Snowmen and Santas, Part II

Posted on November 17, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

In this earlier post, I started working on a fun little mini quilt using 3-inch paper pieced blocks designed by Carol Doak.

I assembled the project and put the finishing touches on it this week.

First, I used 2 of the snowmen blocks and 2 of the Santa blocks and alternated them to make a little square.

Alternating Snowmen and Santa Blocks

Next, I decided to add a larger white print border to the blocks so that it resembled a window frame. The project needed a little more pizzazz, so I hand-embroidered french knots and dashes around the blocks and then added the words “Merry” and “Christmas.” A small darker blue outer border completed the look:

Snowman and Santa Mini Quilt

I used my regular Bernina to do some light quilting – mostly a few free-hand snowflakes around the inner white border. I used brown embroidery floss to make french knots for eyes on both the snowmen and the Santas. I used mini red buttons on each snowman and a larger white snowflake button in the middle.

To finish it off, I used the same dark blue print for the binding and stitched it down.

The mini quilt is about 11 inches by 11 inches finished and fits perfectly into a little table top stand:

Completed Snowmen and Santa Mini Quilt

I’m pretty happy with the end result, but I think I’ll add little embroidered noses to the Santa blocks to separate the face from the beard a bit more.

Here’s a closeup of the finished project:

Snowmen and Santas Close-Up

I hope you enjoyed following this quick and easy holiday project!

Happy paper piecing!
~Jennifer

November Mystery BOM

Posted on November 14, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

I finished the November mystery block-of-the-month for Carol Doak’s Yahoo group. You can read about my earlier BOMs here.

This month’s block came together pretty well for me, and I really like the star pattern in the middle of the block.

During my lunch break, there were a few small rays of sunshine poking through, so I decided to take a picture of the block outside.

Here’s a closeup:

November Mystery BOM

As I was placing the block for a photo, my Cow cat decided to help!

Here he is enjoying the sun:

Cow Cat Helps with November BOM

He then decided that my toes needed to be attacked!!

Cow Cat Grabs My Foot!

I will say that my cat quilting supervisors certainly keep me on my toes!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Mini Santa Blocks for Exchange

Posted on November 7, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

I’m participating in a mini block exchange for the holidays. I’ve come down to the wire as the blocks are due to the swap hostess next week! I managed to carve out a little bit of time after work this week to make 4 mini Santa blocks. These are different Santas than shown in my earlier post here.

Carol Doak designed these as well and just posted them as Christmas Ornament blocks for her Yahoo group.

Here are the 4 blocks together:

Mini Santa Blocks

These blocks actually have a 1/2 inch seam allowance so the can easily be used in these keepsake frame cards:

Santa Card

The Santa faces looked a little blank so I added small brown eyes using embroidery thread. I’ll leave any other embellishments up to the individual receivers. But, wouldn’t the Santa look cute with a miniature white pom-pom at the top of the hat?

Mini Santa Closeup

Since these blocks are pretty quick to come together, I’m sure that I’ll sew a few more before Christmas.

I think they would make adorable holiday gift tags as well.

Happy piecing!
~Jennifer

Saturday Snowmen and Santas, Part I

Posted on November 5, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

This past Saturday, I spent an enjoyable afternoon paper piecing little snowmen and Santa blocks. I have a idea for a mini quilt for some of the blocks; for others, I may use them in a holiday swap. The blocks will be 3 inches finished once they are sewn together.

Here’s a little grouping of snowmen:

Snowmen Blocks

I really love the contrast between the dark blue sky print and the snowman. Plus, both fabrics appear to have snowflakes falling so I think it looks pretty cute together.

Here’s a closeup:

Snowman Closeup

I used small pieces of orange wool felt for the noses and appliqued them to the snowmen. The eyes and other details will be added after quilting is completed.

This block is designed by Carol Doak and is currently available in the Free Patterns section of her website!!

I made 6 snowmen, but I was only able to finish 2 Santa blocks. I will work on more a little later. These blocks also turned out pretty darned cute!

Santa Blocks

The Santa block is from Carol’s book, Easy Paper-Pieced Keepsake Quilts. I believe she also just designed another Santa block for those of us on her Yahoo Group so go check it out!

My plan is to work on my Snowman and Santa mini wall hanging idea this week so hopefully I’ll have more pictures to share with you soon.

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Finished Christmas Tree and Presents Mini Wall Hanging

Posted on October 29, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

In my last post, I talked about making a little quilted wall hanging by using small blocks designed by Carol Doak.

The wall hanging turned out so cute! I used just 3 blocks, plus inner and outer borders to make the entire project. The finished wall hanging is approximately 14 inches tall by 10.5 inches wide. I used some pearly white snowflake buttons as accents, added some reindeer ribbon trim as hangers, and used a branch off my plum tree for the mini quilt rack. The end result is a rustic little Christmas Tree and Presents mini wall hanging that I will use as part of my holiday decorations this year.

Finished Christmas Tree and Presents Mini Wall Hanging

I did very minimal quilting using my regular sewing machine. The presents are the exact same size, but I used a dark brown print for a border around one present and a tan around the other. If I make this project again, I’d probably choose a different border for the first present to give it more contrast against the black outer border.

Little Reindeer Gifts

A few years ago, I found this fun reindeer printed ribbon at a local craft store. I thought that it would accent the little reindeer gifts pretty well.

