How cute is Mr. Frosty! This pattern and fabric are designed by Heather Peterson of Anka’s Treasures whom I had the pleasure to meet in August 2021 at her presentation for my quilt guild. After seeing her trunk show of quilts, I purchased this kit (and some other patterns) at the meeting.
I love this classic snowman with some quilt blocks thrown in to look like snowflakes.
The original pattern was designed as a table runner, with the two snowmen placed opposite each other, head to head. As I pieced them together I decided they really need to be featured on a wall where I can easily see them, so I modified them and added a top border to each so they could be separate wall hangings.
Finished Size: 20.5" x 29" Pattern: Mr. Frosty from Trendy Tables 3 book by Anka's Treasures Fabric: Snowed In by Heather Peterson of Anka's Treasures for Riley Blake
I’m learning my favorite cross stitch patterns include cute houses and this And To All a Good Night pattern is no different! For over a year I’ve been working on a large cross stitch project with 12 different Christmas houses (it’s going to be my masterpiece when it’s done), but I took a little break from that and worked on this one for a quicker finish. I’m so happy with how it turned out! It’s a little too late to hang it up now, but it will be fun to display next Christmas.
I used all the called-for thread colors from the pattern, however, I used a different fabric. I decided I didn’t want to use the black fabric it called for, so I found this awesome Basalt Splash 25 Count Lugana in gray with white splotches that happen to look like snow! Besides being easier to stitch on than black, it was also a big win because it already has the snow falling. I skipped out on stitching the snowflakes in the sky from the original pattern and I don’t feel like I miss them.
Original pattern
Overall I enjoyed this pattern and will try out more of the Stitching with the Housewives patterns.
I thankfully found the perfect-sized frame to frame it in! The frame I used is the Thin Collage Wall Frame found at Target. The opening is 24″ x 8″, which gives the perfect amount of space around the stitched piece. Next time, though, I’m going to take pictures of my cross stitch works before I put them under glass. I couldn’t take a straight-on picture because there was too much glare!
I’m always up for a sewing challenge, so when I heard about a “Stash Buster” monthly challenge at a quilt shop and saw January’s pattern featured a bird I bought it and got to work! The idea is you make the pattern for the month using fabrics from your stash and you have creative free rein to make whatever modifications to the design you’d like. Then, during the following month, you post your picture on the shop’s Facebook page and whoever’s picture gets the most “likes” wins $20 to spend at the shop. I noticed only a few people submitted entries for the previous month, so I had a good chance to win something!
Choosing fabrics for this was quite different for me, as I usually make quilts from kits where the fabric is already chosen. I stretched myself on this and got to use some of my scraps. The mix of greens for the tree was fun to pick out. I decided I wanted a dark background so it would look like a midnight scene out in the stars. Well, I found some midnight blue glittery fabric scraps leftover from a dress I made my daughter and knew it was the one! I chose the blues for the birds in hues similar to the sky. I used neutral grays for the gift and borders because I wanted the focus to really be the bird and the tree.
I quilted subtle echos around the stars to try to bring them out and for the bird I did some angled lines. The quilting for the tree was my favorite part. I knew I wanted to represent the layers of branches somehow and when I came up with these curves I was so pleased! They add a bit of whimsy and make the tree more interesting.
In the end, I got second place (out of two total entries). No big prize money for me, but I did win next month’s challenge pattern for free. Coincidentally I also won $10 from the shop in a random drawing the evening of the contest results, so I came out good on this! The next pattern is “Feathered Friends – Spring” featuring this bird in a flowery Spring scene. Looks like I better get working on my next entry!
This quilt was actually made by my 9-year-old daughter! Her first quilt! The pattern and fabric came from the Fat Quarter Shop Jolly Box 2020. When the box arrived, she was immediately excited about this fabric and since it looked like a good beginner quilt I told her she could do it!
We added an extra outside border to make it a bit bigger (closer to a lap quilt size for her) and backed it with super soft Fireside by Moda to make it cuddly. It was my first time using Fireside and I love it! I had no problems quilting it with the longarm. I’ve got another piece of Fireside waiting for the back of my cat quilt when I make it.
