The Soap Trials

Short quilting interruption ... for SOAP!

One weekend in November my sister and I got some 10 pounds of melt and pour soap and got creative. Conveniently, Mom had expanded her herb garden this summer and we had a variety of dried herbs to add to our soap. We got goat, oatmeal, and shea butter for the bases.  The oatmeal is my favorite!

Favorite Recipe:

• 1 pound oatmeal melt & pour soap
• 15 drops of lavender essential oil
• 1/8 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of rolled oats
• Pinch of dried lavender

To explain the 10 pounds of soap madness, we are planning on giving them away for Christmas gifts. In equal insanity, I have knit up too many wash cloths to complete the gift. (The string ends still need to be woven in, it's my least favorite part) Pictured is only a small portion of what has actually been completed!

Tomorrow is our last day of school before the holiday break, please pray for my survival!

Never Say Never

Last year I mass produced Lola Pouches for Christmas presents and swore them off for a lifetime. 

Never say never.  I just made two more. 

Having spent a good long year with a small and large one I made myself, they are very practical. I use the large one for toiletries when traveling and the small one is in my purse to organize my pencils and pens. 

Don't you LOVE that pug fabric on the inside. The other is made from the line Bad Hair Day. It's for one of my dearest friends, who is a hairdresser. I still need to trim and tiddy up the zipper. 

If you are looking for a good, practical holiday gift this is it! The pattern is easy even if you are a zipper novice! Etsy has some great bulk deals on fancy zippers to make mass producing more economical. 

Pouches 2.0

And, I'm back at it. After completing my first round of pouch production some family members decided they wanted some to give away to friends as well. So, back on the assembly line for 14 more. This time I used decor interfacing and found it too thick, last time the interfacing I used was too thin.  Does this mean on my third production line I will get it right? Too bad there will not be a 3.0 version of this post! 

Although this time around I made some of larger size from the same Lola Pouch pattern by S.O.T.A.K. and smaller coordinating bags. The large bag is perfect for travel, while the small pouch is great for the purse or pencils. Just like the smaller version these were super easy to make. 

Then sometimes you just need a Christmas present for yourself. I couldn't part with these lovely strawberries, so they are mine! The other awesome gift I splurged on was a new DSLR camera.  Yay, I will be patiently waiting by the door to see the mailman arrive. The new camera comes with some great upgrades and cannot wait to see how the pictures turn out.

- Patch & Chels 

Christmas in July

After finishing my Joyful Jelly Roll Tree Skirt and the Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew tutorial, I dug out my Christmas quilt top.  This top was finished last fall and I bought the backing, but never finished the quilt. Since it's officially Christmas in July around here I decided this would be a great next finish! 

I used the Bizzy Kid pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew in a variety of Christmas fabrics. It was made using the same fabrics as the tree skirt and my stockings. Keeping with the coordinated Christmas decoration theme. The backing is a red dot on white flannel.

Quilt Stats: 

Size: 48 inches by 60 inches

Pattern: Bizzy Kid by Cluck Cluck Sew

Fabric: Assorted Christmas fabric

Batting: 80/20 blend

Backing: Flannel

Thread: Connected Threads - 100% Cotton Parchment Thread

Anyone else getting in the festive mood and getting some holiday sewing done? Sometimes it's hard to think that far ahead!

-Patch & Chels

Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew

Christmas in July!! Thanks for stopping by for this months tutorial on Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew tour hosted by Fiona @ Celtic Thistle Stitches and Paula @ Mud Pies and Pins.  This month, both Martha @ Weekend Doings and I are both hosting a tutorial, check out her page for another idea and more giveaways! Most of us are officially sweltering in the summer heat, but here I am quilting for Christmas! Such a juxtaposition of thoughts right now; laying in the sun verses quilting. Last month ended by making a tree skirt for the Fat Quarter Shop. So keeping the Christmas theme going, I am making a pillow cover to go with the skirt. This year my house will be fully decorated! 

**For this project sew with a scant quarter inch seam and press all seams open. **

Materials & Cutting

- 18 inch pillow form

- (18)  green: 4.5 inch by 2.5 inch

- (36) low volume: 2.5 inch by 2.5 inch

- (1) low volume: 4.5 inch by 15 inch

- (1) brown: 1.5 inch by 20 inch

- (2) low volume: 2 inch 20 inch

- (2) linen: 2.5 inch by WOF

- (2) red: 2.5 inch by WOF 

- (2) backing; 20.5 inch by 15 inch

- (1) batting: 22 inch by 22 inch 
- Various buttons for decoration
- Red floss 

Directions

Start by creating the flying geese. Take a 2.5 inch square and go diagonally from corner to corner on one of the 2.5 inch by 4.5 inch green rectangles. Cut extra fabric on outside and iron open. Do the same to the other side. Complete this for all 18 flying geese. 

Next, sew the 1.5 inch brown strip to the 2 inch low volume strip, do the same to the other side. Sub-cut the strip into the following; 5.5 inch, 2.5 inch, 3.5 inch, and 7.5 inch pieces. These will become the tree trunks.

Sub-cut the low volume 4.5 inch by 15 inch strip into the following; 3.5 inch, 2.5 inch, 5.5 inch, and a 1.5 inch piece. 

