Christmas Sewing

Hello Everyone,

It is almost Christmas time and this year I haven’t had time to make any new tutorials. I haven’t had time for any Christmas sewing at all, which is a shame since I have so many pretty Christmas fabrics.

Two Christmases ago I posted this post about how to make these Christmas pillows. You can find the post here. The pillow on the left is made from a pattern from Diary of a Quilter’s Amy Smart. You can find the post here.

Last year I found a picture on Pinterest of a table runner that I made with Christmas and wrote this post about how I made my own version. You can find the post here.

These cute little Christmas bags is a great way to use scraps of Christmas fabric. You can find the tutorial on my tutorials page or here.

I hope you have time for some Christmas sewing. It is still two weeks left until Christmas, hopefully I have some time too. Or I have to plan better and start earlier next year. Don’t forget to enjoy Christmas time, it is very hot here so tomorrow I am going to the beach with my teenage daughters.

Until next time, happy sewing and take care.

Annika

Easter Sewing

Hello Everyone!

It is almost Easter and if you have time for some Easter sewing I have a couple of small scrap projects that you will be able to finish in a couple of hours. It is also a lot of fun to play around with what fabrics, colours and thread to use. I have made an easter version of the mug rug that I made a tutorial for a couple of weeks ago. You can find the tutorial and pattern on my tutorials page or here.

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On these two I quilted a grid on the diagonal and appliquéd two egg shapes. Read More

Christmas Table Runner

Hello Everyone!

Merry Christmas to all of you, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

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I found a picture of a very nice table runner on Pinterest. It came from a blogpost on Sew Sew Go from 2012 and is called Dresden Table Runner. I made one with Christmas Fabrics and finished it last night. I had some poinsettia fabric and some matching green and red. I also used an off white print on print fabric for sashing and binding. For backing I used the poinsettia fabric.

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I used the wide part of my 10 degree ruler when cutting the pieces. First I cut a 12″ strip of all three fabrics. Then I used the ruler to cut out the pieces, alternating the direction not to waste fabric. I cut 7 of the poinsettia fabric and 3 each of the green and red. I also cut 1″ wide sashing strips. I cut these in to 13″ lengths and stitched them to both sides of the poinsettia pieces. I trimmed the sashing even with the edges and then stitched all the pieces together, see picture. When I finished I cut the short ends of the table runner straight and made a quilt sandwich using thin iron on batting.

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I quilted in the ditch on all seams. Then I quilted each section but not the sashings with free motion quilting using clear polyester thread.

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After that I cut all the edges even and bound it with 1/2″ wide binding to match the 1/2″ inch sashing pieces. Cut the strips 3 1/4″ wide, fold length wise and press. Attach to the front and then stitch by hand to attach the binding to the back of the quilt.

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This was a fun and relatively quick/easy project. I think it turned out great and looks great on my kitchen table. What Christmas projects have you made this year?

Have a wonderful Christmas however you celebrate it. I will go to the beach on Christmas Eve and eat a barbecue lunch with my family in the backyard on Christmas Day.

Until next time, Happy Sewing and Take Care!

Annika

Black and White Cushion Covers

Hello Everyone,

It is almost Christmas and summer holidays here in Australia. I’ve had a really hectic couple of months so today I took my youngest daughter out off school for the day and went to the beach. It turned out to be a really nice day.

The only sewing I’ve had time for lately is two more cushion covers. They are a house warming present for my Cousin Camilla in Sweden. She is also a very good friend and support to me. They should arrive in the mail this week. The cushions I made last month you can find here.

How to make the cushions you can find on my Tutorials Page as a downloadable PDF or here. The only difference is that back and front of the cushions are quilted. The zipper is inserted exactly as in the tutorial.

The first of the cushions is made of 2 1/2“ squares and then quilted 1/4” on each side from the seam in a contrasting colour. On the back I quilted the same as the front but black thread on black fabric.

The second one is made of 2 1/2” x 4 1/2” rectangles that was sew together in pairs in to 4 1/2” squares and sewn together with the rectangles in different directions. It was quilted in the same way on both back and front but in a larger grid.

Here is a couple of pictures from today. A very nice day indeed. The pattern to the handbags, The Alex Bag, you can find in my Etsy Shop.

Until next time, take care and happy sewing!

Annika

 

 

Wavy cushion covers 

Hello everyone!

I haven’t had much time for blogging and sewing lately but I have made two cushion covers that I gave to my sister for her birthday.

The front of the cushions are made of four fat 1/8s that I cut free hand with a rotary cutter.


I placed the fat 1/8s on top of each other. I made a cut about a third from one side and took the bottom small piece and put it on top.


I stitched each layer together by placing the pieces close together and make about 5 or 6 marks on both sides. Match these marks when pinning the seam. Stitch and press the seam allowance to the darker fabric .

Make a second cut the same way but this time take the two bottom layers and put them on top before you stitch the layers together to get different colour combinations on all the layers.

Pair them together so each colour only appears twice in each pair and it is different colours in the middle.


Place the halfs so they overlap about 1/2″-1″ and make a cut on this overlap. It is a bit tricky so it’s not as wavy as the other seams. You have to try to hold the fabric still with one hand and cut with the other. Stitch the two halves together and trim each piece to a 16″ square rectangle. Make a quilt sandwich and quilt with a different pattern on each colour or any way you like.


Cut out two 16″ squares of another fabric for the back. Quilt these pieces too with a wavy pattern and then trim the batting and backing even with the top layer on all four pieces.

Have a look here on how to make these four squares in to cushion covers with a zipper in one of the seams. You can also download the tutorial from my tutorials page.

I hope you have as much fun as I did making these. The possible combinations are endless. The next pair I make will be a house warming present in black and white fabrics.

I’d love to see your creations. Until next time, happy sewing and take care!

Annika

Christmas Heirlooms

Merry Christmas to all of you. Most of us probably have a few family things we take out every Christmas. Some of these I made years ago and some more recent. The plate and the ceramic Santa family was painted by my husband’s grandmother and the crocheted hearts in the tree was  made by my mother in law. The embroidered table runner was made by my grandmother. The rest I made myself.

Christmas means different things to all of us. For me and my family it means a day at the beach on Christmas Eve and presents in the morning on Christmas Day followed by a barbeque at home for lunch. How do you celebrate Christmas?

Enjoy the pictures of my Christmas things:

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