Finished Just in Time for the Holidays

Projects

As I said in my previous post, (Cleaning-up the Pieces and Putting Them Back Together) I had begun a quilt that had been shoved to the back of the cabinet. I am pleased to say that after way too many years of procrastination, I have finally completed the Santa quilt! That is one task I can check off my list. One down, about four more to go. I’ll get there.

The Santa quilt was not hard to do, but it did take a bit of time. I, of course, had to change a few things along the way. First off, I left off the text. I decided I did not want the quilt to “say” a message. I did not feel it necessary. Also, my outer border is not as wide as what was called for. This is because I wanted to use the fabric I had on hand and I did not have enough for a wider border. But the biggest change I made was to what Santa is carrying in his hand.

“What do you think this is?” I asked my husband.

“A mouse,” he said.

I knew it! That is exactly what I thought it looked like too. The pattern is titled, Teddy Bear Santa, however, the “bear” looks more like a mouse. Its ears are too big and the snout is not quite right. So for my quilt, I made the teddy bear ears smaller. I also embroidered a mouth onto the snout. I am happy at how it turned out. I think those small changes make it look like the teddy bear it should be.

The Pattern
My finished quilt with my version of the teddy bear

One great benefit of making something oneself is that things can be changed. The pattern can be altered slightly to ones own taste. Why make something that will not please you, after all.

Well with that project finished, I will be off to the next one. Perhaps I will share it in a future post. As always, Happy Crafting!

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Cleaning-up the Pieces and Putting Them Back Together

Projects

This weekend I decided to clean out my fabric/sewing supply cabinet. I have gotten into the bad habit of throwing things back into the cabinet any which way. The result being a disorganized mess. So this weekend, I pulled out all the fabric, batting, interfacing, and other sewing supplies and got to work.

I ironed the fabrics that were a wrinkled mess and folded them neatly and organized everything. My stash is getting smaller, as I have made quite a few face masks for the Covid crisis. While cleaning out the cabinet, I found some projects that were either partially started and then abandoned or never started at all. Would I do such a thing!

I set these projects aside. The idea being that if they are staring me in the face every day I will do something about them. I am proud to say that today I have started on one of the forgotten projects. A paper piecing project (‘Teddy Bear Santa’ designed by Ruth Jensen) bought many moons ago. This was set aside because of its intimidating nature. Although, paper piecing is not actually something to be weary of at all. I have done some paper piecing in the past but needed to refresh myself with instructions before undergoing the project. I had to get myself in the right way of thinking of how the pieces go together and then all went smoothly. Well…after ripping out a seam or two.

Today I finished one section of the project, a tree. Not bad… I have one more tree to do. This should be a piece of cake since it is just like the one I just finished. Then there is Santa and a bear. This will be more difficult as there are three dimensional pieces involved here. I was supposed to do the three dimensional pieces first. Ha! If I did that, the project would still be in the bag. These are intimidating to me. I decided to start with the easy part first so that I can work up to the more difficult part. At least I will have some satisfaction with the piece in the start.

Here is what my tree looks like…..

Do not worry! The edges are left uneven on purpose. It will be trimmed and sewn to the other seams eventually. I will keep posting on my progress. I have two months till Christmas, so there is my motivation.

[Note: It does not appear that this pattern is still available. However, there is a very similar one available on the site. The Santa and bear are different and packages are added. Patterns are at: http://www.thimble-art.com]

As always, Happy Sewing!