Day 4 Quilted Tree Hot Pads

Day 4

Quilted Tree Hot Pads

 

 

Supplies….

3-4 Green and Red Fat Quarters that coordinate
1 – Brown Fat Quarter for Tree trunk
Creative Grids 60 inch Triangle ( 8 inch finished size )
Insul-Bright
Warm and Natural Batting
Sew in tags ( Merry Christmas )
Pivotal Cutting Board if you have it, would make it easier…but you don’t have to have it!

Directions…
Cut up your red and green fabric  and piece together to create your patch work triangle then iron
Use triangle to cut tree top
Next cut (out of your brown) a 6 ½ x 2 ½ piece , find middle of base of tree and of trunk ,and sew onto the bottom of the tree at a ¼ inch. Press
Cut out back of Hot Pad to match the front tree and a piece of batting too.
Cut out Insul-Bright a bit bigger than your tree, then quilt shinning side up, and against back of tree
Baste your tag on
Match up your back piece, to the batting and quilt them wrong sides together
Trim each piece ( front and back of trees )
Put right sides together of front and back of trees ,and sew ¼ all the way around ( Back Stitching at ALL points ) Leave 2 inch opening for turning at the bottom of the trunk!
Trim all your corners and Grade all your points
Turn carefully with chop stick, once you have all your points out and looking good ,then press well
Topstitch all the way around 1/8  of an inch, and this will also close your opening!

These would be great to put with some cookies, or any other dish for the perfect Christmas gift!

"From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another. The warmth and joy of Christmas brings us closer to each other."
- Emily Matthews

Lynn Woodard  www.mandieandmedesigns.com

My email is mandieandmedesigns@gmail.com

 

Day 3

 

 

 

Day 3

Three Trees Pillow with a Story
Years ago one Christmas, I heard this story and never forgot it. Now it is one of our Christmas traditions. The Book is called The Tale of the THREE TREES  A Traditional Folktale retold by Angela Elwell Hunt and Illustrations by Tim Jonke

Supplies…
Pillow form 18 x 18
1 White Fat Quarter, 3 Green Fat Quarters  (for the trees and corner pieces), ½ yard of side border fabric and also ½ yard for the back and binding ( you will have to figure out your colors first ), 1- 16 or 18 inch zipper, 19 square piece of warm and natural batting, zipper foot, Steam and Seam, matching threads and Rick Rack ( enough to go around an 18 inch pillow form ) if you choose that one.

Directions…
Like anything else, the hardest part is deciding what fabric you want for your pillow. Once you decide that, then also decide which pillow you want to make. I will give you the dominations for both. The Joy pillow has a 12 square of white cut out for the middle and then I cut 4 – 12 x 3 ½  borders and added one each of the two sides. Then cut 4- 3 ½ squares and added them to the top and bottom of my last 2 borders that I hadn’t sewn on yet. Press and then sew these last two borders to the other side and you top is now ready to start appliqueing. For the Rick Rack pillow,  will be the same as the Joy pillow in the directions, but you will start out with a 10 ½ square of white instead and you borders will be cut 4-10 ½ x 4 ½ inch and your corner pieces will be 4 – 4 ½ squares.

Next add Steam and Seam to back of your material for the letters and the trees, applique on and zig zag around everything. Then add your batting to back of this front part of the pillow, and quilt through top piece and batting as you like. Trim down (if needed ) to an 18 square. Then cut your back to 18 inch square and then follow the directions on this blog… http://thequiltedfish.typepad.com/the-quilted-fish/2011/03/sweet-divinity-flower-pillow-tutorial.html  to put in covered zipper ( I cut my zipper cover piece 4 x 18 ). You can also go to this blog and make sure you scroll pretty far down to get the directions on how to put a binding on your pillow, just in case you forget... http://www.sewmamasew.com/2011/02/how-to-make-a-basic-pillow-how-to-finish-a-pillow-with-binding/
 Then you are finished and ready to add your pillow form, gather around the kids and snuggle up to read this wonderful Christmas book.

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree…is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” ~ Burton Hillis

 

Lynn Woodard… www.mandieandmedesigns.com
My email is … mandieandmedesigns@gmail.com

P.S. I of course cut the trees out with my Big Shot but you can get the pattern at the shop. If you want to order the trees cut out...let me know because my friend is selling Sizzix Die Cuts now. The number for the die cut called Christmas Tree  658109. Just email if you want to order one!

Day 1

Day 1

 

Merry Christmas Rice Bags

This is a quick and simple game to make for the holidays, and the whole family can have fun with it! The idea is to see how many words you can make out of the letters for Merry Christmas…you will be surprised how many you can come up with!

