Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Friday, December 1, 2023

Winter Cross Stitch Snowman

Okay fellow bloggers how in the world did it get to be December already!!! Doesn't seem possible does it. But let the Holiday decorating begin!

As you might remember last Sunday my slow stitching was a little snowman cross stitch design. Well here he is all finished and ready to help with my Christmas decorating. If you are interested in stitching him as well, you can find the free cross stitch chart at Melisa's blog.

Mr. Winter will join some of the other snowmen I have made over the years. He was so fun and quick to stitch up. I might just have to go find another stitchery to keep my hands busy at night while watching TV.

This is my favorite decorating corner. My treadle sewing machine sits in the foyer and I change out the decor for each season/holiday. Okay peeps I better go do some more decorating, this year I am not going to go as crazy with the decorating. Rather I am going with a less is more theme this year.

And one table topper done. This is from my pattern called Around and Around.

Happy December and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Linking with

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Red Truck/wreath panel

This panel grabbed my eye a couple years ago, I made it up and sold it right away. I went on the hunt and found another one. And then it seems several other panels made it into the lineup to get finished first. In looking through my holiday panel stash a couple weeks ago this one finally made it to the top for piecing!

And it took until this week to quilt and bind it. Too many other things needed doing first.

I even had the same fabrics still in the stash to go with it!

And why not quilt it the same too. So much easier/quicker to follow the same idea.

It feels so good to have another holiday wall hanging ready for my shop.

There was a need to remake this runner too.

I hope you all are having a very productive week! Why not show your creativity in these Wednesday linky parties. Wednesday wait loss and Midweek Makers

Sunday, November 26, 2023

What I am slow stitching

With the holiday decorating season upon us I decided I needed to stitch a new little snowman that is a freebie from Melisa. And since the hand knit socks are all done now was the perfect time to start stitching. I think I could finish him up today as he only needs his little checks stitched and some snowflakes added. Linking with Slow Sunday Stitching.

JoAnn's had a great Black Friday sale week that I couldn't pass up. I snagged some Keepsake Calico, which I would show you but I folded and put it all away already! But I also checked out their flannel sale and found a pretty blue with polka dots to recover my big ironing station. Pressing can be fun with a new cover to look at:)

In my quilting world I finished up another Through The Window snowman table runner to restock my Etsy shop. I'll be remaking some other snowman ones this week too.

Linking with Design Wall Monday, Sew and Tell Monday.

SALES

BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND! -- Extra 22% off Your Order (use code: WEEKEND) Ends on 11/26

CYBER MONDAY! -- an extra 30% off your order when you use code CYBERDEAL- Monday only

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Hexagon snowman toppers

There was a need to replenish some of these snowman toppers for my Etsy shop this past week. I had the parts cut for this one and the snowflakes were stenciled already so it was quick to put together and quilt it.

This one took a little more as only the triangles for the center were cut out and stenciled. So a little cutting and applique along with adding the borders was needed before quilting.

I tend to quilt these the same way each time which helps speed up the process a bit.

I also needed to remake the tree skirt! I loved the first one so much I decided to do it exactly the same.

I used a wide backing for this. The tree skirt is 45" in diameter.

Accuquilt-

BLACK FRIDAY! 11/24/23 only -- Extra 25% off Your Order (use code: FRIDAY)

11/24-11/26---2x Rewards

BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND! -- Extra 22% off Your Order (use code: WEEKEND)

As always I appreciate you using my affiliate links!! Are you Black Friday shopping or staying in? The hubby and I did a little internet shopping, otherwise I am staying in and doing a little more quilting. Oh and I might have just hopped over to JoAnn's on Tuesday and picked up a little fabric. It was 3.99 a yard for their Keepsake line, couldn't pass that up! It took me longer than it should have as there was a line for cutting, with only one clerk!! And then another line for checking out, again only one working. Good thing I wasn't in a hurry.

Linking with Friday favorite linky parties

Monday, November 20, 2023

A little of everything

Happy Monday to you all! This past week I dug into my Christmas panel bin and decided this one was next to get perked up a bit. Here is how it looked after I squared and trimmed it up.

From my stash, I chose a red with gold sprinkles for the first border to enhance this panel. Next was the black and gray fabrics for many 2.5" finished HST's(half square triangles). These were quickly cut using my HST die from my 8" Accuquilt cube. You all know how much I love using my dies for the quickness and the accuracy.

After the HST's were added I framed them with the same red fabric before adding a green holly print final border.

After some custom quilting, binding and a hanging sleeve added it was time for a photo shoot;)

All fabrics came from the stash.

So rewarding to have used another panel, which is now in my Etsy shop. This week I need to remake three table runners and quilt up yet another panel!

On Saturday we enjoyed the day with both our kids, their spouses and our three grandkids for our Thanksgiving. It had been a couple years since we were all together. Our daughter made this turkey shaped appetizer plate.

We supplied the turkey and our Son-in-law offered to smoke it. It was delicious. We had all the other normal thanksgiving food too.

I woke up super early on Sunday morning and finished up my socks! And just in time to wear them with a purple fleece yesterday.

Numerous sales going on at Accuquilt--

For 11/17/23-11/27/23 ---BLACK FRIDAY DEALS! -- 25% off GO!, GO! Big, GO! Dies and Bundles

and at the same time

BLACK FRIDAY DEALS! -- 15% off GO! Qubes, GO! Accessories, Downloadable Embroidery and June Tailor Items

One day only 11/21/23---BLACK FRIDAY ON TUESDAY! -- Extra 20% off $100+ Orders (use code: TUESDAY20)

Linking with:

Design Wall Monday

Sew and Tell Monday

Thursday, November 16, 2023

Snowman and a Red Truck

Here comes Frosty the Snowman checking out this red truck. Yet another panel is finished and on the market for it's forever home.

