The Sewing Elf

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finally finished up this little blanket after the birth of a co-workers baby girl gave me a great big push.  I always feel a little intimidated by the quilting, but once I got rolling on this corner to corner design I made up myself, I cranked it out in only a few hours.  I backed the quilt in flannel which I had never quilted on before and I am very happy with the results.  The fabric is prints from the Little Golden Books and has all my favorite characters though I am not sure if children these days know Shy Little Kitten, Pokey Puppy, Saggy Baggy Elephant and the rest.  It was sure a fun quilt to put together and quilt.

Once the baby quilt was done I put on my elf hat and got to work on a few small gifts for some special little people.  I have to get these in the mail so they have them to put out on Christmas Eve.  The pocket is for holding a little note to Santa which I am suggesting to them that they put a nice ‘Thank You!’ note in.  This pattern was around last year and I had saved it in my Pinterest folder so I found it easily and purchased it from Jodi Nelson at Pleasant Home.  She has an Etsy shop where you can get this immediately as a PDF.  What did I ever do before the internet?

Also on my sewing table I am mass producing some pin cushions for sewing friends from a Fig Tree pattern that I have already used many times before.  It makes such a nice and useful sized pin cushion that I just have to share with all my sewing pals.  It fits nicely right by my sewing machine when I am sewing and I can easily transport it all around my sewing area with me.  Since I love it I am sure my friends will too!  Next up I am going to mass produce some needle books to accompany these little cushions.  They are both from the patterns I used for the ones in my header, though I think I will make the needle book a little smaller this time.

I am loving working on these smaller projects for now, but I think there will be some bigger projects in the near future and with snow in the forecast what a perfect time to focus on some of those!  I am about to tackle some more free motion quilting and finish up some of the tops that I have been nervous about.  I found a wonderful blog by a lady who does some really beautiful quilting on her Janome 6600 (same machine as me) and she has been talking about using these Fine Line Rulers on her domestic machine.  I am very intrigued and on the verge of purchasing a few after watching some demos and seeing what she is doing with them looks like a very handy tool.  I love quilting, but get a little disappointed with my imperfections and these look like the perfect tool to help me create some perfect lines.

Slow down, create and most of all…enjoy the holidays!

Ferne