Christmas Spice Blend Collection

 

One of our local fairs has a fairly large Christmas craft section in their bench show, and this past year, I determined to enter as many classes in this section as I could. 
I don't know why, when I was in a time crunch to get the projects completed for the fair, I would pick patterns like these. 

Definitely not in the quick and easy category! As it turned out, I didn't complete the placemats until just before Christmas. The tops were made before the fair, but I ran out of time to get them quilted and bound. 

Creating these placemats required 11 different fabrics. The table runner required only 8, but since I wanted them to coordinate, I used the same fabrics, just omitting 3 in the runner.

Finishing the edges on this odd shape would have presented a challenge, so the instructions said to stitch it together inside out, then turn it right side out and quilt it. But I wanted to quilt it on the longarm, which I did, using an old broadcloth fabric from my stash as a false backing. I then stitched it inside out with the actual backing fabric, turned it right side out and stitched the opening closed. Finished!

I used the Amber pantograph to quilt it as I felt the it echoed the curves of the table runner. 
When I purchased the fabric, I chose clearance fabric that my local quilt shop sells in pre-cut metres and half-metres. So, I started out with 11 metres of fabric (or maybe it was only 10½ because one of them might have been just a half metre), so plenty not only for these projects, but for others as well. 

This is the Spiced Tea Mat from 50 Country Quilting Projects. You may recall that I'm trying to gradually work my way through this book, completing every project. I think I've still got 40 projects to do after this one. The idea behind this one is that, instead of just a regular hot mat, you create it with a pocket on the back to insert a little packet of spices. The instructions said to make the little packet using fusible interfacing, which didn't seem like the best idea to me. Instead, I made it using muslin. And because it was a Christmas hot mat, I used a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. It smells wonderful. And that was the inspiration for calling this collection Christmas Spice Blend. Since I was using a collection of mostly unrelated fabrics, I needed a name to call the assortment of projects I was making from it. And since it's a "blend" of 11 different fabrics, I figured that name would work. 
I have set a goal of making a different wallhanging for the living room and table treatment for the dining room for each month of the year, so naturally I needed a Christmas wallhanging for December. 

I love the vintage look of this wallhanging. To me, the colours are so rich.
I quilted the placemats, together with the wallhanging using a pantograph called Cappuccino. It's an older pantograph from Golden Threads that I bought second hand. Because both of these projects have small pieces, I wanted a fairly dense pantograph and this one fit the bill. I don't know if it's still available or not. When I try to go to the Golden Threads website, I get a warning from my security software. And it's not the same as the Cappuccino pantograph from Urban Elementz. 
Next, I decided to make some pillows for the couch. 

I used a colouring sheet I printed off the internet as a pattern for the applique. I call it Christmas bells. 

It's funny how the circle looks distorted into a rounded square once I placed the pillow form inside. I didn't have any extra 12" pillow forms, and they're not readily available or cheap, so, since I have a big bag of stuffing, I made my own using muslin. 

This block is called Swamp Angel. I found it during a search on my BlockBase+ software and found the name so intriguing that I decided I needed to make it. 

I later googled to find out what a "Swamp Angel" actually was. Not exactly consistent with the message of Christmas. 😕 But it's still a great block and made an attractive pillow. 

Remember my Christmas Tree napkins I made for the previous Christmas? 

They just happen to be made from fabrics that I included in the Christmas Spice Blend, so they coordinate as well. 
I still have plenty of fabric left from this collection, so more projects may be forthcoming. But that's enough Christmas projects for now.