Christmas Center-Piece

Hello Everyone!
I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!

This is a center-piece that I created using my Dresden Plate ruler, and gave it to my Mom for her Birthday, which just so happens to fall on Christmas Eve.

I previously did a tutorial on making a Thanksgiving wall hanging and I used the Dresden Plate ruler to create the feathers of the turkey.

I just wanted to find more uses for my Dresden Plate ruler, other than of course making Dresden Plate quilt blocks.

I used 8" blades to create a circle, then I hand appliqued the circle in the center, quilted and then bound it. Note you must use bias-binding to bind curves or circles, you can't use straight pieces, or they will not bend into shape properly.

Our kitchen table and some of our end tables are round, so I like making circular things to use as mats or center-pieces to decorate with, rather than square table cloths.

This is definitely a great way to use up Christmas scraps, and can even be adapted to make a miniature tree skirt.

Happy Quilting! :)

Mod-Podge Fabric Plates

Hello Everyone!
I am officially done my exams for this semester, so as promised here is a super quick idea for those of you looking for a last minute Christmas project/hostess gift!

This is a tutorial on how to decoupage fabric onto the back of a glass plate. I did this little craft with some of the students in my sewing classes, as gifts for Mom, Grandma and Aunties. It's really fun and easy to do, you can whip up several in just one afternoon!

Here is a picture of the finished plate:

You will need:
-a clear glass plate
-a cotton fabric of your choice, it should be a couple inches bigger than your plate (I used a 10" plate) Note, that when choosing your fabrics it is best to sit your plate on top of various fabrics, so you will be able to imagine what each print will look like. You do not want to use a large print, or you won't get a lot of the print in your plate.
-Mod Podge
-a foam brush to apply the Mod Podge to your plate


First make sure you rinse your plate and dry it well, to make sure there are no finger prints or dirt on the glass. Then coat the BACK of the plate with a generous amount of Mod Podge, make sure you come right up to the edge of the plate too!

Then take your ironed piece of fabric and put that pretty side face DOWN on the back of your plate and smooth it out with your hands, making sure there are no bubbles. (At this point you should feel the glue start to come through the fabric, that is a good thing). Go along the edge of the plate and press the fabric down against the glue, you want to make sure the edges do not lift.

After letting it sit for about 3 minutes, trim the excess fabric so that your fabric is as close and as even with the edges of your plate as possible.

Now, you're going to completely cover it in Mod Podge again, use a generous amount but make sure it is an even layer and that you go over your edges again.

You have to now let your plate dry over night. I recommend that you repeat this last step, so that there is two layers of Mod Podge against the back of your fabric.

Now you're finished and ready to make as many as you wish! (Note that you can not put this fabric plate in water or the dishwasher, as the glue will not hold, and the fabric will come away from the plate. To clean, just wipe the top of the plate with a wet cloth.)

You can definitely play using various holiday prints or even everyday fabrics, depending on the occasion.

This is my personal Mod Podge assistant, he likes to watch :)

If you would like a fun Christmas cookie recipe, so that you can load up your plate with goodies, you can follow this link:  http://feelingcrafty.org/peanut-butter-reindeer-cookies/

I made those cookies just a couple weeks ago and they are AWESOME! 

If anyone tries this, I'd love to see it, you can send me an E-mail at quilters.workshop@gmail.com or post a photo to my Quilter's Workshop facebook page!

Christmas Quilt Contest

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for my lack of creative blog postings, I've been really tied up with studying for my final exams! But I'm almost there, just three exams left and it will all be over on the 18th.....so you can most definitely expect some fun Christmas related posts right after that!

I have a HUGE favor to ask all of you! I recently submitted one of my Christmas wall hangings (Dash Away) into a fun online voting contest hosted on The Quilting Gallery. The Quilting Gallery is an awesome website and I have been featured on her blog-guest page before.

This is the quilt that I submitted: It's called Dash Away and is completely machine appliqued or hand embroidered. I previously made an entire blog post about this quilt (scroll down a bit and you will find it!)

This is definitely one of my favourite quilts in my entire collection, I've brought it to every trunk show I've ever been to and everyone always loves it! So if you love it as much as I do, I'd be so very thrilled if you were to vote for my quilt this weekend! Voting is open between Friday December 14th and Monday December 17th (but closes at 8am on this day).

Check out the link below, follow the instructions on the top of the page and view the 55 submissions! :)

http://quiltinggallery.com/2012/12/14/vote-now-christmas-quilts-2012/

Thank you!

Fabric Origami Christmas Ornament

This was the very first time I have ever made a fabric origami Christmas ornament, but it turned out really well and I'm sure to make more of these...as soon as I have some spare time off school!

 I used 2 Christmas prints and the red coordinating solid, as well as a wide gold ribbon for the middle, with gold rick-rack centered on top of the ribbon, and then I used a slim red and gold ribbon to tie a bow and make the hanging loop.

As time consuming as this was to make, as soon as I make more I will post more pictures and hopefully will have a video tutorial of this done soon!