Christmas Album Finishing Options

This is just a short post to explain some of the Christmas Album finishing options-- at some point, we fell in love and upgraded this whole project to show quilt status, and it's taking more time than we planned.

That doesn't mean you have to make a show quilt! We will be posting just a simple, free diagram shortly that shows "the easy way out," with cutting directions for an all fabric finish-- done in an afternoon!

If you are game for more, there are two more steps-- embroidered sashing, then embroidered borders. You can do either or both.

Purchase the Kit Here

This is the "Sashing Kit" for the 4x4 size blocks-- it has already posted. If you recall, we were looking for the perfect sashing fabric-- we didn't find it, so we decided to embroider it. Other than being repetitive, we are super pleased at how easily it went together. All of the parts have basting lines on them, and all you need do is stitch along the dotted line for perfect results. The instructions are super detailed, with photographs. 

The charm size sashing kit is underway, and will be posting this week-- the instructions are pretty much the same, just a little more charming. Then, when you finish your lovely sashing, you can just add a lush Christmas print, or fabulous red plaid and call it quits, 

or...

wait for our beautifully embroidered borders! We have in mind a Christmas plaid with a red ribbon swag all around the edges. As with everything, we guarantee it's worth the wait-- and there's still ten months to Christmas any way!

Since our Christmas Album customers will be kept busy with sashing for a bit, we're not tackling the border set until March.

Mostly because this happened...

A couple of days ago, a SWARM of robins landed on our front step and looked in... by the time I grabbed my camera and everyone else ran to see them, only this guy was left.

What were they looking for, I asked myself.

The Cloud Club Finishing Kit.

Yes, it's time. 

We will be actively working on it starting tomorrow, and I would estimate a finish by the end of the month-- then you can start stitching, and while you are working on your pieces, we will then write up some instructions.

That's the plan.

 We're totally committed to five more birds this year to make a longer layout-- thanks to all for your encouragement to continue-- apparently, you loved them as much as we loved doing them. If you have a bird you'd love to see, comment below.

Still there?

Here's a sneak peek progress shot of March's cross stitch mug rug-- a little robin snuck his way onto this, too.

xox

Carol

Christmas Album Finishing Kit Peeks!

January was a super busy month! There are always so many thing to get wrapped up after Christmas, an office that needs a serious clean-up, and my friend Tere and I were invited to lecture and have a workshop at a local quilt guild-- Bayberry Quilter's of Cape Cod. It was a huge honor, as it is a group filled with very talented people. (Artist's always pick a great place to live!) Of course, in my excitement I forgot to take pictures. We had a wonderful time, and really enjoyed chatting with everyone after about their own quilting stories. 

So now it's February, and it's really overdue to finish our Christmas Albums! If you're not feeling Christmas at this point, why not finish in the fall... but we hope this sneak peek of our finishing kit will inspire you to stay the course. Just look at those beautiful blocks...

We trimmed our large ones to 6-1/2" x 6-1/2" and our charm size to 3-1/2" x 3-1/2."  There are three more designs to come, but they will be coming fast!
Now that the calendar is clear, we hope to close this out by Valentine's Day...  finishing kit and all.

We have a 6-1/2" square ruler, and we taped a little 4x4 window on it, which made for accurate and quick cutting. We'll be posting a full tutorial on this later.

Time to pick sashing fabric! This is always such a dilemma-- it is SO HARD to find the perfect one, and when we do, you want to buy it... and sometimes it isn't even available anymore.

SO...

We had this great idea... we are all embroiderers, so why not embroider our own fabric?

That ended up being much easier than driving from store to store, and searching online.

So here it is! The top one we thought was a little too heavy, the middle one was a little light, but the bottom one was just right. hee hee. 

 
 Trimming was so easy with the basting line, and sewing was just as easy-- we left our stabilizer in and all we had to do was stitch along the dotted line.

Isn't that just so pretty!

If you remember, our layout inspiration was the Caroline's Garden quilt, our first ever show quilt.

So before you rush to buy, you can see we still need a cornerstone design, and a beautiful swag for the borders. 

But we hope we've given you the vision to re-energize your efforts, and a promise that then end is in sight. 

We seriously cannot wait to hang this up the day after Thanksgiving... thanks for joining us!

xox 

Carol