I believe in enjoying the current moment, so I always prefer to sew or craft in the season I'm currently in - but when I need to work ahead of schedule, I find it's also nice to get a jump start on my later seasonal sewing! This month I took a few days to make some Christmassy projects with new Christmas fabric by Poppie Cotton, and it was rather fun...also nice to stock up on some gifts and decor before the seasonal crunch begins.
This is a rustic Christmas line, and while it's not a style I would normally gravitate towards, I quite enjoyed these projects using it, and kept making just one more thing! The little town and farm scenes are especially adorable.
I started with a couple of 18" pillows.
I used the Flower Love pattern by Sew Mariana and made 1 block in 2 different combinations, choosing my favorite prints to highlight in the bigger areas of the block.
I quilted them differently, and added a basic envelope back. This is so helpful if you have a lot of pillow covers but limited space. You can fold and store the covers flat, and reuse the same few pillow forms as you switch out the seasonal covers.
I really love the bold flower block look. It reminded me of a giant Christmas bow, and really works well for Christmas with the star and heart center - perfect for this traditional collection.
The edge finish provoked thought since I wanted something stronger than hand stitching a binding, but that looked nicer than a machine stitched binding - which I still have not mastered.
The answer was to hand stitch it through all layers with size 10 crochet thread. Super strong, looks nice on both sides, AND adds a lovely contrast stitching detail to the edge. Now I want to try this technique with a full size quilt.
I'm looking forward to using these on the couch this Christmas season.
Then I grabbed the leftover fabric and made a slew of smaller scrappy projects!
I quilted two panels, cut them in a circle for potholders, and added a pocket for little gifts or decor.
I did my favorite quilt-as-you-go string blocks, sorting the strings by color. The green one I left as is; the white one I added little raw edge hearts on each corner and loved it! These are so quick and easy - sew your fabric strips together through all the layers, trim, and bind! Great for a quickly made addition to a gift basket.
I think my favorite potholder though was the log cabin - also quilt as you go, starting with a large center cut from the scenic fabric. I loved it so much I'm thinking about doing a whole quilt-as-you-go quilt like this, with fussy cut floral centers!
I love how they all coordinate but are all different and unique.
The final project was one I've wanted to try for years, and this fabric line was the spur to finally make me get around to it - folded no-sew Scandinavian stars. I followed this YouTube tutorial and found it quite clear and helpful.
It was SO FUN and easier than it looks. I want to bust out my Christmas scraps and make more this year for sure!
The one other thing I had made earlier were these easy gift placemats for our table this past Christmas, and really enjoyed how festive they were during the holidays.
I do wish Prairie Christmas had more red options in it, as I quickly ran low on the reds. But I'm still super pleased with the results of a few days of crafting. If you love rustic or country Christmas, this is definitely the fabric line for you. Stock up early for this holiday season, as it's shipping to quilt stores now!
Check out the other lovely Christmassy makes too. It's so fun to see everyone's unique spin and creativity using the same bundle of fabric.
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Monday, June 3
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@sewmaryhappy
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Wednesday, June 5
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Monday, June 10
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Wednesday, June 12
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Friday, June 14
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Monday, June 17
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Wednesday, June 19
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@elliebugmakes
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Friday, June 21
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Monday, June 24
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Wednesday, June 26
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Friday, June 28
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Monday, July 1
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