Holiday Gift Ideas - Quilted and Stitched Gifts

Yesterday I gave you some embroidered gift ideas. If hand embroidery isn't your cup of tea, you might want to make a quilted or stitched gift. If so, you'll enjoy these patterns:

Snow Cool is a quick appliqué wall hanging project using fusible web and it's FREE! Learn how to do this easy appliqué technique in Essential Guide To Fusible Web Appliqué.  

Snow Cool by Chatterbox Quilts uses hand embroidery and fusible web appliqué to create a small wall hanging.

Bundle Up is the perfect table runner or wall hanging, again created using fusible web appliqué. I've made this as a table runner and as a wall hanging: just change the orientation of the appliqués to create a vertical design. With its blustery theme, Bundle Up can decorate your house all through the winter.

Bundle Up by Chatterbox Quilts can be either a table runner or a wall hanging.

If you like circles, Bubbly Stripes is the pattern for you. This can also be either a table runner or a wall hanging. Change the look of Bubbly Stripes for the holiday season by creating it in Christmas or winter fabrics. Use the various decorative stitches on your sewing machine to finish the edges of the fusible web appliqué circles or stitch across the circles with decorative machine stitches to create ornaments from the circles.

Bubbly Stripes by Chatterbox Quilts would look great in seasonal fabrics with decorative machine stitching around the appliquéd circles.

For frosty appeal, create Snowflakes a' Fallin'. This is also a fusible web appliqué design by Chatterbox Quilts that can be either a table runner or a wall hanging - you don't even have to change the orientation of the snowflakes for this one. There is lots of opportunity for embellishment with this pattern, so get out your metallic threads and hot-fix crystals!

Snowflakes a' Fallin' by Chatterbox Quilts makes a lovely table runner.

If you're new to fusible web appliqué, enrol in my on-line course, Essential Guide to Fusible Web Appliqué to learn all about this easy appliqué technique.

Enrol in Essential Guide to Fusible Web Appliqué to learn how to do this fast technique.

 If you have stitchy friends who own a vintage sewing machine, they'll appreciate Vintage Sewing Machine Covers. This pattern includes a table runner just the right size for most vintage sewing machine cabinets as well as a bed extension cozy for the singer Featherweight sewing machine. Both of these are very easy and quick to make.

They might also appreciate the gift of an on-line course on how to repair, rejuvenate and care for their vintage sewing machine. The Joy of Vintage Sewing Machines teaches these skills and more as well as the pattern and instructions on how to create both of the projects in the Vintage Sewing Machine Covers pattern.

Learn about purchasing and rejuvenating a vintage sewing machine in The Joy of Vintage Sewing Machines.

If you're looking for a quick stitched project, these make wonderful gifts:

Myrtle is a little owl that is perfect for sewing friends to hold quilting or sewing supplies or just to keep them company in their studio. I like to create Myrtle using recycled suiting fabric. You might even find yourself making a second Myrtle just for you!

Myrtle by Chatterbox Quilts is a cute and helpful studio companion.

Use upcycled vintage linens to create detail on Myrtle's back.

With just a few supplies, you can create a project in the hoop. This is the quickest gift to whip up and it's so fun to embellish it to add that personal touch. Learn how to create the project in the hoop by watching the video below or on my Youtube channel.

Looking for a really quick gift - and no sewing. Create this quick project in a hoop and you'll be done in no time. Lots of embellishment opportunities with this project.

If you have any quick gift ideas for the holidays, I'd love to hear them. Please share them in the comments below.

Happy creating!

Holiday Gift Ideas - Hand Embroidery

It's that time of year again. Halloween has just past and Christmas is looming on the horizon (and Thanksgiving is just a few days away for my American readers). Don't get me wrong: I love Christmas, but I'm always stitching down to the last minute creating my gifts. To help you avoid this situation, I've included a list of easy projects that are great for giving - and you've still got lots of time to get them done!

