Slow Sunday Stitching

Gosh, I'm really changing it up today! The slow stitching I plan to do involves making Christmas ornaments. Not for me, but for DDErin, a supreme lover of Christmas.

It's a Christmas request!

The last time we visited them, she sent this hefty pink box home with me along with a request - would I make these for her? She'd intended to do them but now with a newborn, she knows she won't, yet still wants them for her decorating.
 

Seems like something I would enjoy making, and one hardly ever says "no" to such a request, so I am getting started.

This kit is from Purl Soho, and I know Erin has ordered other projects from them. This is just right up her alley - she is artsy, crafty, and a little bit bling-y - these ornaments have just the right amount of sparkle for her holiday decorating taste.

Materials included will make 18 ornaments with decorative stitching and embellishments on one side. The fabric is felt, and I am in the cutting phase at present. After all are cut out, I will - one at a time - mark with erasable ink the stitching lines. The booklet included with the kit seems to do a good job or walking one through the steps. Eventually, I will get into a rhythm and I will soon be speeding right through these.

The colors certainly are not the typical Christmas colors, but they will look quite elegant in Erin's decor. I am eager to finish one. I will be sure to post an update for you when I do.

Joining the fun over at Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching party. You're invited, too! Go have a look around. You are sure to see other Christmas projects in the works.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Post Script

You learned about the work shirt quilts and the story behind them in yesterday's post. I have a PS to share today.

At about the same time I got the 27 shirts from Kathy, I was learning about English Paper Piecing and making hexagon shapes with templates and glue sticks and all that. It occurred to me that I could make a hexagon "flower" into a Christmas tree ornament. I knew that plaids offered unique design opportunities in these  hexie creations, so I experimented. I wrote about making my first hexie here, and it shows one of the work shirt ornaments.

The top two hexies in this picture are also from the work shirts. I sewed each individual hexie group together, and then stitched those two together and inserted a bit of twine for hanging on a tree branch.

Here are three more that I made when doing the last quilt. Kathy liked the first two so much that she called me to request these.

I made the first 2 ornaments without Kathy's knowledge. As a surprise, I incorporated two shirt pockets into each quilt, and in one of the pockets on each quilt, I hid an ornament. I've illustrated the placement of the shirt pockets on each quilt in the two photos above.

I thought that would be an extra special little way to bring back a happy memory.

One more thing that is illustrated on the top quilt picture is two rows of test blocks. As I said in yesterday's post, I really had no idea what pattern I would use on the first two quilts. I actually thought I would need to conserve on shirt fabric, so I dug out some solids from my stash to add in. As it turned out, I disliked these test blocks and rather than throw them out, I incorporated them into that first quilt in two vertical columns along with the pockets. If you click on that picture, it will enlarge enough so that you can see that there are alternating 9-patch blocks and 3-bar blocks. I am glad I opted to go with larger blocks of shirt fabric. Those tiny pieces in all those plaids would not have worked at all.

And that pretty much concludes the story of making work shirt into quilts. As Paul Harvey would say "And now you know the rest of the story."

Happy Quilting, Friends!