I am so pleased to be hopping along with the “Polar Bear Plunge” blog hop. Joan of Moosestash Quilting is a great host and her sewing suggestions said: “Bears, blue, or anything cold”. Well, in my neck of the woods (New England) there are people who swim in the water all year long. I can barely get my toes in Casco Bay in the summer, let alone thinking about taking a plunge in the winter. No plunging for me!
After thinking for a while, I decided that since my apartment door is happy with mini-quilts or mug rugs, that is what I would make. I love snowflakes and recently Kari Schell of On Point Quilters did a snowflake series. She has a tutorial in her newsletter for foundation pieced snowflakes and Electric Quilt has one for using wreathmaker. Both are great places to learn more.
The more ornate one is a snowflake from Cricut Design space. And, yes, I cut all my snowflakes on my Cricut Maker*. It was pretty simple and worked on the first try. That being said you could easily fuse a piece of fabric and fold and cut like we did when we were kids. Forgot how??? If you did I thought I would link to a little tutorial from Michaels.
I was careful pressing the snowflakes, using a piece of release paper (from the fusible) to keep any stray bits off my iron. Once they were pressed onto the background. I “pillow-cased” the quilt. Pillow-casing means that you layer the front and back facing each other on top of the batting. You then sew all around, leaving a space open about 3″, and then turn it inside out. I then stitched all around the edge, about 1/8″ away from the edge, in order to close the opening.
Since it is a wall hanging, I decided that I was not going around each applique piece. I also decided to use some sparkly thread (Sulky Holoshimmer™ in Silver) with straight stitches and snowflakes!
I combined two stitches, the straight stitch and an asterisk/snowflake (#305 on my Bernina 570). Now, I would sew straight and have programmed the snowflake to only do one snowflake at a time. If you look closely, someone else was occasionally in charge as you will see two snowflakes in a row. Operator error? or like the weather, the sewing machine was showing me I was not entirely in charge. Nonetheless, this turned out to be so fun with a little bit of sparkle. I can’t wait to put it on our apartment door this weekend! I don’t like snow, but this kind of snow I am very, very happy with.
My machine liked this thread, as did I. Here is what Sulky says about Holoshimmer™*:
Brilliantly reflective Sulky Holoshimmer™ Metallic Thread is a thin, flat, ribbon-like, (holographic) foil that is laminated with polyester, which makes it amazingly reflective so you can add the ultimate sparkle to all of your decorative projects.
I purchased mine a while ago, and was very pleased with my first experience. I know that these shiny threads come in handy for holiday projects, too.
Make sure to visit my friends who are posting today…
Wednesday Jan 26
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Hazel’s Daughter
Words & Stitches
Colletta’s Kitchen Sink
Kathleen McMusing
Quilting & Learning – What a Combo!
Quilted Delights
And those that posted earlier this week…
Monday Jan 24
Creatin’ in the Sticks
Samelia’s Mum
Purring Cottage
Patchouli Moon Studio
Scrapdash
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
Tuesday Jan 25
Just Let Me Quilt
Beaquilter
Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
Days Filled With Joy
That Fabric Feeling
Den syende Himmel
VroomansQuilts
And, those that are posting at the end of the week.
Thursday Jan 27
Songbird Designs
Selena Quilts
Ms P Designs USA
Quilting Gail
Karrin’s Crazy World
Food for Thought
Bumbleberry Stitches
Friday Jan 28
Sew Many Yarns
Inflorescence
Lianne Makes Stuff
Stitchin at Home
Quilt Schmilt
Lynns Beauty
MooseStashQuilting
The weather cooperated and gave us a little snow, perfect for this photoshoot.
Mini-Snowflake Quilt
8″ x 14″
Snowflakes from various sources
Silver Holoshimmer™*
In Other News…
I am hosting two linky parties this week. One is for my Tips and Tutorials on the 22nd. It always runs from the 22nd to the end of the month. If you have a tip or tutorial for this month, please join in the party and there is a bonus in that a chance to win prizes. The link is here.