Supplies…

…3 fat quarters ,and you can cut out 4  of each and then just mix up the patterns as you like.
(I used …14 fat quarters and of course had enough to do banners and more! )

You can cut out 4 ½ inch squares using one of our scalloped blades for your rotary cutter.
(1 Big Shop and 4 ¼ Scallop Square Die Cut, and the Alphabet Die Cut …Of course you don’t have to get the Big Shot, but many of you have purchased them and I wanted to let you know what I used )

…Steam and Seam
…Rice
…Dark Green Felt  ( or whatever color you want to match your fabric )
Scalloped Rotary Blade

Directions…

I just cut out the Squares, appliquéd on the letters on the top piece( if you don’t have letter die cuts, you can always trace off the patterns from online ),. That means I ironed them down and then zigzagged them on. Next I sewed ¼ of inch all the way around the square…all 4 edges twice, leaving a 1 ½ -2 inch space at bottom to fill with rice.

Then I filled them half way with rice and then went back and closed the space and backstitched it too.

Now remember you can make that cute drawstring bag of ours , to hold these in if you like or put them in a cute container or big Ziplock bag. That’s it, wouldn’t these be fun gifts to make for family and friends?

Lynn Woodard   www.mandieandmedesigns.com
My email is  mandieandmedesigns@gmail.com

“Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.”  ~Peg Bracken

Day 2

 

Day 2

Random Act of Christmas Kindess ( R.A.C.K. ) Door Hangers

 

 

 

Supplies…

1 Fat Quarter and 2 coordinating fabric scraps for ties (plus thread to match )
Stuffing
Bias Tape to match your fabric ( or ruffled rick rack…you need 12 inches for each pillow)

Batting

6 red buttons

Christmas sew in tag

1 key

Red and white bakers twine

5 red jingle bells

Copy of 25 R.A.C.K. ideas ( retype and space them out so you can cut them out separately and fold and put in back pocket ) on back of this handout.

Red embroidery floss

Steam and Seam

 

Directions…

Cut 4 fabric pieces 7.5 x 5.5 (for pillows), cut 2 batting pieces at 7.5  x 5.5  Then cut 1 fabric piece at 9 x 5.5 (for pocket), fold this piece in half  (length wise ) with  WST and top stitch ¼ from the fold  ( this becomes the top of your pocket )

Place pocket at the bottom of one of your 7.5 x 5.5 pieces and baste in place
Cut  bias tape 12 each and topstitch shut ( or just cut ruffled rick rack into 2 …12 inch pieces )

Cut 6 pieces of bakers twine at 13 inches each, then take 3 and braid them together, and tying on jingle bells at the bottom of each one

Trace and cut out numbers and steam and seam them onto front pieces. Next attach batting to back and zigzag to appliqué them ( through both layers ).

Make holly out of fabric and batting on both front pieces, sew and cut with pinking shears. Next sew on holly and buttons.

Baste down  sew in tag, on bottom left hand side of # 2 piece… Baste in bias tape at top middle and tucking it in good when getting ready to sew.

Put RST and sew ¼ all the way around. Leave 2.5 inch opening at bottom. Trim corners and turn.
This is when you need to sew on your key, stuff, sew opening shut and tie knot in bias tape and contrasting scraps of fabric, plus tie on your jingle bells. Hang on your door and enjoy the season of giving!

 

Lynn Woodard  www.mandieandmedesigns.com

My email… mandieandmedesigns@gmail.com

 

 

“Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.  ~Oren Arnold

 

25 Random Acts of Christmas Kindness

 

Taping candy canes to ATM machines around town

Bringing the your or your kids teacher hot cocoa and a muffin early one morning

Taping quarters to vending and toy machines around town

Grocery shopping for the sole purpose of donating it

Feeding meters around town

Donating stockings with treats, candy and a craft to kids at a school in need

Volunteer to ring Salvation Army bells

Handing out Starbucks gift cards {$5.00 value each}

Pay for the person behind you in the drive through {hot chocolate, meal, anything}

Paid past due library fees for 5 people

Donated a poinsettia to a local school

Bought and donated toys for “Toys 4 Tots”

Brought treats to the employees of our local Post Office branch

Purged from your personal “library” and donated to a school library in need

Do a dingdong ditch for your neighbor with a plate of cookies or other treats

Compliment 5 strangers

Call and sing a Christmas carol to someone who is lonely

Offer to watch the kids of a mother in need

Give care packages to the homeless

Write a letter to someone who has made a difference in your life

Send a holiday bouquet to someone you love

Leave a box of cookies in the mailbox for the mailman

Give a prepaid phone card to someone in need {college student, young mother, etc.}

Pay someone’s toll

Take someone to the movies

You have been RACK’ed

This Christmas season, we are counting down the 25 days of Christmas by performing RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS each day.

Have a wonderful and magical Christmas season.
P.S. You can also do the same thing with almost any other season!