Reindeer Ribbon

I found it pretty enjoyable to work on a mini project that I could finish in just a few hours! This project is a great one to use up some of my scraps.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

Funky Tree Christmas Block

Posted on October 24, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

I’ve been thinking about making a small, simple quilt that I can put into a table stand to display during the holiday season. I really wanted to use a tree as the focal point with some accent blocks.

I got inspired by Carol Doak’s book, 50 Little Paper-Pieced Blocks. You can purchase this book directly from Carol’s website or from Amazon for about $10.

There are several different tree patterns in this book, but I opted to use the Funky Tree block on page 28. All the blocks in this book are small – just 3 inches square finished. For my project, I wanted a larger center block. I increased the block 200% so the finished block would be 6 inches square. I then added a small border to the block.

Funky Tree Christmas Block

As you can see, this block uses 5 different green fabrics to create the little tree. I’m keeping my color palette muted for this particular project. The background fabric is actually more cream colored than the photo shows with delicate little snowflakes. The burgundy red border also has a snowflake pattern.

Naturally, what should go under a Christmas tree but some cute little presents?

I used the Gift block on page 38, kept the 3 inch finished size, and added a small border.

Gift Christmas Block

The gift block uses a Moda print (Seasonal Gatherings Tan Burgundy 1068) that I fussy-cut so a reindeer would show on either side of the center ribbon. The center ribbon is a burgundy red print and the background is a Moda cream print (#30150) that perfectly complements both the gift block and the background of the funky tree block.

My next step is to create more of the 3 inch blocks to go around the tree block. Stay tuned for an update on this fun and quick holiday project!

Happy piecing!
~Jennifer~

October Mystery BOM

Posted on October 14, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

I found some time this week to complete my October mystery block-of-the-month. This is part of a year long mystery by Carol Doak on her Yahoo group board. You can join the group for free and catch up with the group! You can read about my September block here.

This block is called Posey Ring:

October Mystery BOM

I really like how the dark blue star fabric pops along the outside edges and the inner posey ring!

The group has now completed 6 of the blocks.

Here’s a pic of my first 6 blocks. I wanted to take this photo outside for greater contrast and to pull the colors out a bit more. But, it has finally rained here in western Oregon after a long dry period!

First 6 Mystery Blocks

Happy paper piecing!
~Jennifer~

Halloween Witch Cat Quilted Wallhanging Surprise!

Posted on October 9, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

This past Saturday, while I was feeling a little under-the-weather from a cold, I trudged out to the mailbox. The sunshine and warm October weather perked me up a bit, but what I found inside really made me smile! My sister had made me a cute little Halloween quilted wall-hanging as a surprise and mailed it to me!

As her inspiration, she used a free cat-in-the-pumpkin pattern from Carol Doak. Then, she modified the cat so it now includes a body and a little witch’s hat. She added some yellow embroidery for the cat’s collar and the hat’s brim. The quilt is then accented with beautiful autumn colored borders and binding.

Isn’t this an adorable Halloween quilt? I’m going to display it all month long!

Halloween Witch Cat Quilted Wallhanging

It’s always great to get a surprise in the mail. What crafty item have you sent to a family member or friend?

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

Paper Piecing Tool Caddy

Posted on September 20, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

My sister’s birthday was this past week so I decided to make her a gift. Since we both enjoy paper piecing, I thought it would be fun to make her a tool caddy. This caddy is a great way to travel with your paper piecing tools to workshops, classes, and quilt cruises!! (Yes, we are already talking about doing another quilt cruise together in 2014!).

I used Carol Doak’s free Tool Caddy pattern which is available on her website. Since my sister’s nickname is related to birds, I decided to use bird themed fabric.

Here’s what the tool caddy looks like rolled up. Notice the cute little bird footprints on the fabric!

Tool Caddy Rolled Up

When you unroll the caddy, you’ll see a 9-patch star block on the top plus a lower sectioned portion for all your tools!

Tool Caddy Full View

My fabric selections include:

a blue/green batik for the border and center of the 9-patch star
a dark blue bird print and a light blue bird print for the star points
a white-on-white print featuring little birds and footprints for the background
the same blue bird footprint fabric as the backing
the ribbon is a medium blue color with a little green accent for fun

Here’s a picture of the caddy with a few paper piecing tools:

Tool Caddy with Tools

This little tool caddy comes together pretty quickly using fabric from your stash. Now that I’ve made one for my sister, I need to make one for myself!

Happy quilting!

~Jennifer~

Completed Cat Pumpkin Halloween Wall Hanging

Posted on September 6, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

On my August 29th post, I showed 1 cat in the pumpkin paper pieced block that I finished. I made 2 more cat pumpkin blocks and then sewed them together into a small wall hanging to display on my door this fall.

Each cat pumpkin block has a different 1-inch border.

For the outer border, I cut 2-inch strips out of a dark orange fabric with little gold stars. I used a 1/4″ seam allowance to add the border to each completed cat block and then joined them all together.

If you look closely, you’ll notice that I added some hand embroidered whiskers to each cat before quilting.

I created a quilt sandwich with some batting and a backing using a black print with orange pumpkin vines. This same print is used as the binding. I think the orange outer border and black binding really make the piece come together to celebrate the season.

I didn’t have time to use my mom’s mid-arm machine and, since this is a relatively small project, I quilted it free-hand using my trusty Bernina. (Note to self: I need to convince my husband that I need my own mid-arm/quilt frame combo!).

Once quilted, I added the binding and some finishing touches. I used small green rhinestones for the cat eyes, some 5/8″ black grosgrain ribbon for the hanger, and a cute black Halloween cat button as a hanger accent.

Here’s a picture of the completed wall hanging: