Only 11 more Sundays until

...Christmas. Yes I know this is not what anybody wants  to hear including me ! But it's a fact and I have had to think about it much earlier than most of you for my latest quilt I created for Love Patchwork & Quilting. It is strictly speaking not a Christmas quilt but a Winter quilt that with its red, greens, pinks and greys will brighten up any dreary winter's day.

 The background colour for the trees is a light grey which makes all the other colours stand out really well. Issue 14 is out now for subscribers and out next week in the shops.

My contribution to the magazine is a quilt that is paper pieced and a cushion. The paper piecing is really easy and it is most suitable for any paper piecing novice !

 The fabric for this wonderful quilt was sponsored by the Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead.

A very merry Christmas

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy New Year and like to take the opportunity to thank you for the support and interest you have shown in my crafty endeavors this past year.

  There wouldn't be a needlesandlemons blog without you and your comments and I am very much looking forward to share lots and lots of new projects with you in 2014.

Christmas stockings class

And another Christmas-is-soon (very soon) post.....
Two years ago I tortured myself for months on end by making an advent calender of mini Christmas stockings for my beloved nephew.

You can find the tutorial to make these including template on my 'Tips, Tuts and Templates' page or just follow this link.

But that is not what I am going to teach at the Village Haberdashery on the 2nd November this year.

I am teaching how to make their bigger brother (or sister for that matter).

The class will be great fun and Annie provides all the material including a cute mini charm pack from Kate Spain's Christmas range 'From the Cold' that I used for one side of the stocking.
Best of all is that Annie offers a 15% discount if you book two of more classes. Use offer code STITCH2.

I added a cuff made of denim from old pair of Jeans I had and embellished with it a bit of ribbon. The stockings are big enough to actually fill them properly with gifts or you can use them for decoration. Mine will be hanging on my stair case come December.

How near is Christmas ?

The answer is VERY.  Yes I know this is not what anybody wants to hear but we are almost in November and I think the Christmas lights are already up on Oxford Street (though thankfully not switched on).

So how about some x-mas sewing then ? Don't panic, there is still plenty of time and whats more, inspiration and help is on its way. Next week the Christmas edition of the fantastic Fat Quarterly magazine will come out and... insert drum role here please.... I have a quilt in there !

I was so very excited when I was asked if I wanted to contribute to the Christmas edition. Excited for two reasons, one because it is just so wonderful to be able to contribute to this fabulous magazine and two that also meant that I got my Christmas sewing out of the way early. If I have to sew something for the festive period then I like to start early. Last year you may remember I started sewing my nephew's Advent calender even earlier in August (though I still got in a pickle in November). 

The marvelous FQ team have given me permission to give you sneak peak of my contribution.

I made this Christmas tree quilt with the Dear Mr. Claus Christmas fabric by Cosmo Cricket for Moda and I absolutely love it. This is a very versatile quilt because it can be used as a wall hanging or laid out in front of  the Christmas tree or you could just use it as a quilt for the holidays (what a novel idea !). The collection is modern while retaining the warm and traditional Christmas colors. If you want to know how to make this then you need to buy the FQ x-mas edition where you will find detailed instruction including templates for the star.

Have a lovely weekend full of sewing.

Countdown to Christmas - part 3 -

42 trees and whole lot of sashing later and the top of my 'Countdown to Christmas' quilt is finished !
I can't get enough of this fabric as it is so darn cute !
The big question is now what to do with the back and how to quilt it. I am adamant to use the entire jelly role plus all the left overs from the background fabric on this quilt which proofs a bit of a challenge.

Originally I was thinking to quilt in the  same manner as the little mini quilts were done emphasising the trees but this will be to much work when it comes to burying the quilting threads. I don't think I can face hundreds upon hundreds of threads to bury. It did cross my mind to QAG this one but then again that would have presented a much bigger challenge as to the quilt back. I think for the method I am keen to try out the squares are to small.

So I am thinking something along the lines of crosses or stars which is sort of festive too isn't it ?
Any suggestion are more than welcome.

 

Previous post on this quilt can be found here and here.

Countdown to Christmas - part 2 -

Hello there, it is Wednesday and that means half way through the working week......what a relieve.
Sunday night I made quite a bit of progress on my 'Countdown to Christmas' quilt for which I use the equally named Christmas collection from Sweetwater.

I cut templates for these blocks and will scan them today and post a link to them over the weekend in case anybody would like to use this pattern too. This was inspired by one of the Sweetwater quilts for their current 'Hometown' collection.

 

All of the trees are cut and sewn (I used a Jelly role) and most of the background fabric is attached. But I ran out and ordered some more from Hulu Craft which hopefully arrives today.

 

 

Previous post on this can be found here
Ho ho

Stash Note 30

Not just a Stash Note today but already a work in progress.
I came across DelRay fabrics a few weeks ago thanks to the suggestion of  Fiona. They had free shipping for a while which of course is a massive bonus when one orders from the US. Browsing around I found that they stocked a jelly role and yardage of the new x-mas collection "Countdown to Christmas"  from the fantastic people of Sweetwater. I do love their collections and used the Pure collection recently to make my 'Laugh and Happiness.

So I bought my first ever Jelly role (they are messy things I can already say that much)

and some wonderful yardage.

I think this is one of the cutest Christmas fabric collections around at the moment and I immediatly resovled to use it for a quilt with Christmas trees. I did a few test blocks to find the best size and came up with these two. They were all slightly to small (truth be told I messed up the mesurements of boths) so I made them into mini-mini quilts. The instpiration came actually from a Sweetwater quilt for their new collection 'Hometown'  which is meant to inspire a nautical theme but I kind of thought immideatly of Christmas trees.

 Isn't the background fabric the cutest ever ?

Backside of the mini-mini quilts.

I have already cut all the pieces for the tree and started on the background fabric. The measurements are now for a 8 1/2 inch finished block to which I will add sashing in the red fabric.   If anyone is intersted then I will post a pattern link for this block  I am also almost tempted to propose an x-mas quilt along if people were interested but I am a little bit reluctant as there are so many quilt alongs around anyway and I have very little time at the moment. I would have time in the second half of October though.

Advents calendar stocking tutorial

I had a few people asking for a tutorial for my Advents calendar stockings . So I thought I oblige as we are nearing Christmas in alarming speed !

Few important points up front:

• This is an excellent way to use leftovers from past Christmas crafting ventures, though I am using a fat quarter set of Michael Millers's 2011 Christmas collection (as I didn't have enough leftovers)
• My stockings are lined but I don't think that this is strictly necessary - I just like them to look neat
• The individual stockings aren't particularly large as they are just meant for small little somethings through the time of Advent but I have created two template sizes as I want to make 4 stockings that are larger for the Advent Sundays.
• I choose to make each months 4 (or 8 every two month as I tend to forget !) but you can easily make a little production line and get it over and done with in one weekend

Material:

• patterned cotton scraps from past x-mas or a fat eights or fat quarter set of a new collection (that is plenty and will give you enough to make other bits for the festive period)
• leftover wadding
• solid cotton scraps for lining (but you could also use patterned here if you prefer)
• cotton thread for piecing
• cotton thread for quilting
• Template(s) can be downloaded here (The smaller one is to be used for 20 stockings and the larger one for 4 as I want to have a "larger" present for the Advent Sundays

Take a piece of fabric and fold it over from left to right as in the picture. This is important when you have a directional print as you don't want to end up having one half of the stocking upside down.

Download the stocking template, cut it out along the line and pin it onto the folded fabric. Then cut out the first stocking. 1/4 inch seam allowance is already included in the template !

You will end up with two stockings like this where the directional prints go into the same direction.

Then repeat the same process with the wadding and the lining (though you don't need to worry about print direction here). You should end up with 3 pair of booties like in the image below.

Next take your print booties and your wadding booties, pin them together and quilt in which ever pattern you prefer. I have chose to do diagonal lines that form a diamond pattern. I have not marked any lines here and just started to quilt from the top left corner to the bottom right corner and then set the quilt guide on my machine to a 3/4 inch distance and kept this for the subsequent lines. When have you done this with both stocking halfs it should look like this.

Now cut 2 strips of contrasting fabric that are each 4 x 2 inches.

Turn the strips right sides down and press the long edges a 1/4 inch toward the wrong side.You can either finger press this or use and iron - I am using an iron.

Then turn the strips around, place them on the stocking halfs a 1/4 inch below the top edge thereby taking care that the folded and pressed edges are turned in. Then top stitch along the top and bottom edge to secure the strip to the stocking.

It should look like this (sorry for the blurred photo):
The reason why I am doing these sort of fake cuffs is to minimize bulk. There are tutorials around for stockings with great cuffs but these are for large stocking and not for tiny ones likes these that are made into an Advent calendar.

Cut the excess fabric off to get a clean edge.

Take both booties, put the right sides together and stitch a 1/4 around the whole stocking with the exception of the opening at the top !

Now take both lining stocking halfs and sew them together in the same manner.

Almost there. Now we put the patterned stocking and lining stocking together.  Take the patterned stocking and turn the wadding side inside and the patterned side outside (the way it should look finished) and simply put the lining stocking with the wrong side outside (!) over it.

Stitch a scant 1/4 inch along the top leaving a large enough area open to turn the stocking around. Make sure you stitch over both side seams  (see black arrows in photo) which means you would leave the area between the side seam on one side of the stocking open to turn it around. The reason why I am asking to do this will become clear in a moment.

Turn the stocking inside out. You will end up with this. The stocking will be almost finished with the right side on the outside. Tuck the lining into the stocking make sure to push it right into the corners.
The only thing that is now left to do is close the opening you have used to turn the stocking around with a few hand sewn stitches. And it is much quicker to close this if you don't have to do it over the somewhat bulky side seams.

Done !

 And in no time you have a bunch of these:

And yes I am behind again. By the end of this month I will have to have produced 16 in total.....better get on with it then.

Please let me know if something is not clear, wrong or confusion. This my first big tutorial and I would be grateful if you could  give me honest feedback as only then I can learn from mistakes.

Advents calendar - June and July progress

I didn't do any stockings for the Advents calendar for my nephew in June so I had to do a double set this months. I also changed tack a bit and made them slightly larger than the first prototypes and I also used a collection of x-mas fabric from Michael Miller.

Eight down, 16 to go which makes it four for every month until November. Can you believe that it is already November in 4 months time......ugly ugly thought....

First post of my Advent calendar project can be found here.



June lot



July lot




Getting there



Advent calendar

Yes you read correctly. I know, I know we are only halfway through Spring and I am talking about x-mas. And the funny thing is I am not even a big Christmas person. I bit more these days though because I have a little 3 year old nephew but generally we keep it low key in the family.

But here is the thing. Last year when I visited my sisters Anja in December for a few trips to a proper Christmas Market (in Bremen) she had put up an Advent calendar for Hauke (her son, my nephew) which was some improvised thing where she put little presents in patterned tissue paper on a string.

It was a poor attempt, no point in talking it sweet. And of course I wasted no time in telling her to which she responded something along the lines that it was me who was the creative in the family who could do something about it. So I offered to sew something much nicer for this year Christmas.

So, my plan is to sew a couple of those little stockings every months so I won't have to do something in a mad rush 3 days before Advent starts. Besides I am channeling here my inner and outer German organisation skills.

I bought some discounted x-mas fabric from last year at my local quilt shop but I have also ordered some new patterns from Michael Miller that will hopefully arrive in the next couple of weeks.

I have made a separate Advent calendar page on the blog where I add images of each new little stocking I make so you can follow my progress. Last night I made two and it really was great fun. I might even make enough for two calendars. I couldn't put both of them together on the rope as I only have one wooden cloth peg at the moment and that is even borrowed from my lovely neighbours. I want to secure the stockings with wooden cloth pegs because then my sister can put the calender high enough so Hauke can't raid it early but she can also take the stockings off easily to give every day one to him so he can find his little present in there. I won't put any numbers on the stocking as I think they are to small and it would clutter the design unnecessarily but might do something with numbers on the pegs. Let's see.
Anyone fancy a tutorial on how to make this Advent calendar ?