JOY in July - A Christmas Bunting

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas in July!

That's our chosen theme for the Across the Pond Sew Along...

and it's also the reason for a fun blog hop

over at The Crafty Quilter.

{I've already posted my Christmas Tree Topiary Pillow for the blog hop here.}

Amanda The Patchsmith

has come up with not one, 

but TWO free bunting patterns for her July contributions!

Gingerbread Bunting by The Patchsmith

JOY Bunting by The Patchsmith

I decided to make the JOY bunting for our living room.

I used scraps from Glace, an older Christmas line

by 3 Sisters for Moda.

{I love the aqua, brown and red floral and holly prints.}

I love how quickly this project came together.

I'm pretty sure I had it all finished in less than an hour.

The fusible applique was very simple.

I just stitched along the edges of the applique pieces.

I didn't have the shade of ribbon I wanted,

so I just sewed the pennants to a long piece of aqua binding,

taco-style.

{I just tucked the pieces between the folds, pinned into place,

and stitched along one edge.  Easy!}

This decoration will be so easy to store until Christmastime.

Look at my little bundle of JOY!

If you want to, you could add more pennants,

to make it as long as you like.

Today I'm decking the deck with boughs of holly.

This winter I should take new photos,

with snow, instead of grass, in the background.

I hope you'll join us and stitch up something

for Christmas in July.

You can add your photos to the ATPSA Flickr group.

If your December is super busy, like most people I know,

you won't be sorry you've planned ahead!

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Mission Accomplished - A Charm Square Scarf

In my last post,

I described the March project for the

Across The Pond Sew Along,

the Charm Square Scarf,

selected by Amanda The Patchsmith.

Amanda's and Lea's beautiful scarves in the forest via The Patchsmith blog

The original tutorial can be found on Moda Bake Shop,
as presented by Trish of notes of sincerity.

Here's my finished Glace Charm Square Scarf!

And here's how I made it...

I started with 34 of my favorite charm squares,

half of which were mostly green.

I paired each green square with another color.

{I had a piece of green tone on tone Glace

that was long enough to use for the backing,

so green was my main color feature.}

Here they are, all lined up.

And here they are after chain-stitching

all the pairs together.

I pressed each pair toward the green square.

Then I arranged them in an order that I liked

and stitched all the pairs into a really long strip.

As I said, my backing was super long,

leftover from my Winter quilt.

I decided to cut the scarf backing about 8" longer

than the scarf front, which gave me a pretty finish

at each of the shorter ends, about 1 1/2" wide.

{That's my favorite detail on this scarf.}

The fun part is figuring out how to wear it.

I like it folded in half and looped through.

{I put the square with that beautiful bird in that spot on purpose.}

Or tied with a single knot...

but I'm barely tall enough for that one.

I had to stand on a bench to take pictures

of myself wearing my new scarf!

{How do you like my bathroom mirror shots?I'm copying off of the kids and their Facebook profiles.Hmmm...guess I'll have to upload this one to my Facebook page,just to be cool.}

And just so you know I'm not kidding,

here's an uncut version,

complete with bathroom sink, lotion and toothpaste.

:)

{Aren't you glad I know how to crop?}

To be honest,

I really wish I had gone with my instinct

and made my scarf about half as wide,

the way Susie did for hers on Susie's Sunroom.

I really love the skinny look!

{Susie's my sister...she has ALWAYS been taller and skinnier than me,

so it's only right that she pulled off the skinny scarf!}

Susie's skinny scarf via Susie's Sunroom blog

Nice bathroom photography, sis!

:)

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March - Across The Pond Sew Along - Charm Square Scarf

March came in like a lion here in Pennsylvania,

and I woke up to a fresh coating of snow today.

What a perfect day to introduce

the March project for the Across The Pond Sew Along,

selected by The Patchsmith.

Amanda went to the mother lode of tutorials,

the Moda Bake Shop, choosing

 a fast, fun, and fabulous Charm Square Scarf pattern
by Trish of notes of sincerity blog.

If you are ever at a loss for ideas and instructions 

for making something special

from precut Moda fabrics,

Moda Bake Shop is there to help.

{While you're there, visit my recipe for Simply Colorful Coasters!}

I just happen to have quite a few charm packs in my stash.

They are so cute and compact and easy to hoard store.

In fact, I have about a pack and a half of Glace charms,

a Christmas line introduced by 3 Sisters in 2009.

I guess they've had enough time to ripen,

and I'm going to use them in my project.

{I'm choosing the prints without holly, so I can wear my scarf any time of the year.}

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is:

1. Head on over to Amanda's blog to see

two beautifully finished scarves for inspiration.

2.  Make your own version, and share it on the

Across The Pond Sew Along Flickr page,

to inspire others.

3.  Check back here at my blog to see how mine turns out!

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