Now to sew the pieces together.  Start with the flying geese.  Sew together 3 sets of 4 geese, and 1 set of 6 geese. On one of the 4 geese put the 5.5 inch trunk, and 3.5 inch low volume at the top. The set of 6 geese put the 2.5 inch trunk, and 2.5 inch low volume at the top. The second 4 geese put the 3.5 inch trunk, and 5.5 inch low volume top.  The last set of 4 geese put the 7.5 inch trunk, and the 1.5 inch low volume top. Once the four trees are assembled sew them together (you can chose any arrangement for this part).

Attach the 2.5 inch linen strips around the outside to create a boarder. The top should be 20.5 inches by 20.5 inches, you can now baste to the 22 inch square batting and quilt as desired. Sew buttons to the trees to create the look of ornaments on the tree or embroider different patterns to the trees.

For the back of the pillow, take the two 20.5 inch by 15 inch pieces and iron over a quarter inch twice and sew along the edge to hide the raw edges. Once this is done pin to the front piece using a an envelope enclosure. Tutorial here.

Last, make the binding. Take the two red 2.5 inch strips and sew them together. Iron seam open and fold in half to make the binding. Sewing around the perimeter. Hand or machine sew the binding down. Tutorial here. 

If you have any question please email, or comment.

This month's giveaway is hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop. The winner will win a mini charm pack, with over 60 to pick from there must be something for everyone. To enter the giveaway put your project on the link up below!

Also thank you to all the other sponsors who have helped us out this year ... 

http://www.patchworkelephant.com/

To link up this month:  An InLinkz Link-up

If you make this tutorial or Martha's tutorial please link up!

-Patch & Chels

{Fat Quarter Shop} Joyful Jelly Roll Tree Skirt Love

If you're coming over from the Fat Quarter Shop WELCOME! If not, glad to have you back :). 

When I was asked to be apart of this tree skirt project I, of course, said yes! If you would like to get your hands on this beautiful pattern you can purchase it at the Fat Quarter Shop! They are also offering a kit and a video tutorial to help you through the pattern. In the whole process, the only part I was concerned about was binding around the circle, and that ended up being very easy. So, give it a try! 

Disregard my lack of Christmas tree, they are not in season!! 

Last fall I made a quilt top using some of my favorite Christmas fabrics I had collected and had a bunch of scraps left over.  This skirt pattern was too cute to pass up! I ended up using the same fabrics so it would match. The background is Essex Linen in Natural. I wanted something that would make the white prints pop and add texture.  The linen was a great choice. 

Knowing the quilt top wouldn't get heavy use, I went with some light hand quilting in red.  The quilt ended up having a nice drape to it, which will look great around a tree. The big stitching was just enough to add detail but not take away from the fabrics. 

If anyone is looking for Christmas fabric, in my search I found the Fat Quarter Shop has a Christmas Cloth Store.  Pretty spectacular! Some people are probably laughing at me, but for those of you who didn't know, it's awesome. Also, if you haven't already, head to the Jolly Jabber to see other versions of this tree skirt. 

-Patch & Chels

Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew!

This year I was asked to participate in Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew with Fiona from Celtic Thistle Stitches, how fun! On the 18th of each month one of us will be putting out a tutorial for a fun Christmas/Holiday themed sewing item. See the schedule below of who goes each month. There will be links open and opportunities to win giveaways periodically throughout the year! 

Head over to see Fiona's cute Christmas cushion as the first of the tutorials. She is also offering this  felt giveaway as well! You have to link up to win, so get sewing :) 

This year's schedule: 

January - Fiona @ Celtic Thistle Stitches 
February - Pam @ Threading My Way
March - Sally @ Wonky Patchwork
April - Benta @ SLIK Stiches 
May - Karen @ Practically Pippy
June - Ruth @ Charly & Ben's Crafty Corner 
July - Martha @ Weekend Doings, Chelsea @ Patch the Giraffe (Me)
August - Deborah @ Sunshine Through the Rain
September - Karen @ Practically Pippy, Gina @ Part of Eight: Our Story
October - Nesta @ Ella and Nesta's Little Room
November - Joanne @ Rose & Dahlia
December - Paula @ Mud, Pies and Pins

Remember to check in on the 18th of each month for a new tutorial, before you know it, Christmas will be here again! 

- Patch & Chels 

Sister's Quilt

My sister's quilt did get finished on time, I was sewing on the binding just as Santa was arriving. It was that close. I under estimated the time it would take to finish this twin sized quilt. Much different than a quick baby quilt! Either way it's done and sister has already been enjoying it's warmth. 

The top is FMQ with a loopy flower all over pattern. This was the fist time FMQ on my new machine so I wanted a forgiving pattern. It's one of those don't look to close finishes. After a quarter way through the quilting I found my rhythm then things started to improve. The backing is flannel, so this one was an extra heavy, twin sized struggle to get through the machine. Super warm, and a big workout! Pretty sure it negated all those sweets I have been enjoying.

Quilt Stats: 

• Finished Size: 66 inches x 80 inches 
• Pattern: Sugar Block of the Month - January 
• Fabric: Hello Petal by Moda, Kona white background, and Essex Linen
• Batting: Warm & Natural - white
• Thread: Connecting Threads - Parchment

Mom also was pretty happy, she got this quilt ladder that Dad and I put together. She was playing with the arrangement of her quilts, here is the final layout. You can see on the second rung is the Looking Glass quilt, I pattern tested. She also got her hands on that quilt too! Still trying to pick my father's brain to make a tutorial for the ladder, it was really 80% him, 20% me. 

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday. 

-Patch & Chels