Norm The Gnome

Now that Christmas Day is over, I can share one of the gifts I made for my sister-in-law. She loves gnomes - or at least I hope she does as she received several for Christmas this year! - so I decided to make a burlap table topper appliqued with a gnome. Similar to my Stan The Snowman table topper I shared on the blog a couple of weeks ago, this is Norm The Gnome.

I used another ruffled burlap circle that I picked up at Michaels and backed it with a circle of fabric and stabilizer. I think he turned out cute. I have one more burlap circle left that I think I'll try couching a design on with my long arm using chenille yarn. 

I hope each of you had a wonderful holiday and I wish you much happiness in the new year! See you in the new year!

~Sharla

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Christmas Crafting: A Vintage Ornament Wreath

I had the crafting itch this weekend and decided to make another vintage ornament wreath for the holidays using some of the ornaments I found while hitting up estate sales in Texas this fall. This is my second vintage ornament wreath I've made, the first one I made a few years ago and shared my process on the blog here.

Doesn't my wreath look great with this shelf of vintage photos - especially that old photo of me with my little brothers! Too cute! LOL!

I just love decorating with vintage ornaments (& of course, Christmas quilts too!). They are just so festive and bring such a sparkle to holiday decorating. I fill several bowls and vases with vintage ornaments and arrange in tablescapes around my home. Throw a Christmas quilt on a table and fill a bowl with Shiny Brite ornaments to place on top and I'm instantly in the holiday spirit!

The countdown to Christmas is on - only one more week until Christmas Eve!!! Are you ready? I have one more gift to make but need to pick up some fabric tomorrow to complete it. Otherwise, all the presents are wrapped and under the tree. I'm resisting the temptation to do a lot of baking and candy making this year because I don't want all that sugar tempting me to taste test! Of course, next week I'll make our family favorite - chocolate covered cherries, which I've shared here on the blog before.

Since I may not have time to pop on here again before the holidays, let me wish each and every one of you the happiest of holidays! Merry Christmas!

~Sharla

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Stan The Snowman

Last night was our quilt guild's Christmas party and each person was to bring a $10 gift for the gift exchange. I decided to make an appliqued table topper for my gift using a round ruffled burlap circle that I picked up at Michaels awhile back. 

After looking online for a simple snowman or Santa clipart and not finding what I wanted, I decided to draw my own and Stan the Snowman was born. I sketched him on paper then scanned him into Adobe Illustrator and redrew him with the pen tool to create a pattern that I could share with all of you. I even reversed the pattern so it's ready to draw onto paper-backed fusible. Click here for my Stan the Snowman pattern.

As you can see, I machine appliqued Stan to the burlap and sewed buttons on for the eyes. I backed the burlap with a circle of red fabric and a piece of tear away interfacing on the bottom before I started to applique. After I was finished appliqueing Stan in place, I fused a piece of batting and another circle of red fabric to the back to cover the back side of the applique. I stitched around the fabric circle and pinked the edge. Lastly, I stitched around the burlap circle (to the inside of the ruffle) to stabilize all the layers.

I hope you enjoy my little Christmas gift to all of you. If you make something with it, be sure to share it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me!

~Sharla

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The Wedding Quilt

Whew!!! The last couple of weeks have been a firestorm of activity. The hubby and I returned from our fall trip to Texas two weeks ago to learn that our son and his fiancé had decided to forego the big wedding they had planned in March (long story of venue going bankrupt and closing, etc.) and having a small immediate family wedding during Thanksgiving while we were all there. What??? But I haven't even started the wedding quilt I had planned to make for them! It was time to kick it into high gear!

In a little over a week, I cut, pieced, quilted and bound this 92" x 107" storm at sea quilt called "Our Hearts Will Go On" in the couples favorite color palette of neutrals and black. I didn't think it was possible but determination won out. I even squeezed in a day to quilt my mom's quilt she made for the newlyweds. I had every day planned out of what I had to complete to finish the quilt and everything else that I had to do for the holiday - and then we had to leave a day early because of threatening ice and snow! So I stole minutes here and there while at my son's house before the wedding day to hand sew the binding. 

It was a wonderful week of enjoying family and celebrating Thanksgiving, the hubby's 60th birthday (early) and my son's wedding. (Thanks to my friend, Marilyn, for the beautifully embroidered quilt label!)

Although it was a very laid-back week, I think it was still stressful on the couple. I made them let me take a photo of them with the quilt the morning after the wedding before we left for home. Not fair to them because they had just rolled out of bed and looked exhausted and not quite awake yet. So I apologize to them for posting this photo (my new daughter-in-law may shoot me!)

So in all fairness, here's a better snapshot of the happy couple.

Quilt Stats

• Pattern: "Our Hearts Will Go On" by The Fabric Addict
• Size: 92: x 107" (I added a larger border to make the quilt bigger)
• Fabric for Top & Binding: Grunge by Basic Grey for Moda in assorted neutral colors
• Backing Fabric: Grunge Dots by Basic Grey for Moda
• Thread, Piecing: Aurifil 2310
• Quilting Pattern: IKat #1 by Patricia E. Ritter on Urban Elementz
• Thread, Quilting: Signature 100% Cotton Thread in Parchment
• Batting: Hobbs 80/20
• Longarm: Gammill Statler Stitcher

This quilt was on my Finish-A-Long goal list for this quarter so I'm thrilled to have finished and will be linking it up at the end of the quarter. 

Hope everyone had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving week as I did!

~Sharla

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2019 Finish-A-Long Q2 & Q3 Winners

 The time has come to officially announce the winners of Q2 and Q3 of the Finish-A-Long and award some wonderful prizes from our fantastic sponsors.  We had 398 finishes for the second quarter of 2019 and we had 400 finishes for the third quarter which is really brilliant, keep it up!

