Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Christmas Ornaments Made With Love


Last month our guild started putting the finishing touches on the plans for our Christmas party.  One of the activities members can participate in, is a homemade ornament exchange.  This was the first year I would be attending the party and wasn't quite sure if I wanted to participate.  My 4th quarter list is pretty long, did I really need a distraction.

Then I discovered a posted by Leann at Devoted Quilter on making Free Motion Quilted Ornaments and knew I had to make some.  We shall call them the "perfect squirrel."  That little distraction you know you shouldn't do, but that you are going to do.

Leann filled her ornaments with different free motion fillers, but I decided to try a different angle.  After searching on google "Christmas ornament coloring pages" I found may different inspirations for filling my ornaments.


I used my trusty blue water soluble pens to create a bit of a road map and just started quilting.  For homemade ornaments, this project completes very quickly.  I was able to whip up 6 different bulbs in probably less than an hour from start to finish.


How about a peek at the at the ornaments I received...they are already happily hanging on my tree.


A super cute strip pieced tree


A yo-yo Christmas Tree


A fabric folded star


And a decoupage Christmas bulb.

The other fun game we played at the party is a Yankee swap gift exchange.  You know the one...were you can take the gifts other people have already opened.  I was lucky and got to keep the gift I opened.


A lovely green and blue jelly roll and needle threaders/cutters.  These will come in handy when I thread my Sweet Sixteen.

My favorite part of the swap was when David opened his package, a set of charm squares.  He was so quite about it and everyone was so taken in by the bigger gift bags, even myself didn't pay attention to what the charms were.  His poker face paid off...no one realized they were Kaffe Fassett and he got to keep them.  You can read more about his good fortune and see his pretty squares here.

I quietly snapped a picture of him as he was laying them out to take a picture of them.


He really was like a little boy on Christmas morning, so cute.

I'm still over here plugging away on my list of projects, some are getting closer to finished...others are not.


Caroline Kitty Cat inspects my progress on the book shelf quilt.  My poor girl has had a very rough past few days.  She lost so much weight and stopped eating.  A trip to the vet discovered a intestinal infection.  After a shot to the rumpus, I'm happy to report she is bouncing back to her normal sassy self.

And speaking of the teenage sass-master...


Somewhere in all those flashing carter bus lights, my baby girl and her high school band, boarded a bus and left last night for Disney.  Leaving me with six full on sewing evenings...well possibly.  Life likes to throw in those squirrels I was talking about.  Only life likes to throw in non quilting squirrels.  And on a side note, no one warned me that packing a teenage girl for a 6 day trip to Disney was going to be way more chaotic than packing her for a 6 week camp.  I think my head is still spinning. 


Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers.

16 comments:

Sandra Walker said...

Your ornaments are spectacular and you scored some pretties in return. Already read David's gushing post about his Kaffe score, too cute! Glad you have some non-teenager filled time ahead of you this week! We'll share a glass on FT next time and sew together 'k?

Nancy J said...

Quiet nights, all packed and away, and then along came Dave and his squares. Wow, no wonder he was so thrilled. Glad your wee girl is feeling better.And a tree with those ornaments, very bright and pretty.

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Great job on the ornaments. I like your take on the quilting. Very creative.

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts said...

Wow...all the ornaments, the ones you made AND received are so gorgeous! I saw Leanne's ornaments and have stubbornly ignored that big ole squirrel chattering at me, but I may give in yet! :) I hope you are having a great week and getting in lots of sewing. I'm having withdrawals - hubby is home this week and I haven't sewn one single stitch!! Hopefully he's off to the cabin in the morning and I can spend the day in my sewing room. :) With wine. And a straw....

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

The ornaments are beautiful! What perfect timing for Leanne's tutorial. Enjoy your 6 evening and it's ok to have a few squirrel moments... :)

Sue said...

Oooh I'm a bit jealous of those Kaffe charm squares! Hope all the teenager free sewing nights go smoothly.

Jayne said...

I love the idea of making and trading ornaments! I'll have to float that out there next year with our guild! We do the same thing with fabric at our Guilds holiday party, except we call it DIrty Santa! Its the highlight of the party and always full of fun and laughter! I can't wait because our party is saturday and I wanna play the game!!

Pat said...

These ornaments are so pretty. I received something similar a couple of years ago at an ornament exchange. I tried to make one and failed miserably but maybe I'll try again!

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

Oh Disney at Christmas , magical
I love yiur ornaments , I think I'll have to try those , but next year .
We did our version of your Yankee Santa game at scrapbooking last night ,. We just call it that weird Santa game . Hardly anybody swapped though

Puppilalla said...

Oh Tish you do sound busy =)
The ornaments you made are lovely and the Christmas swap present stealing sounds like fun. I am glad that you all are healthy and keep busy.

Kate @ Smiles From Kate said...

Lovely ornaments, and a great way to practice FMQ. Your Santa game sounds great fun.

Leanne Parsons said...

I love your different take on the ornaments, Tish! And the ornaments you received are beautiful too. I love a tree with all kinds of different handmade ornaments on it :)

Susan said...

Adorable ornaments - love the yo-yo tree! And congrats on the great prizes at the gift exchange - you both scored big! Thanks for sharing on Midweek Makers

Preeti said...

Lovely ornaments. Looks like your house is festive and party-ready. Love the expression on Dave's face. That was an excellent picture of him - so engrossed.
Hugs,
Preeti.

Lara B. said...

Poor little Caroline. I'm glad she's on the mend now.
Your FMQ ornaments are really fun looking and I bet they were a big hit Tish!
Bahahah - that is so funny about David's poker face and getting to keep the KF charms.
Loving that glimpse of you bookshelf quilt!

Cut&Alter said...

What a great idea for a quick but really effective and beautiful ornament - will have to remember that for next year!

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