If you love hand embroidery, try these quick gifts:

Flourishing Heart Pincushion 

Flourishing Heart pattern by Chatterbox Quilts

This is a FREE pattern from Chatterbox Quilts and can be used to create a pincushion, ornament (add a hanging ribbon), shelf sitter or sachet (add your favourite potpourri). If you'd like to have complete instructions on doing the embroidery stitches in this project and see how to create it, just enrol in my Curious class, Hand Embroidery Essentials. Click here for a 20% discount on the course now.

Snowflake Brrr! is another frosty seasonal design that makes a quick ornament or is great just placed into an embroidery hoop for a quick and fun wall decoration. You can find this FREE Chatterbox Quilts' pattern on our store. 

Snowflake Brrr! by Chatterbox Quilts makes a quick wall hanging in an embroidery hoop

Our Christmas Stitchery Set and Winter Stitchery Set each include three little designs that can be used for a variety of projects. Stitch up all three patterns, add sashing between each of them, border them all and you have the perfect wall hanging. Better yet - buy both sets and then create a small quilt or wall hanging using all six designs.

Christmas Stitchery Set by Chatterbox Quilts includes 3 seasonal designs.

Winter Stitchery Set by Chatterbox Quilts can be made into an ornament or wall hanging.

If you need a gift for a little one or baby, Screech, Hoot and Whoobie would be perfect. These little stuffed toys use hand embroidery for embellishment, so there aren't any buttons or pieces that might fall off or be a danger to the under 3 year-old group. I just like them because they make cute shelf sitters in my studio.

Hoot (the daddy), Screech (the momma) and Whoobie (the baby) by Chatterbox Quilts are adorable toys or cute shelf sitters.

Don't know how to hand embroidery? No problem! Enrol in Hand Embroidery Essentials to learn all about the tools you'll need, thread choices and how to create simple embroidery stitches. We'll even create the Flourishing Heart pincushion/ornament together.

Enrol in Hand Embroidery Essentials to start stitching today.

Next time I'll have some quilted project ideas that make great gifts. 

Creatively,

New FREE Embroidery Pattern from Chatterbox Quilts

Snowflake Brrr by Chatterbox Quilts

We've just posted a new FREE embroidery design to the Chatterbox Quilts website. Snowflake Brrr! is perfect in an embroidery hoop as a wall decoration, but you could also choose to stuff it for a pillow. Add a backing to it and it's an ornament for your Christmas tree. 

Detail of Snowflake Brrr

Download Snowflake Brrr! now and have a new wintery decoration for yourself or a friend.

If you need help in creating these stitches, enrol in my on-lline class, Hand Embroidery Essentials, where you'll learn all the basic hand embroidery stitches and create a lovely heart ornament. Another gift for one of your crafty friends :)

Creatively,

Banff celebration 2015

It's been a busy fall with school starting (back to work for me), working on blogposts and Youtube videos and personal life. We recently celebrated our wedding anniversary - 31 years! - with a trip to Banff. We are fortunate to live so close to the Rocky Mountains with Banff an hour away by car. 

Even though it was late in October, we had not too cool temperatures and sunny skies. We did some shopping, lots of walking and some eating too (they do have more than one candy shop!).

I managed to fit in a visit to the Sugarpine Quilt Store in Canmore too. It was on the way back to Calgary, after all :)

Here are a few photos from the week-end.

Downtown Banff

I love browsing in the Indian Trading Post

Some of the varmints in the Indian Trading Post

View across the Bow River

We walked from the Banff townsite to Bow Falls, just below the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.

The back of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

The Bow River - I love this photo!

And no anniversary week-end would be complete without a spectacular dessert - and this one was no exception!

Yum!

And yes, I did eat it all - on my own :)

Telecast Thursday - Quilt Batting Yo-Yos

Welcome to Telecast Thursday. Today I'll show you what to do with quilt batting scraps that seem too small to be worth keeping. Don't throw them out! Use them to create sweet little yo-yos that can be added to your projects for embellishment.

You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

At Chatterbox Quilts, we create new videos every week. Subscribe to our Youtube channel so you'll receive automatic notifications when a new video is published. If you enjoy our videos, please like and share them with your crafty friends.

Creatively,