#3 Churn Dash Quilt Block Christmas Ornament

Quilt block ornament #3 is finished.  45 to go. 

This was a really easy one to do and it only took about 45 minutes.  I broke this one down into 3 separate segments. and it worked out perfectly.  This is another one that I will probably make a couple different variations on.  It was again hung on the diagonal and stitched in the ditch. 

I think I'll have to figure out how to make a pattern with the stitching order written in.  Once you've done a couple of paper piecing projects it starts to make sense and it's fairly easy to tell how a project should go together. 

These ornaments are turning out to be about 3.5 - 4 inches square.  I suppose they could be made a little smaller but I kind of like this size.  I'll bet they would look awesome made with batiks!  Hmmm...

Christmas Ornament Project Goal

As I've been looking over my blogs since I began this site it's apparent that I haven't been making anything that resembles a regular post.  I think it's partly because I haven't viewed this blog as a project or that it's really about anything.  Since I've been making the quilt block Christmas ornaments this has changed.  That's a project I can get excited about.  I've been finding myself preparing for a weeks worth of blogs on the weekends. 

The other thing that is apparent to me is that this blog is giving me some much needed therapy.  On August 26th my stepson was in a long boarding accident (long skateboard) and sustained a traumatic brain injury to the frontal lobe.  He was in the ICU for a week and has since been in an inpatient rehab clinic.  The doctors have told us that they expect him to have a full recovery but it's just going to take a long time.  This experience has been a real eyeopener for me.  I didn't realize how prevalent this trauma is and how long it takes for people to recover from these traumas.  Writing and preparing this blog has provided another world for me in which I'm in control.

So I'm going to set a goal for the blog.  I want a total of 48 Christmas ornaments.  That will make a total of 12 ornaments for each of my kids: 2 daughters and 2 stepsons.  I'll keep posting the ornaments and the progress of the project. 

May the therapy continue!

#2 Dutchman's Puzzle Christmas Ornament

The next block I wanted to try is the Dutchman's Puzzle.  I love all the little triangles and how they can make several different pinwheel patterns.  I put some Christmas green into this one and I think I'll make a couple different variations.  Here is the first one. 

This was a little easier to do than the Ohio Star.  The block was separated into basically 4 units of flying geese and then put back together.  It just had a bunch of really little pieces so it took about an hour to do but it made for some good  movie time.

I attached the hanger so that it will hang on the diagonal and I think for this one it works.  I don't know why I attached the strings to the front of the quilt.  I won't do that again.

This is a really fun project and I'm enjoying it immensely.  It's very gratifying to have a completed little quilt in about an hour. 

2 down 22 left to go. 

#1 Ohio Star Christmas Ornament

So the first ornament I'm going to work on is Ohio Star.

I know that there are a lot of pieces to it but I figure I might as well jump on in.

Fortunately I had a bunch of Christmas fabric scraps left over from the Christmas Quilt I had finished. I have no idea why I saved them. The majority of the pieces were too small to do much with. But it turns out they are the perfect size for miniature quilt blocks. Another trip to the store was saved by my obsession with saving fabric!

Instead of a 1/4 inch seam allowance I'm using 1/8 inch seam allowance. I figure that the little quilt won't get a lot of hard use and 1/8 inch should be adequate. I am keeping the outside seam allowance of the block at 1/4 inch so that I can use a traditional 1/4 inch binding. I have some red crochet thread that I used for hanging the block.

I attached it the thread under the binding in the back,  I quilted it by stitching in the ditch. This was done with the feed dogs engaged so that the lines were nice and straight and even stitches.

It took me about 1 hour to complete the Ohio Star. This includes looking through the book, the aha moment, copying the pages, building the block, quilting it, and making and adding the binding.


I want to make about 24 ornaments so now that I know what to look for I did a quick google for images of traditional quilt blocks and printed out a bunch of them. I can't wait to have more machine time.

Quilt Block Christmas Ornaments

Last Christmas I had decided to make Christmas ornaments and have a handmade Christmas tree for this year.  I've been diligently working on crocheting snowflakes and have made about 20.  So it's time to start working on the quilt blocks. 

I've been really struggling to find traditional quilt block patterns small enough to be ornaments.  There are quite a few ornament patterns but I haven't found any for traditional quilt blocks.   I also don't want these to look cheesy.  It's amazing the amount of time you can spend on the Internet looking for these things.  And if you're like me, I'll start out googling "quilt block ornaments" and end up looking at kayaks.... It's almost like a Googling evolution.  I'm sure there will be a government study on it....

