I am Lily - stitcher and part time bookseller. Mother to my gorgeous girl, Abigail and wife to Julian. I make time each day to let my imagination potter and add quirky prettiness and handmade comfort to our home and lives. You can email me at lily(at)blockaday(dot)com
mary e’s christmas coins
This was going to be all about bunting - for Tine! - but you know how it goes. I was hunting around in my drawers for a particular piece of old blue with holly maison noel and after a bit of cursing, not only found it, but found a Mary Engelbreit Christmas charm pack my lovely friend Amy sent me a while back.
Ooooh - I grinned - I was going to make a chinese coin quilt with this - well, I’ll cut out the bunting and start taking photos, and just cut this up quickly whilst I’m at it. Several squares at once, 2 inches, 1 1/2 inches, 3 inches, 2 1/2 inches.
Hmmmm … the pile looks a bit ordered …
I’ll toss them around a bit for a chance at random - remember, I don’t do random well!
Then I’ll just quickly chain piece the strips - four columns, so piece in lots of four in an effort to keep the columns pretty even - before I settle down to zigzagging my bunting triangles.
Oops! Better put on dinner. But first, I’ll just even up the bottoms - add a bit here, add a bit there.
Well now, dinner’s over, a fabulous evening of news is done (I’ve gone tingly and cried a hundred times!), Abigail’s in bed, but before I tackle the triangles, I’ll just add the stripes in between the columns of coins.
I was going to use this black spot but it makes it look a bit halloweenish.
Oh! Oh! How about my all time favourite red Wee Play - nah! Too hot.
But, another bout of serendipity - whilst digging out the wee play I found this wee play check - very Mary!
You know, a bit of black spot on the edge would like good - after all Moda calls it essential spot and I couldn’t agree more - everything looks great with spots. Well, after Abigail enduring two bouts of chicken pox, I guess I mean everything fabric looks great with spots!
Now for those red borders - a bit of wool applique tickles my fancy, but green would just look like the colour blindness test from my Year 9 Biology textbook. How about some white Christmas balls … with a bow to tie onto the tree. Clearly not THIS bow - it’s too big and clunky and red! And maybe some button embellishments?
Nope - now it looks like a smartie cookie. Maybe a bit of embroidery and some small buttons ….
… <sigh> there’s nothing for it, I shall have to visit the patchwork store and acquire some Mill Hill beads - that’s what my Christmas balls need.
Oh no … the bunting - too tired. Will try tomorrow!
5 November, 2008 at 11:48 am
LOL! I am very happy to see this beauty instead :-) I just found out the other day, that Charles likes this design a lot! I see a quilt in my future…..
5 November, 2008 at 11:54 am
Beautiful, and very exciting to see spontaneous combustion of chinese coins…
5 November, 2008 at 1:47 pm
This is really quite stunning and I look forward to watching the progress.
Thanks for a great look into “your” process.
Marlene
5 November, 2008 at 2:29 pm
It is very cute! I can hardly wait to see it finished.
5 November, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I can tell this is going to be so charming–like your Easter-y one in your blog header. I think I need to make a Christmas charmer (hmm, is that trademarked yet?) with some cute extra bonus embellishments. I also enjoy seeing your process. Can’t wait to see the beads. Say, that last ball would fit in with a Sally Christmas, no?
5 November, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Good to see you back! Once again, you’ve made me swoon with your latest project. Coming from my reproduction fabric background, I’ve been slow to appreciate how dots, stripes and checks cheer up a quilt ~ optimistic fabrics, I call them.
5 November, 2008 at 9:37 pm
blimey Nora, that looks fantastic. Nice to see you are a ‘hey let’s wing it and hope for the best’ sewer as well!!!
(I did some crying this morning whilst listening to the news on the radio - innit fab?!)
5 November, 2008 at 10:36 pm
That looks fabulous, just love your color choices! Pretty pictures too!
5 November, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I love ME she is so cheerful and bright. Your coins are delightful. I know you will figure out your Christmas Balls.
6 November, 2008 at 1:12 am
I read your post today in a bit of shock - this is all I did today! I had cut my strips the same size, even! And put them together four at a time, to keep my columns from going “off”. But I didn’t have such cute fabric, lol - mine is all autumn colors, leftover bits that I want to clear out of the sewing room. And mine won’t have sashing - I’m OUT of fabric for sashing. This is number 7 of my Christmas gift quilts, and the last one to do. Yippee!
6 November, 2008 at 1:49 am
this is amazing and so quick too. i love your fabric choices! if you have time will you tell me a bit more about the sew 4 to keep it straight. what do you mean? i’d love to make something like this.
6 November, 2008 at 3:27 am
You picked the very very perfect sashing for your chinese coin christmas quilt. It is just so perfect. I love it.
6 November, 2008 at 10:50 am
Oh I love this!
6 November, 2008 at 11:20 am
you whipped that up really fast. Lovely colors. How many charms did you use?
6 November, 2008 at 11:48 am
You must move as fast as lightening! I am totally amazed.
26 November, 2008 at 7:05 pm
[...] Lily wrote an interesting post today onmary eâ??s christmas coins | block-a-dayHere’s a quick excerptI was hunting around in my drawers for a particular piece of old blue with holly maison noel and after a bit of cursing, not only found it, but found a Mary Engelbreit Christmas charm pack my lovely friend Amy sent me a while back. … [...]