For the quilting, my daughter and I picked out a couple designs from Designs with Lines books (Border Lines and Basic 8) and used Pam Clarke’s stencils and chalk pounce powder to create a guide. I outlined the deer — well, half of it — and my daughter got on the longarm for the first time to finish it up. She did a great job and luckily has the attitude that “nothing is perfect, Mom!” so she just went for it and wasn’t afraid of mistakes.
She loves her new cute, cuddly couch quilt!
Finished Size: 37.5" x 46.5"
Pattern: North Pole Quilt Pattern exclusive to the Fat Quarter Shop Jolly Box 2020
Fabric: Deer Christmas by Urban Chiks, Fireside Pink by Moda
#jollybox
#sewsamplerbox
I came across this wallhanging pattern on an episode of Fat Quarter Shop’s weekly livestream on YouTube. It’s perfectly my style and better yet, the pattern is FREE! I even loved the fabric they used in their example so much that I bought it and used it. It is actually offered as both a 26.5″ x 26.5″ mini quilt (the version I did) and a 59″ x 59″ throw sized quilt. The mini uses mini 2.5″ charm packs and the bigger version uses regular 5″ charm packs.
I quilted this on my longarm (the first non-test quilt sandwich!) and played around with rulers and free-hand.
Finished Size: 26.5" x 26.5"
Pattern:Mini Charming Christmas Quilt by Fat Quarter Shop
Fabric: Naughty or Nice by BasicGrey
This sleigh is perfect for holding holiday cards or candy to put out on display on your table! I actually made three of these and gave two away as gifts this year.
The pattern calls for Peltex 72F stiff double-sided fusible interfacing. It was my first time using this interfacing and it worked well! Between that and the fact that each side of the sleigh is doubled up and sewn together (each with a piece of Peltex 72F), it has a great structure. I was surprised when I came to the step where you need to hand sew the sides to the gusset piece. I was skeptical that it would hold together well, but in the end it did! It feels very strong.
I added on some shiny red jingle bells and a glittery bow I found at Michael’s in their Christmas decor section. I hand sewed these on at the end.
Finished Size: Small - 7.5" x 5.5" x 5"
Pattern:Sleigh-Full AT602 by Aunties Two
Fabric: Naughty or Nice by BasicGrey
After my first successful cross stitch project (No Prob-Llama), I found another pattern by the same designer with another cute play on words: Meowy Catmas. Fitting, since we got two kittens this year!
This was fun to stitch! The only issue I came across was at the end when I realized the design looked crooked as I put it in the frame. There must have been something wrong with the cheap Aida cloth I bought at Joann Fabrics, but since I’m still a beginner at this I’m not entirely sure. I also cut my fabric a little too small so I didn’t have a lot of room to wrap around the Pres-On Mounting Sticky Board I used from Fat Quarter Shop. I used this tutorial to frame the piece: How to Frame Cross Stitch, however I didn’t add the batting because there wouldn’t have been enough room in the frame. I just wrapped the fabric around the sticky board and stuck the edges to the back of the board.
Finished Size: 60 by 89 stitches, or approximately 4.3 by 6.4 inches
Pattern:Meowy Catmas by The Stranded Stitch
Fabric: 14 count white Aida
I attended the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo and came across Sew Wonderful Dreams‘ booth. I was drawn to the Bethlehem Batiks wall hanging they were featuring and bought the pattern. I had never done applique before or worked with batiks, but I was willing to learn!
I had so much fun picking out the batiks and doing the applique! The pattern came with great instructions and an easy-to-use template for fabric placement. Batiks not only gave this piece the perfect dark and bright colors to create the night scene, but because batiks don’t fray they were probably the best type of fabric to use for my first applique project.
I quilted it on my home machine with free-motion, trying to add interesting details to enhance the design.
Finished Size: 24.5" x 24.5"
Pattern: Bethlehem Batiks by Sew Wonderful Dreams
Sew Happy by Sarah 