Without further ado, here are the winners picked by Random Number Generator for Q2 and Q3 of the 2019 Finish-A-Long:

The Q2 winner's choice of One Large 12 Spool Collection from Aurifil goes to Mary who blogs at Quilting is in my Blood.  She finished this beautiful "camping quilt" that they actually use while camping, and isn't this photograph stunning?

The Q3 winner's choice of One Large 12 Spool Collection from Aurifil goes to Amanda on IG @sew.bake.stitch and she finished this lovely Swoon quilt.

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The Q2 $80 Gift Certificate from Sew Sweetness goes to Sara who blogs at Sew Little to Say.  She completed this lovely tote bag and it's her own design.

The Q3 $80 Gift Certificate from Sew Sweetness goes to Carina on IG @carinascrafts and she finished this bag that she cut out 10 years ago.  Way to go on getting it done!

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The Q2 $50 Gift Certificate from Fat Quarter Shop goes to Karrin and she blogs at Karrin's Crazy World.  She finished these two quilts that will be donated to the Mercyful Quilts charity.  Not only is that lovely but so are these quilts.

The Q3 $50 Gift Certificate from Fat Quarter Shop goes to Kat who blogs at Craftaholic Kat and she finished this lovely quilt that was for her son's seventh birthday.

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The Q2 $25 Gift Certificate from Sew Me A Song goes to Kathy who blogs at Kathy's Quilting Blog.  She completed this Crown of Thorns quilt which also will be donated to charity, Jack's Basket.

The Q3 $25 Gift Certificate from Sew Me A Song goes to Kris who blogs at Krissies Kollections and she finished this scrap quilt made from charms she collected throughout the years.  She estimates this 91" x 91" quilt used 19 yards of fabric!

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The Q2 3 PDF Patterns from Happy Quilting goes to Carol who blogs at Quilt Schmilt.  She finished this lovely pink quilt that was for a golf club fundraiser.

The Q3 3 PDF Patterns from Happy Quilting goes to Vasudha who blogs at Storied Quilts and she finished this beautiful art quilt inspired by Indian folk art motifs.

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The Q2 2 PDF Patterns from Charm About You goes to Karen on IG @thecreativeheifer.  She finished this fun and colorful baby quilt.  Isn't it adorable?

The Q3 2 PDF Patterns from Charm About You goes to Jan on IG @snell.jan and she finished this blue scrappy queen sized quilt.  Another great photo, don't you think?

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The Q2 2 PDF Patterns from Blossom Heart Quilts go to Jennifer on IG @crimsonconfection and she finished and framed this lovely little lucky cross-stitch.  Lucky indeed!

The Q3 2 PDF Patterns from Blossom Heart Quilts go to Alison via Flickr and she finished this appliqued cot quilt.

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The Q2 6 Month Subscription to Make Modern Magazine goes to Jessica on IG @jessshullquilts_and_more.  She finished this fabulous Swoon quilt using Tula Pink fabrics.

The Q3 6 Month Subscription to Make Modern Magazine goes to Peggy who blogs at Quilts & Adventures and she finished these wooly mug rugs.

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The Q2 2 PDF Patterns from Bonjour Quilts go to Mariana on IG @denana1973.  She completed this wonderful Flora Supply Case for a friend.  Lucky friend!

The Q3 2 PDF Patterns from Bonjour Quilts go to Teresa on IG @misdosbichillos and she finished this one hour scrappy basket, isn't it a cute gift?

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The Q2 $30 Fabric Voucher from Hillstitches goes to Anne who blogs at Said With Love.  She finished this charming quilted table topper, and isn't the photo just lovely too?

The Q3 $30 Fabric Voucher from Hillstitches goes to Karin who blogs at The Quilt Yarn and she finished this funky bird quilt.  Isn't it is cute?

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There you have it folks, quarter two and three of the year are officially wrapped up!  Congratulations to all of our winners and a big thanks to everyone that played along so far this year.

The year is quickly wrapping up, work on those WIPS so you can link them up in the New Year!

~Sharla

A Scrappy Happy Holidays Mystery Sew Along - Month 11

Well, it's finally here. The last installment of "A Scrappy Happy Holidays Mystery Sew Along". I'm so happy to share my flannel quilt with the bonus borders.

The quilt, with the bonus borders, finishes at 72" square - the perfect size to cuddle up this winter and why I wanted to make one out of flannel. Because this one is to wrap up in, I won't be adding any embellishments. I haven't added the stocking label yet either, as I think I'm going to hand embroidery the label information.

My tip for the bonus border is to be sure to select a medium value for the 'underneath' side of the ribbon and a dark value for the 'front' side of the ribbon - that's what creates the ribbon effect.

I hope everyone who joined me on this scrappy happy journey enjoyed the sew along. I know I did. I can't wait to see all of your quilts so be sure to share them on Facebook and Instagram and tag me @thistlethicketstudio!

Have A Scrappy Happy Day!

~Sharla

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The Forgotten Quilt

I couple of weeks ago I mentioned cleaning out some closets and finding a quilt that I forgot I had. As soon as I took it out of the bag, I remembered it. Not so much making it, but quilting it, as it was one of the first custom quilting I did. I was very happy with how the quilting turned out.

Unfortunately, I don't remember much else about the quilt - not the name of the fabric collection, nor the pattern. I made this quilt as a shop sample back in my quilt shop days. I hadn't missed the quilt but so glad to find it in time to display it this fall because the rich jewel tones just scream fall to me.

I think I'll name it 'The Forgotten Quilt'.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

~Sharla

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