Anyways.  I'm bombing with finding patterns for quilt block ornaments.  So I pulled a book off my shelf which has some traditional blocks in it to see if there was a way that I could develop my own patterns.  I'm not a traditional quilter so I think I own only one book with traditional patterns. I thought that I could maybe I could cut down the size by doing some math.  I'm staring at some of these pictures and it hits me that the picture of the block is close to the size that I want the ornament to be... And I could easily copy the page and use it as a paper pieced pattern.  Woo Hoo!!  Fortunately we have a copier at home (you can find them really cheap at used office supply companies or EBay) and I played with enlarging some of the pictures until I had just the size I wanted. 

I really love that moment when something perceived as a problem is suddenly solved and an easy solution is found. 

The first pattern I'll try is Ohio Star.  Wish me luck!

Snow Flake Quilt

It seems that I'm on a snowflake theme this year.  I started a quilt that I've been dreaming about making for the last couple of years.  I finally summoned the courage to make it.  It's a feathered star pattern and very intimidating.  The majority of my quilts have been art quilts for walls.  Most of these have been given away to various people.  This one will be for me and my bed.  I know... how weird... a quilt for a bed. 

The reason this pattern is intimidating is because of all the little half square triangles, biased edges and inset seams.  Several years ago I made a practice block and I did such a terrible job I knew that my skills needed some serious improvement before I attempted it.  Over Thanksgiving weekend I decided it was time.  I had recently discovered a secret weapon for accurate piecing and cutting.  Spray Starch.  Yep, that's all it is.  Starch the heck out of the fabric while cutting and piecing.  It did wonders.  The other thing that made these blocks successful is increased patience and discipline.  I didn't rush the piecing and if a seam wasn't perfect, I ripped it out and did it again.  It's amazing how many seams had to be redone.  Each time there was a seam that wasn't perfect I asked myself if I could live with looking at it on my bed.  That usually did it. 

I think I'm going to set the blocks so that I have a lot of white space for quilting.  This is where the blocks are so far.  It's just needing all the white fabric in between all the blocks and a decision on what designs to quilt in the white spaces.  I'm also not sure if there needs to be some additional design elements added.  Maybe some appliqued designs on the corners and center to enhance the quilting design and trapunto?  Not sure.  The quilt hasn't finished speaking to me yet. 

Homemade Christmas Ornaments - Crocheted Snowflakes

I had a really difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit this year.  This is the first year that both of my daughters weren't going to be home for Christmas.  My oldest daughter, Melissa, is married to a Marine (Brantly) and they are stationed in San Diego.  Brantly is being deployed in January so they decided to spend Christmas with his family before he ships out.  So that meant no daughter, son-in-law, or granddaughter for Christmas.  My youngest daughter is in Misawa Japan and this is the first year she has not been home for Christmas.  So the Christmas spirit wasn't overflowing my heart this year.

My sweet husband bore the brunt of it.  It's usually the girls that decorate the tree and since they weren't here it was left to me.  Jeff and I went out and bought a Charlie Brown tree and had it up in the living room for about a week before we got around to decorating it.  I spent that week trying to figure out how I'm going to cope with an empty nest around Christmas in the future.  I obviously wasn't into decorating.  When we did finally decorate the tree I was grumbling the whole time about what a stupid tradition it is to cut down a perfectly good tree and haul it into our house and put a bunch of expensive crap on it.  I mean really.... have you ever thought how silly that is?!?!?!  I decided that next year we're doing something different.  I suggested to Jeff that we just have a really big poinsettia.  I don't think he was too thrilled about that one.  So that's when I decided that next years' tree will have home crafted ornaments. 

So the search began.  I want to have little quilt block ornaments, yo-yo garland, and crocheted snowflakes.  I started with the snowflakes.  I found the best site for crocheted snowflakes and started right away.  You can find these patterns at snowcatcher. 

These are all designed by a very talented lady who has the ability to look at a snowflake picture and turn it into a pattern. 

I have 13 snowflakes blocked, starched, and glittered.  They are so fun to make that now I'm hooked.  She posts a new pattern every Monday.  For the last two weeks I eagerly check her blog on Monday to see what new masterpiece she has come up with.  These beauties look wonderful with batik fabric behind them.  I'm not sure if I want them to hang free on the tree or attach them to fabric first.  I'll have to play with it. and see.

I'm already looking forward to next Christmas.  If you know of some great ornament patterns please share.  I'll continue to post any that I find and make.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!