Fabric Christmas Postcard

Is this too late in the year to begin your Christmas projects?  Probably.

I set the challenge down to my friend Ronda a few weeks back.  That challenge is to exchange quilted/appliqued Christmas cards.

I, of course, had to give it to her first before I blogged about it.  I don't usually exchange cards until after December 1, but, I had to break my own rules this year.  What's life if you can't break a rule or two now and then?

I got the inspiration from Pinterest.  I must apologise, I have modified someone else's design slightly, but I can not acknowledge them as I have not saved their idea as a pin.  If someone finds it, let me know and I will acknowledge this person.

Let us start with the finished product:

While I prefer everything to be properly finished I chose a design that, was not.  It was more naive in finish.

You will need:

Visofix
Phellon (or fusible batting)
Cotton fabric (in red, white and green)
2 buttons

These are so easy to make.  Here's how it was done:

1     Cut out two 6" x 4" rectangles for each postcard that you wish to make.
2     Cut out two pieces of stiff interfacing - 6" x 4" - attach one piece to the wrong side of the pieces          that you cut out in point 1 above.
3     Fuse Visofix to each of the red, green and white fabrics.
4     I then used my Sizzix cutter to cut a 3" red circle and a 3" white circle.
5     With the white circle I cut these freehand through the middle to make the shape shown in the              picture above. I also freehand cut the leaves.
6     Remove the backing from the Visofix and iron down onto the backing fabric, as shown in the              picture below:

7     Cut out one piece of phellon (or you could spray glue attach a piece of batting) - 6" x 4" for each        card. Attach to the rear of the front piece with the applique and sandwich the three layers                    together holding together with pins or clips.
8     I then free motioned quilted the three layers together around the plum puddings.

9     Then, using one of the embroidery motifs on my machine, found a motif resembling snow flakes        and placed these randomly above the plum puddings and the leaves, also freemotion around the          perimeter of the card.
10   Hand sew the two buttons at the base of the two leaves,

And there we have it, I finally made eight of these cards.

This will become a yearly tradition.

Give it a try, they're quite easy to make.

Happy sewing everyone.

Sandra

PS and Merry Christmas to one and all.

Wonky star patchwork

It's been a busy time.  Finally, I'm seeing some relief in sight, and after weeks of not even remotely touching my sewing machine, and hurting my back; finally my machine and I are reunited.

Three fabrics sitting in a bag for weeks, with an intended recipient ... a deadline is drawing near.

I like this design, I have used it before.  What I like about it is that it doesn't really matter where you place the fabric for the triangles, so no stress in matching up the blocks.

I used this design previously to make a cushion cover:

I need to finish the piecing for the quilt as it has to go to Ronda to be quilted when I'm done.

Looking forward to seeing it when it's completely done.

Happy sewing everyone.. yes, I'm still here!

Sandra