I so enjoyed coming up with just a little different border treatment for this one.

What's a snowman without fresh falling snowflakes. I stenciled these on with fabric paint and heat set them. Not sure if you can see the quilting around the snowflake but I echoed the snowflake with some straight lines.

It was time for some ribbon candy to dress up the red strip in the border. Some simple straight lines were all that was needed in the pretty green strips.

I still have a few winter/holiday panels I would like to get made. However, this past week has been a bit of a struggle. Nine days ago I woke up with pain shooting down my right leg. Went to the Chiropractor the next day, he says sciatica. That is what I figured after researching a bit online. Two days later it was so bad I could hardly walk across the house. I got into the Dr. the next day and he says pinched nerve, gave me a muscle relaxer and says take Naproxen and ice and heat and give it two weeks. Yikes that is a long time when it hurts so bad it takes your breath away at times. Have any of you had either of these, if so what did you find that helped? It's hard some nights to get comfy to sleep. So not as much quilting has gotten done or anything else for that matter.

Hope all is well with all of you! We have our two kids, spouses and three grands coming this weekend to have our Thanksgiving. Looking forward to seeing them all.

Linking with:

NTT

Put Your Foot Down

Finished or Not Friday

Whoop Whoop

TGIFF

Beauty Pageant

Friday, November 10, 2023

Tree Skirt Tutorial

Accuquilt was kind enough to send me the tree skirt wedge die to do a tutorial here on my blog. I love how this tree skirt came together quickly. Follow along with me...

You will need this Tree Skirt wedge die from Accuquilt.

Pick 4 fabrics each measuring at least 21" x WOF(width of fabric).

With accuquilt dies you can cut up to 6 layers of fabric at a time. For this particular skirt I am only cutting 2 layers at a time, (the next photo will show you why I had to do that). Layer two fabrics over the die.

Here is why I did two layers... I rolled the excess fabric up so it would lay next to the die when going through my GO! All 4 layers wouldn't fit through.

Here is the first two wedges cut, easy peasy, right? You might notice my black sharpie lines I have drawn 1/4" away from the blades on the die. These are my guidelines for lining up my fabric so I am sure that my fabric covers the blades.

Here is an important step, to save yourself fabric be sure to flip the fabric and cover the wedge again and cut. Keep flipping and cutting until you have 5 from the first two fabrics. Repeat with the second set of fabrics.

You need five wedges of each fabric for a total of 20 wedges.

Arrange your wedges in the order you like and sew together in pairs using 1/4" seams. Then sew the pairs into sets of four. Continue sewing these all together until you have a complete circle. The tree skirt measures 45" in diameter when finished.

Layer your backing, batting and tree skirt and quilt it. After quilting I cut down one seam for the opening so you can wrap this around your tree.

After quilting iron fusible web of your choice to wrong side of white fabric for snowman face. Cut four 9" circles and fuse to the edge of skirt letting some of the circle hang over the edge. Applique the face using your favorite method. I used black thread and the blanket stitch on my domestic machine. Trim off the edge of face that hangs over the skirt. Add a nose and buttons for eyes. Bind your tree skirt with bias binding, add a ribbon tie in the binding seam. You now have a festive looking tree skirt. There is still time to order the die and make your tree a new skirt this Christmas!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! Thank you Accuquilt for the tree die.

Accuquilt sale on 11/11/23---FLASH SALE! -- Extra 25% off (use code: TEXT25).

Also through the 13th--- 55% off Studio Dies and Die Bundles (use code: STUDIO55)

Linking with Can I get a whoop whoop, Finished or not Friday, Friday Foto fun, Peacock party, TGIFF, Off the wall Friday, Beauty Pageant

Monday, November 6, 2023

Snowman, Feathered Friends and a Fall Finish

This panel is larger than my normal ones I have worked with. And it was so much fun figuring out a little different look with the borders. Isn't he cute with his feathered friends keeping him company.

For the friendship stars I used dies from the Accuquilt 8" cube to make quick work of HST''s. The black and red borders were cut with the 2.5" strip die.

By now you know I love to fancy up these panels with some custom quilting! Since the black w/holly and snowflakes fabric wouldn't show much quilting I kept that simple with straight lines. Wishbones complete the red strips while the green has some simple but effective loops. The panel itself received the hook swirl to look like wind blowing the snow around.

I mentioned this being a larger panel, the finished wall hanging measures 47.5"x 55" so it could essentially be a small lap quilt. I managed to get photos of it on Friday, got it listed and it was sold in fifteen minutes!!!!! My New York customer says she is going to use it as a bed topper. She will have a festive looking bed! I quickly ordered more of the black fabric as I do have another of this panel.

I'll soon have another one to show you, check back on Wednesday!

And now for the Fall Finish... and it's all for me!! This was stitched either last fall or 2 falls ago. And there it sat for inspiration to hit for the finish. Over the weekend I took a few minutes to layer it with a backing, stitch around it, turn it inside out and stuff it. I bought 5/8 of a yard of gold cord at JoAnns and hot glued it around the edge. Hot glue might not have been the ideal way to attach it, but hey it worked and I have a finished project! But the cord really made the difference I think.

I added a double bow at the cord joining to hide it. Gobble Gobble is a free pattern generously given by Melissa! Thank you Melissa, I love it!! She has tons of freebies and they are always so cute.