A Christmas Table Runner for Christmas Dinner

 My brother and his wife always host the big family meals.

I took these two  photos with my camera phone.  I wanted to show you how nice it looked on their table. Also, so you could see it full length, because I realized the photos I took on my table, before I gave it to them, were up close and not full length.

I quilted it with the Paisley Swirly Quilting only in a much smaller version than the quilting last week.  

I quilted with a Alpine Green thread.  It was a good choice with all the Christmas colors.

The binding is an all machine embroidery stitched binding.  I love the little feathery embroidery stitch.

It was a fun table runner to make.  It was created from a charm pack of 42 squares and extra fabric for the backing and binding.  I made it at a quilt retreat in October.  I will get the pattern information for you after the holidays. You will love it!

Of course, stitched in my name and the year.

I also made four everyday hot pads for them. Using the insulated batting.

  
I will share the hot pads next Tuesday (Jan. 8th) for Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday.


Enjoy your day!
Marcia

Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday --- Tea Pot Cozy

 
My daughter asked me if I would make her a quilted tea pot cozy.

She likes owl fabric and I love blues!  Perfect!

I quilted the fabric on my long arm quilting machine with a small meandering and added my name and the year. I searched and found the instructions on how to make a tea pot cozy. (link at the end of this post). I somewhat followed the instructions with a few changes of my own.  I used their measurements and that worked out perfectly.

I added a larger loop on the top, so it would fit over a big cupboard knob.

When I quilted the fabric for the cozy the strip of fabric was longer than I needed for the cozy, so I made a little hot pad for the tea pot. I used 80/20 cotton/poly Hobbs batting. I could have used 100% cotton or even a heat resistant batting.

 While I was making my tea cozy, I hummed --- "tea for two and two for tea...."

If I were a tea drinker,  I would love this quilted tea cozy and hot pad.  I am sure my daughter will love it.

Enjoy your day!
Marcia

Here is the link to the Tea Cozy Instructions on Sew We Quilt Blog.

Blog Hop Party with Giveaways --- Another Winner Announced

Three Fat Quarters 

and 

the Summer Tomatoes Quilt Pattern 

will be mailed to Teresa!

Hop over and congratulate Teresa 

at A Quilt and A Prayer Blog.

She has been contacted by email.

Thanks to everyone for entering.

I choose winners by www.random.org and I take a photo of the winning number. 

Teresa in Music City said...

I would have to choose the orange tomatoes - for some reason orange has become a favorite of mine lately! :*)

December 9, 2012 7:55 PM 

Teresa in Music City said...

I'm a follower!!!

December 9, 2012 7:55 PM 

Thanks to Quilting Gallery

 for hosting the Blog Hop Party with Giveaways!

Enjoy your day!
Marcia

Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday --- Saving Scraps

Tonight, my Hodgepodge Patchwork Post will take us down memory lane...

I am a scrapper!  I save fabric scraps.  Not just any scraps.  I save ends, corners, and selvages that I trim or cut off the fabric, when I am creating a quilt.

These fabric scraps are from a baby quilt that I made 10 years ago.

A cute little scrap of the bee fabric!

This print is so tiny on this scrap, I can't even tell what it is?

Most of the fabric pieces are so tiny, I wouldn't be able to even sew them together.  This next one might be big enough for a postage stamp quilt.

But I did not save the scraps for making another quilt.  I saved them to cherish in a cute little jar.

 I squished the scraps into a baby food jar and I wrote a label.

Folded it up and put the note inside the jar.

It was a Sunbonnet Sue Baby Quilt.  It was the first official quilt, I quilted on my Gammill Quilting Machine in April of 2003.  My quilt room looks so bare.

I used a soft blue thread and quilted it with overall loops.
Don't look too close at the photos --- It was 10 years ago!

This was not the first quilt I made. I made my first quilt in 1981. Click here, if you missed that post.

So I have a few photos of the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt and this cute little jar to remember it.

I don't save the scraps from every quilt I make, but I have saved them from several of the quilts over the years. 

We all make quilts for family and friends. We give them away.  We take photos, but it is just not the same as being able to see the actual fabric. Even if they are just tiny scraps.

These are the scraps from a quilt, I made for a wedding gift.

I love the little guys on horses with the circle trees.  Look at the tiny blue flowers on the next photo.  I will look for the photos of this quilt and share it another time.

I love the cool pattern the blue and white fabric scraps create in this jar.  They are from my Pineapple Quilt.  As I rotary cut each round of the pineapple, I added them to the jar.

My blue and white pineapple quilt hangs on the wall in my quilting shop. 

I could have put it on our bed, but I love seeing it everyday.  I love the blues... the blue fabrics really make me smile!

I will share more of the scraps in the jars and the quilts I have made over the years on another Hodgepodge Post.  I will search for the old photos over the Holidays and share more in 2013.

These are the scraps from the quilt, I made for my Mom.

And these are the scraps from the quilt, I just made for my daughter.

Thanks for taking a few moments to go down memory lane with me.

Do you save your fabric scraps?

If so, how do you save yours?

Enjoy your day!
Marcia

Getting Up Close with My Quilting --- Paisley Swirly Quilting on Three Quilts

The Paisley Swirly Quilting works great on just about any quilt from modern to traditional.  I like it best on the modern bright quilts.

Here it is on a more traditional looking quilt.

The next quilt is the same quilt pattern using more modern fabrics.

This is not quilted with a computerized quilting machine and it is not a panto graph.  I free style (free motion) quilt every quilt I quilt. I manually move my quilting machine like a pencil across the quilt to create the Paisley Swirly Quilting.

 It is a great choice for an overall quilting for just about any quilt!  It creates a soft swirly motion throughout the whole quilt.  The quilting softens the straight lines of the quilt.

And it also gives the quilting a fun and whimsical look!

All three quilts are customer's quilts.  The second and the third quilts were mystery quilts from last year at Quilt's by Barb's Quilt Retreat.

If you want to see another post with the Paisley Swirly Quilting - Click Here. My customer chose a Minkee Backing fabric. 

Enjoy your day!

Marcia