Advent Calendar Wall Hanging Ready to Quilt

I've been having quilty adventures left and right the last few weeks, starting back to work with McCall's Quilting and Fons & Porter to cover a maternity leave, finding a super-nice group of women to quilt with on Wednesday evenings (shout out to The Bee!), making Christmas crafts with my sister and cousins, and more.

But the main thing on my menu has been the Advent Calendar wall hanging, which got layered for quilting just yesterday!

I'm overall very pleased with it. Ideas for machine quilting are starting to solidify and I hope to get it on my worktable today or tomorrow. 

The little pockets for treats came out well. I made each pocket just a tiny bit wider than the patch behind it so it would be a bit gathered, allowing bigger treats without distorting the whole wall hanging. Bigger treats = happy kids!

One small problem came up right at the end. I must have been more tired than I knew on the evening when I fused the tree shapes etc. to the finished top, because the trunk for that tree on the right was WAY off center, too far to the left. Solution: Add a Christmas gift to the design and obscure the offending portion of the trunk. I think it works!

That photo was before the shapes were stitched down. The bow looks more like a bow now that it's stitched.

So, that's what's on my to-do list this week. How about you?  :)

Advent Calendar Quilt Beginnings

Yesterday I started working out the details of my new Advent calendar quilt. First problem - how to get the numbers onto each 3" square window in the quilt. I knew I wanted to make circles with numbers on them, in hopes of stitching them onto the windows with decorative machine stitches so they look a little like wreaths. But I hadn't really thought out how to get the numbers onto the fabric circles.

Time is of the essence, of course, so first I considered fabric marker. I tried a variety of pens out on a variety of fabrics, but didn't like anything I came up with. It just looked - cheap.

Next, I considered applique. But when I realized the numbers would need to be about 3/4" (tiny!) and that I'd need to do 41 digits total, I gave that idea up. Even with fusible applique, that seemed like a big task when you consider the edge stitching required to secure everything.

Finally, I thought about embroidery. While I don't do it often, I do enjoy the process. And it would give the project the handmade look I'm going for. So, here are some of the numbers embroidered and ready to be turned into circles to applique to the window squares:

I used Sulky Petites thread, which is equivalent to 2 strands of embroidery floss but without the tangled mess. I loved the way it stitched! Straight stitches, back stitches, and French knots were all it took, and I was able to do it in front of the TV which is always a plus in the evening.

All 25 labels are finished - now on to making them into circles! More soon...

Next Stop, Christmas!

Or more accurately, Advent. I have a really fun commission quilt to make next, an Advent calendar for a special little boy. His Mom wants it to be a wall quilt with pockets for treats, and I've been wanting to make something like this for a long time. Here's the design I came up with:

Working title - Christmas Condos! Mostly pieced, with a bit of applique. I like the numbers jumbled up in no particular order as it will keep the little guy searching for his treat each day.

And here's the fabric palette, so far. I'll need a few more reds and golds I think.

I can't wait to get started - more soon!