On a trip to Ray Stitch at the beginning of November I found some gorgeous festive fat quarters. At the time I wasn't quite sure what they were going to be, but I bought 4 anyway. I also added some extra designs from eBay to the mix.
After some deliberation, I decided to see if I could find a tutorial online for a quilted table runner. My Mum does a cracking Christmas dinner and her table always looks so beautiful. I also thought that by making something for the table, I'd still be there in spirit on Christmas Day.
I found this awesome easy tutorial called the '12 Days of Christmas Table Runner'.
And here's how mine turned out:
The tutorial suggests cutting out 27 5" squares, but I ended up cutting a few more to make my runner a bit longer. Once you have your squares, you sew them together in a 3 x 3 block and then cut that block in half horiztontally and vertically, until you end up with this block on the right.
I ordered some batting from eBay as well, and some festive backing fabric which is red with gold reindeers. This is my first quilting make, so I was a little unsure about certain aspects (the batting, what weight, what kind etc) but I am really, really happy with how it all turned out. I used basting spray to keep the patchwork, batting and backing together while I quilted the runner with long parallel stitches.
I finished the edges with red binding from Minerva Fabrics and even got my mitred corners right using this tutorial.
I am at my Mum's this weekend and we opened all our presents to each other. She loved the table runner and last night slept with it at the foot of the bed. Success!
My other Christmas sewing was two pyjama bottoms for my nephews. During my stay in Toronto in the summer I picked up some awesome Batman and Spiderman flannel on Queen Street destined to be fun PJ bottoms. I used Kwik Sew K3589 and had my Mum send me some quick measurements.
After pre-washing the fabric, I was so upset. They turned into bobble city! I was horrified. After some googling, turns out cheaper flannel can do this but you can pretty much rescue it using a pumice stone. It worked a treat - phew! (Just nobody tell my nephews I used my pumice stone on their new favourtie pj bottoms!) Has anyone else had this problem with flannel?
Here's how they turned out!
And of course, here they are being modelled by my gorgeous nephews today after our 'Christmas Day' dinner.
I really enjoyed doing some selfless sewing! As soon as I get back from Canada I am starting back on a shirt and PJ bottoms for Mr S. I'm also more determined now to continue with my dream of making a full size quilt. I already found a pattern and began cutting out squares some months ago but it got relegated to my top shelf, so that's definitely a plan for the new year.
I've had the most wonderful day with Mr S and my family. I'm so lucky and happy to belong to such wonderful people, they light up my life. And, they also eat and drink as much as me, especially tea, cheese and cadbury's biscuits. Who could want for more? While I go hunt out more cheese and pickled onions, tell me what Christmas sewing you have been doing?