Tomorrow, I am hosting TGIFF, so get ready to share your finishes. Just return to my blog – it runs from 6 pm EDT (or UTC-05) Thursday through Saturday Midnight EDT.
Coming up on the blog:
TGIFF (1/27)
Tips and Tutorials on the 22nd (2/22)
Linking up with:
Wednesday Wait Loss
Your snowflake quilt is lovely!
What a fun mini snowflake quilt, Kathleen! Yes, I’ve forgotten how to cut snowflakes with scissors, so will have to review that technique!! I have a Brother Scan-n-Cut DX that I love to use for cutting shapes. So easy! See you Friday!
Perfect project for January and for the Polar Bear challenge, sew cute!
Hi Kathleen! Pretty, pretty, pretty. I love the use of the sparkly thread – and cutting it out using your Cricut was a good idea, too. Thanks, too, for the link to Kari’s newsletter. I had somehow gotten unsubscribed so I lost myself on her website for a bit. I don’t need to go down that rabbit hole right now!! {{Hugs}} a bunch. ~smile~ Roseanne
Oh I love your little snowflake quilt! It is fabulous, and the quilting is great!
Love your snowflake quilt. I will have to check for snowflakes on Cricut Design Space. Thanks so much for sharing!
What a cutie! Perfect mini to display in January, and I love that you brought the glitz! I am not a polar plunger either! I’ll be indoors, happily reading or sewing, thank you very much! 🙂
Hi Kathleen, I love your snowflake wall hanging. Yes, I love that kind of snowflake too!
The sparkly thread is such a nice detail, and hooray for your machine liking it!
Thanks Kathleen for your participation in this hop. I know someone who has a maker, so maybe they would be willing to let me play . A sweet idea.
this is really cute, I think I finally used my last scrap of that batik from IB 🙂
What a cute, cheery mini quilt to greet you at your apartment door! I love the sparkly thread. I’ve never used any, but it looks like it would be fun.
Super cute idea for a mini quilt! Our family absolutely loves skiing/snowboarding so you’ve given me some creative ideas. Thanks for sharing your inspiration & creativity with all of us quilters.
Such a sweet and sparkly wall hanging! I have some of those sparkle threads and used them a few times. They were fun to sew with. Thanks for sharing!
This is absolutely beautiful. I love your quilting with that Holoshimmer thread too. I bought a box of assorted colors years ago and have never opened it. I really need to dig it out and use it. Especially after seeing your project!
Your snowflake wall hanging is pretty cool! (Pun intended!) 🙂
great job on this pretty
I love haloshimmer the only sulky I might like other than variegated cotton. It’s strong like Madeira and superior, also available at joann
I love your wonderful snowflake wall hanging!
Fabulous frosty finish, Kathleen, and SNOW perfect for the Hop!!
I enjoyed seeing your project – yep, this is definitely ‘good’ snow!
That piece will look so good on your door. Your neighbors will love it first because it’s beautiful second because it doesn’t need to be shoveled. I got a Cricut for Christmas but haven’t tried fabric yet. Your snowflake sure is incentive to try.
Great door quilt, Kathleen! Love those snowflakes–so detailed with being cut out by a cricut. I have some of that holosheen, too, but haven’t been brave enough to use it for quite awhile now. Cute quilting!!!
What a beautiful little quilt! The silvery thread is lovely. Thanks for sharing.
Love your snowflakes, and the quilting with those colorful threads!!!
Lovely snowflake quilt! The sulky threads are a nice sparkle.
Kathleen your mini is just the cutest! Love the tutorial and your sparkly threads
Such beautiful snowflakes. The wall hanging turned out lovely. Love the thread too!
That’s a sweet quilt, and I too love that holoshimmer thread! It doesn’t break like some metallics do, and the shine is awesome.
Your snowflake quilt is so sweet! I love the thread you used xx