12 Days of Christmas in July 2018

Welcome to the final day of 12 days of Christmas in July 2018, hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict!  Thank you Sarah for hosting this and letting me participate.

I have been having a lot of fun working on my project, and I have a tutorial for you today.  I hope you will also visit Susan at Quilt Fabrication and Jean at All Points of the Compass to see their projects this year.

When I first got my longarm last November I wanted to see how well it worked with different fabrics so I bought a yard of satin and stitched out a pantograph.

 

 

The satin stitched out beautifully!  I showed everyone in my family because I was so excited with how it turned out.  Then they asked me how I planned to use it.  I had actually thought that through beforehand (for once!) and was able to confidently reply, "Stockings!"

Aren't they beautiful?!  I am so happy with how they turned out and am really looking forward to making some more in other colors (I just pulled silver satin with a Christmas lights pattern off the machine yesterday and I plan to do red satin with a holly leaf pantograph next).  And the most exciting thing happened while stitching out the snowflakes on the blue fabric, I hit one million stitches on my longarm!  Celebrations are in the works, you will have to check back next week to see what we have planned...

STOCKING TUTORIAL

 

The great thing about stockings is that they come together quite quickly, once the quilting part is done.  And because I quilted the satin with a muslin backing I did not feel like it needed a lining, so one less step in the process.  If you are not comfortable quilting satin yourself or are not set up for pantographs, you could always ask your longarmer to quilt some up for you, or you can contact me!  My website www.bluespoolsewingroom.com has my information if you are interested.

 

For this project you will need:

quilted fabric for the stocking body

minky for the cuffs

white fabric to line the cuffs

cord for a hanging loop

 

Disclaimer: this tutorial is a generic how-to, there are no exact measurements or templates.  This allows you the freedom to make a stocking in whatever size suits your needs. :)



I traced my current stocking onto a large sheet of paper and added a quarter inch all the way around to create a template.



You want to be sure to cut out your pieces so they are facing opposite ways.  Put them right sides together and sew a quarter inch seam using a 2.0 - 2.5 stitch length.  Cut notches into the toe and heel curves to help ease the curve when you turn it right side out.  I used my pinking shears to do this.



I also did a zig zag stitch along the edges after sewing the two halves together so it will not fray quite so much.



I decided to use some fluffy minky for the cuffs, and I highly recommend putting painters tape on the fluffy side before cutting to keep down the nastiness that usually comes with cutting this apart.  FYI, putting the tape on the back side does not help.  Ask me how I know...

 

When measuring for your stocking cuff, make sure to measure across the top of your stocking after you sew the halves together, multiply the measurement by two, and add half an inch to that amount for seam allowance.  I also found I needed to add a lining to this as the dark color of the stocking showed through a bit.

 

I cut the lining the same size as the cuff, then sewed along one long edge using a quarter inch seam.

Then I top stitched about 3/8 inch up to keep it tidy.



Then I turned the stocking right sides out, basted the hanging hoop an inch from the LH side (loop will be between the cuff and stocking and pointing towards the inside of the stocking) and then inserted the cuff.



This part is always hard for me to remember which way to put it in, but you insert the cuff as if you were putting it on the outside.  It works every time, trust me!  I sewed the cuff with a quarter inch seam, then turned it right side out and top stitched it about half an inch from the top.

I found that setting my stitch length to 3 allowed me to pull the bits of minky that were held down by the stitches back out and basically hid the stitches.

 I appreciate you visiting my blog today, I hope you have enjoyed all the amazing projects that have been shared over the last 12 days.  If you have missed them, you can find the schedule on the post prior to this one or on Sarah's blog at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

 

Have a wonderful day!

~Brandy

 

 

T'was the Night - Day Three

Oh happy day!  It's my turn on this wonderful blog hop, and I couldn't have been much more excited about participating in this one.  Not only do I love making small and quick projects, but I got to give one of them to a fellow quilter/blogger!  I just love giving homemade gifts.  Thank you very much to Marlene and Madame Samm for organizing this hop, I'm having such a wonderful time.  And thank you so much to all the others participating in the hop, I am loving seeing all the great ideas everyone has!  Be sure to hop over to my fellow ladies of the day, you can find the links at the end of this post.

 

First off, I wish to share with you what I received from Jill at Apple Avenue Quilts.  I was so excited to see what she made for me!

 

What a beautiful wrapping idea!  (sorry, I'm new to the idea of the use of ribbon.  So every time I see something wrapped in it I get all excited :)  )

I admire people with knitting skills, this is a beautiful washcloth Jill.

Buttons, yay!

And a couple great potholders, and perfect timing, I just had to retire a bunch because they were beyond saving.  I think you can't have enough of these, especially if you entertain ever.

Remember to go to Moose Stash Quilting next to see what I made for Joan!

 

And here are some ideas I found only took me a couple hours to make:

The Mortimer moose wall-hanging I made last year, you get the idea, small (it's only 17"x17"), simple patchwork, and simple applique.  Ta-da!  Stinkin' cute wall-hanging.  Then a patchwork pillow sham, a potholder using fancy fabric and flower shaped quilting, and some decorative stockings.

My great-grandma Pawlik inspired me when making these.  She made a bunch for the ladies in our family about 15 years ago, and we still all put them up for Christmas.  I'm hoping that will happen with my family when I'm a grandma someday!

Here are some more everyday-type gift ideas:

 



A project bag.  I love the size tremendously and got the instructions from Jina.  Not only will it hold all your sewing items you'd need, it is also the perfect size for a cosmetic bag, or to hold snacks on a car trip, or colored pencils and a small drawing pad... so many options!

A plastic bag holder.  My grandma Kathy showed me how to make these on Sunday, thank you grandma!  This one has already been claimed by my sister, which fits, she has a rooster-theme going on in her kitchen. 

And a lap quilt.  So this is the same idea as the self-binding baby blanket from Missouri Star Quilt Co, I just made it as large as I could while maintaining the 10" difference between the small and large piece of fabric.  I also managed to get a layer of batting in there, it took some finagling...

John agreed to model my lap quilt for me, wasn't that nice?

 

While I'm happy with the gifts I created, I believe my favorite last minute gift is the sweetest, and that is homemade candy!  Here's my dad's favorite recipe:

 

 

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Balls

1 C peanut-butter

1 C powdered sugar

1 package chocolate chips

 

Melt chocolate chips using whatever method you prefer.  Double boiler seems to be the most popular.

Prepare a jellyroll pan by laying out a piece of wax paper on it.

Mix PB and sugar together, roll into 1 inch wide balls, and dip into melted chocolate.  Place on jellyroll pan, and when the pan is filled place PB balls into fridge to set.

That's all there is to it!  You could then make a fabric box like Connie talks about in this post, line it with parchment or wax paper and fill it with these yummies for a quick treat too.

 

Here are the other ladies who are showing their gift ideas today:

 

Daisy Days

Just Keep Swimming

Words and Stitches

Apple Avenue Quilts

Pampered Pettit - that's me!

Moose Stash Quilting

 

Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! 

~Brandy



with love to Konnie the cat, we'll miss you this Christmas my furry little sister