Ornament finishes

Well, it's not a quilt finish this week, but a finish nonetheless, and when it's a Christmas present finish, well that's a very good thing. 

While I was waiting for some fabric to arrive so I could get back to my baby quilt project, I took advantage of the time off to make my yearly ornaments for my kids and granddaughter. I don't think they read my blog (and my daughter is temporarily banned from looking at it since my current quilt project is kind of for her), so I think it's okay to share here. 

My son got married this year and he and my new daughter-in-law just bought a house, so it was easy to pick a theme for their ornament--a picture of their new house with their dog playing in the yard. It's paper foundation pieced and hand embroidered.

My daughter and son-in-law enjoy vacationing at Lake Michigan, so this year I made them an accidental landscape ornament. I love how quick these make up and how just about any little scrap works. I'm pleased with how it turned out. 

Instead of binding these little guys, I attached a little border to look like binding. I used some green/red fabric on the back for a Christmas-y feel. 

The other ornament is for my granddaughter. Each year (so far) anyway, I've made a Christmas ornament for her that reflects back to her Halloween costume. Her first one was a penguin and her second one was an owl. But this year, she had an opinion about what she wanted to be and it was Dash from the Incredibles. Never mind that Dash is a boy. She wanted to be him because he runs fast. (His hair matches hers, too, but that similarity was probably lost on her.) She was a very good Dash, showing all the right moves when she was in costume. So her ornament had to be Dash. I found a free coloring page online and colored it with felt and hand embroidery. I got carried away and also made a Dash outfit for her doll, so now I'm definitely all Dashed out. Done with it.

Just to show the back 

Oh, and I also made a couple sets of boot inserts for presents that cost me nothing at all. 

I made the same pattern as here, but this time I stuffed them with some left over chair cushion material around scraps of foam core board. The fabric is some coordinated material that my daughter bought several years ago when planning a nursery. We ended up not using it--so now she gets it back as boot inserts. And her sister-in-law benefits, too. 

I love making Christmas gifts that use up odds and ends. 

I'm linking up today with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday and with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Boot inserts

Didn't think I'd have a finish today, but the weather predictions aren't great, so I pulled out my new boots this afternoon and decided they needed some inserts to keep them from flopping over when I'm not wearing them. (Also, I'm procrastinating on basting a quilt). 

It didn't take long to make these at all--it took longest to pick out a fabric. After sorting (and sorting), I just couldn't cut into some of my newer, cuter stuff (sad, but true). I came across a piece that I bought and then rejected for a quilt last year. I'm not crazy about it, but it was big enough so it made the cut, literally, for my inserts. I cut four pieces about 21 inches long, 5 inches at one end and about 6 1/2 on the other. I seamed the sides and narrower end, pinched and stitched triangles to make the bottom shaped like a paper bag, turned them right side out, and stuffed all my old skinny batting scraps in each one. It's amazing how much room those scraps took in the closet and how little they take in the inserts! After putting the inserts in the boots, I folded in the top edges of the fabric until they seemed the right height. 

I made a ribbon from a piece of fabric (about 2 by 18 inches) by folding the long edges to the middle, folding in half and topstitching all around. I made sort of a pleat by folding the top hems in from the side seams about an inch on each side of the seams and inserted the ribbon between at the mid point of the hems. Then I topstitched them together. It was kind of hard to sew them with all that batting in the way, but I didn't want to waste time with hand sewing. I should have taken some pictures to show--but that would have taken time and I was on a mission. 

Oops--blurry

The ribbon keeps the inserts together and can hang from a door knob. I got the idea for that part from this blog post--which has way cuter inserts. But they're done, and I just saw a snowflake so I'm all set for whatever happens next weatherwise.  

Now that I have a prototype, maybe I should make some (neater) ones for Christmas gifts.

I'm linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday, because I'm proud to have cleaned out one fabric scrap and a whole bunch of batting scraps from my closet.