I have just returned from a wonderful family fun ski trip in Colorado. I needed to take a gift for my creative sister-in-law with whom I was staying. Her primary hobby is oil painting but she does do some quilting projects from time to time. I have enjoyed making the Quilty 365 Circles introduced to the quilting blog world by Audry in various holiday themes so I based my gift on that idea.
Remember my Valentine Circle Quilt? That table sized quilt had 32 scrappy circles sewn to 32 scrappy five inch squares. These circles are simple and fun. My relative enjoys decorating for the Christmas holidays so I used my stash of Christmas fabrics to make up a scrappy variety of over 32 squares for her to choose to make a scrappy Christmas circle quilt.
I called this idea the Quilty 32....
First, I made a project bag. I searched through Pinterest and Google for vinyl project bag ideas. I just winged my bag design loosely on this tutorial but more like this tutorial. I love this Echino deer and dot print and I knew she would too.
TA DA! Quilty 32 project bag created!
Next I made a project board based on Lori Holt's design. I used batting on the front of the board and I glued a sheet of sandpaper on the back. This is so you can draw circles anywhere even while riding in the car without the fabric slipping. These design boards are great because the batting holds everything, fabric, pins, needles, without moving around. I have made several for me and now I cannot sew without them. Finish off with some binding around the edges. (That cool melt glue gun got the best of my pretty binding but oh well you get the idea)
Next, I cut out four different sets of 5 inch background squares for her to use. I also had some old, old labels that I included for her finished quilt.
I cut out a generous selection of Christmas prints from my Christmas fabric stash. I cut two sizes of a circle pattern for her to choose which size she was most comfortable with. One 4 inch and one 3.5 inch from a heavy weight Pellon for her to trace her circle pattern from each of the fabric print squares. I even included some leftover Christmas trees from making last year's mug mats that I did not use. As you can see in the photo I traced and cut one circle leaving 1/4 inch allowance for needle turn. This gave her an idea of what she would be working on. She chose the 3.5 circle which left a nice sized edge on the 5 inch background square after her circle was stitched down.
I also made her a mini pin cushion from selvage strips using this tutorial by Crazy Mom Quilts. I also included in her Quilty 32 project bag some needles and thread and a Frixon pen for tracing. She was completely set up to make her Quilty Circle quilt.
My SIL liked her gift very much. She and I happily stitched circles while it was snowing in Colorado this past week. The sight of all that snow was magical to this native Texas girl.
I hope you give this idea a try the next time you need a gift for a stitching friend.
