on the corner, turn and keep going.  Take about 5 or 6 stitches along the top and bottom to get to the next corner block. Flip the corners back and finger press.  No need to trim anything yet.

Using a 1/4 inch seam, stitch and flip open the top piece (1.5 x 2.5), then the two sides (1 x 3's) and finally the green bottom piece. Now we're getting somewhere!

The next step is to stitch a border.  I use the edge of my presser foot as a guide.  

You can see I've gone down the center of the side and bottom pieces, 

and stitched approximately the same distance from the edge on the top piece.   

 

Grab the pinking shears and let's get this trimmed to size!  

The finished ornament should be 3 inches square.

Fold the ribbon in half and tack the raw edges to the back of the ornament along your border stitching.  The last step is a little free-motion quilting.  Using dark green thread, stitch a couple of curved lines from top to bottom on the pumpkin.  Then scribble-stitch in a stem and tendril.  

All done!

Sharing this design with Judy's Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Little Shamrock ornament

Really, I'm not much one for working with teeny tiny pieces.  But these little ornament blocks are so cute that I just can't resist!  I tucked one of these heart ornaments into the Valentine cards I sent the 'kids', and just had to come up with one for St. Patrick's day.  I made a larger version too, so check the bottom of the post for that.

Here are the parts you need:
2 inch squares: 3 green and 1 white
3/4 inch squares: 6 white
1 x 2.5 inch strips: 2 white
1 x 3.5 inch strips: 2 white
4 inch square: 1 white (backing)
4 inch square: batting
1/4 1/8 inch wide ribbon: 8.5 inches
pinking shears

Let's get started:
Place a small white square in the corner of a green square.  Stitch across the diagonal.  It's so tiny that I didn't feel I needed to mark it.   Repeat so that all three green squares have white squares on three of the corners.  Flip and press to the corners.  Clip off excess on the corners if you wish.

Stitch a generous 2 inch section of ribbon across the white 2 inch square - starting in one corner and angling slightly to one side - for your shamrock stem. (You could also just zigzag a stem or hand embroider if you prefer.)

Stitch the 2 inch blocks together into a four-patch as shown.  Layer the batting and backing pieces.  Using a quilt-as-you-go method, lay the folded back four-patch with the center edge in the center of the batting and stitch through all layers.  Flip open.

Add white border strips by stitching through all layers and flipping open.  Finger press as you go.  Top-stitch the borders about 1/2 inch from the inside edge, using your machine foot as a guide.  Trim outside your top-stitching with a pinking shears.  With the remaining 6 inches of ribbon, add a loop at the top corner to hang your ornament.

The little shamrock block finishes at 2 inches and the entire ornament finishes at 3 inches square.

But, teeny tiny isn't always what we need.

The same shamrock block can be made to finish at 3 inches, which makes a nice size for lots of small projects.

For this table topper which finished at about 12 inches square I made two 3-inch (finished) shamrock blocks and paired them with two 4-patch blocks made from 2-inch squares.

The shamrock blocks each are made with:

2 inch squares: 3 green and 1 white
1 inch squares: 6 white
1/4   1/8 inch wide ribbon: 2.5 inches

The borders are each cut at 2 inches wide.
Can't wait to quilt this up!

Adding a Friday link-up with Sarah

2 Hearts: mini ornament

February could be called the month of Love because we celebrate St. Valentine's Day on the 14th of this month.  And we all Love quilting, so here's a tutorial for a lovely little mini ornament and there's plenty of time to whip up a few for someone you love this month.  They finish at a sweet 3 inches!  Perfect for adding to a Valentine card or as a little decoration around the house.

You will only need a few tiny bits of fabric from your string scraps.
Two 1-inch white squares
Two 1-inch red squares
Two 1-inch x 1.5 inch red rectangles
Two 1.5 inch white squares
Two 1-inch x 2.5 inch white rectangles for border
Two 1-inch x 3.5 inch white rectangles for border
One 3.5 inch square of muslin for the back
One 3.5 inch square of batting
Optional: 6 inch piece of 1/4 inch wide ribbon and a button or charm

Step one: Join the 1-inch red and white squares.  Use standard 1/4 inch seams.

Step two:  Add the red 1-inch x 1.5 inch rectangles to one side.  Doesn't have to be the same side.  I thought alternating actually gave a little more movement and balance to the block.

Step three:  Add the 1.5 inch white squares and make a 4-patch block. Square up if  needed.  Sometimes those little pieces twist a bit on me.
Step four:  Layer backing and batting.  Lay out your 4-patch in the center.  Flip over at the seam line and stitch over your seam through all layers.

Step five:  Open up your 4-patch and add borders, stitching through all layers as you add each one. Add alternating sides first, then top and bottom.

Step six:  Top stitch around the edges - through all layers - about 1/2 inch from your 4-patch, using the edges of the 4-patch as your guide lines.  I changed my foot and moved the needle all the way to the right so I could use the edge of the foot as a guide.

Step seven:  Trim edges close to your top stitching line.  Use a pinking shears or cut a straight edge.  Additional options are to blanket stitch or zig-zag stitch around a straight cut edge.

Step eight:  Add a hanging ribbon if you wish, and any additional embellishment.  I found a pack of heart shaped charms at Michael's Craft store in the wedding section and added one of those.  As you can see from the photo, I tried a pink print for borders and it looks great, but red would make the lower heart disappear - so make sure you have enough contrast.

Added bonus:  Makes a great Christmas tree ornament too!

Legal stuff:  This is a simple traditional pattern and only my photos and the wording of these directions would fall under copyright, so just don't copy those and pretend they're yours, OK? Otherwise, no restrictions that I am aware of on the use or sale of ornaments you make using this tutorial. They might be nice for a Church bazaar or craft fair.  Have fun!