Fast and Easy Aprons on my Janome Memory Craft 9400

I love quick and easy gifts to give to coworkers, bring to parties or simply give as a gift.
With the holiday season upon us, I opted to make gifts for the cooks in the house. One that would not only be practical but make them feel festive and stylish.
This cute apron does up in no time at all. In fact if you get an assembly line going, you can do up a batch of them in a few hours.

Supplies
hand towels often found at dollar stores, pick up some holiday ones or everyday ones

long strips of corresponding fabric

Instructions

Cut a strip of fabric 64" x 2 1/2". You  will have to piece it to get the length. This is for a narrow band, if you want a wider band, make it 64" x 3".

Sew narrow ends under 1/4" to the wrong side.

Fold the fabric 1/4" on each long side to the wrong side and press.

Fold in half and press.

Find the centre of the strip and place a pin. Do the same with the top of the handtowel, lengthwise.

Matching the two pins, taking the long side of the top of the hand towel, place the towel on the wrong side of the strip opened up, about 1/2" in towards the centre.

Fold over the top half of fabric and pin along the strip ensuring the towel is tucked in  and pinning the fabric together.

Sew along the bottom of fabric catching the hand towel as you go. You can see I chose a fun decorative stitch from the 'Play' menu! It even tells you which foot (F) to attach to use with the stitch!

Enjoy your beautiful new apron!

A Quick Table Runner

A friend mentioned she really wanted a Christmas table runner.  I have a policy that I don't make Christmas gifts in November or December.   It is too rushed and those months just get too crazy.  

I broke my rule.   She sent me the measurements of her table.   The runner was to be 84" in length!   That is not just a table runner, that is a table that ran off!  

I found a fabulous idea and tips from my friend Linda on her blog and drafted up a pattern and set to work.  It is all HST's.

Tutorial

As promised, if you want to learn how to make this cute Christmas wall hanging, click on this spot.

Baby GO! Tutorial

I have been using my Baby GO! non stop.   I love it.  A.L.O.T.  And when I am not using it, I am looking on their website to see what dies I simply must have.  Okay, it is all of them.   But who's counting?

As you have heard me say a zillion times, I love circles.    One of the dies I bought was the 2", 3", and 5" circles.  Did you also know you can sign up to receive their newsletter and you will get 22 free patterns.  You don't even have  to have a GO! to use them.

Cute?   This was made using my Baby GO!  It was so fast and so much fun.   The best part is that I can put a little star on the top, throw some little presents underneath and it becomes a Christmas wall hanging.  Or I added a few little flowers on it.  I left it plain, as my kids are going to decorate it for me.       That is another great thing about the GO!, you can cut out shapes and have your kids decorate wall hangings for each season!

Here is how to make one.

Supplies:

2 fat eighths of green fabric

6" square of red fabric

3" x 6" rectangle for tree trunk

23" x 21" for background and backing

material for binding

batting

Accuquilt Baby GO!

Rose of Sharon by Sharon Pederson, #55045 Die

GO! Circle 2", 3", and 5", #55012 Die

Fusing

Sewing machine

Cutting Tools

Iron

I used fabric from the Delighted collection from Riley Blake fabrics for the greens in the tree, the red balls and the binding.

I fused Wonder Under to the back of two 8" x 6" pieces of the green fabrics.

I used my Circle Die and cut out 9 - 3" circles and 9 -2" circles from the two different green fabrics. 

Fuse Wonder Under to the back of the red fabric.  Using the Roses of Sharon die, place the red fabric on the 1/2", 3/4" and 1" circles.  You will need about 20 circles.   You will see I also used a bit of the binding fabric for my circles as well.  

Fuse Wonder Under to the back of the fabric for the tree trunk.  Cut out a trunk shape.  I just free handed it.   Place this on your background fabric and begin layering the tree.  You will start with the biggest circles at the bottom.    

Continue layering the tree, alternating fabric, until you use up all your green circles. 

Add the red balls on top and fuse in place with a hot iron following manufacturer's instructions.

If you want the flowers at the bottom, then use the Rose of Sharon die, and cut out some flowers and leaves.

The red balls can either look like apples, or if it is near Christmas, like holiday balls.   If it is going to be for Christmas, add a yellow star at the top and some cute presents at the bottom.

Square up your background.   Quilt and bind.   I did circle quilting on the tree and trunk.   And a large stippling in the background.

The GO!  really makes things go smooth and easy.   What are the highlights of the Baby GO! that I enjoy?   It cuts circles out perfectly.  And it does it quickly.   It is so easy to use and small to store.   It is a definite time saver and makes my quilts look more precise.    

Don't forget to enter my fabric giveaway, it ends on Friday.

Rain Storm

Our snow is almost gone, due to high winds and rain last nite and today. We enjoyed a day inside and loved it. The boys played all day and were great.