Paper Pieced Christmas Ornament

When Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts and Kristy at Quiet Play announced their Sew Seasonal Blog Hop I knew I wanted to be a part of it. Both Alyce and Kristy have designed Christmas themed blocks (some are pieced and others are paper pieced) that are free to download during the duration of the blog hop. Each day until the 13th of November there are numerous bloggers (23 no less!) lined up to show you what you might like to do with each (or all!) of the blocks.


If you link up on November 30 with your own finished products using Alyce and Kristy's patterns you can even be in the running to win some fabulous prizes.

Zoe's quilt is now backed and pinned. Ready for quilting!

Now, some of you may remember that I was working on Zoe's quilt. An enormous, very generous king single sized quilt with lots of overhang so that it is very easy for Zoe to make her bed in the morning! This thing really is massive. I'm tempted to stand on the scales with it just to see how much it weighs! I was having a conversation with myself about how it wouldn't be wise to start (yet another) project before finishing Zoe's quilt. In the end I decided that it would be fine to do a little project - start small so to speak - until Zoe's quilt was completed and then I could give myself permission to have a go at some of the fabulous projects that have been showcased on the blog hop so far, as well as a few of my own that have come to mind.

And so it was settled. A small project would be fine. But what to make!

Some months ago a lovely lady at church asked me if I wouldn't mind if she gave me some quilting fabric. She had quilted for many years a little earlier in her life, but was now at an age where she had long since stopped and the fabric was taking up much needed space. I think this kind lady felt as though I were doing her a favour, however it was I who was the recipient!

Some of the lovely fabric!

The fabric was beautifully folded and stored in baskets. In addition to the baskets (of which there were four) there was an enormous 'pickle pot' filled with scrap pieces. I was also gifted at least half a dozen quilt tops that were completed or near completion. It was like a dream!

When I saw Kristy's paper pieced Christmas blocks, in particular the Christmas gift, I thought of this kind lady and the gift she had given me. I thought it appropriate that I make her a Christmas ornament (starting small remember!) symbolising her generous gift to me. I chose fabrics that she had given me, in particular the soft pinks and shabby chic style that she loves so much.

Here is the progress so far.

Isn't this the sweetest?

The paper pieced gift came together very quickly. I decided to keep the quilting simple due to the size of the ornament and to ensure that the gift remained the focus. I use a variagated pink Aurifil thread to do one line of echo stitching. I also trimmed the block on the left and right to give it a more rectangular shape and to avoid it being mistaken for a coaster!

I have cut a 1 1/4" length of pink ticking for the binding. Alas, my 15 minutes of blogging is up and it is time to pick everyone up from school, so the binding will have to wait until this evening. A loop of pink ribbon at the top for hanging and it will be sweet and complete!