Weekend WIP: A Trio of Christmas Quilt Wall Hangings

It is time for me to get back to these Christmas wall hangings. I assembled these some time ago; now I get to do some free motion quilting (FMQ) and a bit of embellishing… I think they would be happy with faces!

I have some trepidation about doing the FMQ. For one thing, I am pretty much a beginner. Even though I took a class from an amazing teacher, these will show my not so-stellar (yet) skills.

But that’s the way it goes, right? Just like my card a couple days ago – you can’t get better at something unless you repeatedly do it with the mindset of improving. Still… these are going to hang in my dining room where people (me!) can see them up close. I think I’ll make a couple coordinating hot pads first, just to take the nervous edge off!

I had such fun picking out fabrics for these wall hangings. Most of it came from my stash. I did have to go shopping for the various whites as I am not very excited by solids and neutrals so I rarely just spontaneously buy them. I’m more of a kid-in-a-candy-shop type of fabric shopper!

The orange noses and feet are very carefully chosen dark parts of a much lighter mottled orange batik. Cutting into the fabric and taking chunks out of the inner portion, not the edge, was a hard decision. What if I NEED a bigger piece of it later?? But I’m very happy with the results.

I see some places where I would trim away more of the underneath layers if I did this again, so there wasn’t so much show-through.

Using the backside of a blue fabric for the penguin’s scarf had me thinking twice, also. But it was just what I wanted!

There are a few places where the multiple layers of fused fabric are very thick and hard; I am hoping not to have a terrible time stitching through those. I realize I might have to skip those parts. Maybe a leather/vinyl needle…  If you have any experience with stitching through 4+ layers of Heat n’ Bond Lite, let me know!

This  is was a readily available pattern from any sewing store: McCall 5781 but unfortunately it looks to be out of print this year! :(

It is designed by Pearl Louise — love her style! There are other of her patterns still offered in the seasonal/holiday section if you look. And always wait for McCall patterns to go on sale for $1.99!

Gail