Thanksgiving is late this year, but my quilt-y Christmas gifts have never been more on time! I did that deep dive into my almost finished project bin last week, and yielded a treasure or two.

This is a patriotic chicken quilt for my son (vintage 2020) that just needed borders– and they are now on!

I also pieced the backing– I’m using this beautiful floral print on the back so if his girlfriend doesn’t appreciate chickens, she can just flip it over. I had six yards of it– it’s from my all time favorite collection, “Mackinac” by Minick and Simpson. It was meant for a different project, but I had a talk with myself about using what I have and also how these treasured fabrics aren’t creating much joy on a shelf, are they?

Then, Mr. Rogers has a couple nice borders on and is ready for quilting. This explains why I don’t sew with panels– all you do is add borders which is my least favorite part of quilting!

For Fred’s backing, I bought this fleece buffalo check, so my DD can just flip it over like the chicken quilt. I just realized, as I was picking off lint for the photo, it is going to be a giant cat hair magnet, so I’m not sure there’s an upside for her with this gift!

Then, I just about have my backing pieced for the J. Wecker Frisch panel quilt. I purchased the backing set with the kit twelve years ago– come to find out, there is barely enough fabric and now I have to cut one side off and add it to the bottom to make it work– not gonna look too graceful as the musical scores are directional! I’m over it.

So that’s three ready for quilting– I’m just treating myself to have them done by my favorite long arm friend–I really want to move them out, and I’m not at all sure how you would free motion quilt a panel– especially Fred Rogers face! I’m gifting the rest of the Jeepers Peepers panels to her– she’s a fellow Frisch fan and I know she’ll love and use these before I ever get to it. xox

As most of my week was spent on borders and backings, only one bat block got done this past week. There’s still eight to go. I feel very motivated to finish this quilt, but it just isn’t fitting into the schedule right now. I packed it back up, but it’s front and center on my shelf.

Last year, I was hoping to make a bunch of these folded star hot pads as gifts. Have you ever seen them? Mine were purchased at ShabbyFabrics.com. You really need these paper templates to make them, and I bought a pack of twelve.

I have every intention of trying to slam a few together as gifts this year. This first one took three hours, though, before I even realized I was making it from the wrong fabric! I thought this was a Christmas collection, but I pulled out the wrong one. That center green is hard to love.

I decided to break into this collection to make them, which I decided after the talk with myself about using what I have and liberating fabric from bins.

It’s “Holidays at Home” by Deb Strain from last year, and it is just lovely! I guess I imagined it for a larger project, but the time is now, right?

I thought these hot pads were going to use up my scraps– they do not. You need a significant amount of the same fabric for all of that folding. And it’s not a sewing project, it’s more of a folding and ironing job, so be forewarned. They are a pretty though, so much so that you could hang it in your kitchen and not use it as a hot pad at all.

After not having time to make these last year, I went on to buy a bigger version– haha! Find the logic there. This is the Folded Star Table Topper–

So that looks like about 12 hours of work, right? It’s already in the Christmas 2025 pile.

I also found this cute little Tilda plum kit I’d love to get to– wouldn’t Christmas plums look fabulous on a tree?

So that’s my hobby sewing– here’s the business sewing for the week! I’m making good on my promise of FREE tiny village houses– the link to download the red barn is below. (It’s a direct link, just to thank my blog readers!) This is the upgrade kit which includes more buildings, the farmers, and turkey and cow friends. I’ve moved beyond bowls– they look super cute in my teacups!

If you’re not into stuffing, the set also includes this little composed scene. I’m hoping to rope tie Mr. SFO into making me a curved shape display board for these– is a set of twelve in the works? You bet!

I made my Black Friday Sale early– everyone is, did you notice? For some it has been the whole month. But you can get up to 75%-50%-or 25% off sitewide through this weekend depending on how much you spend– visit the sale page for details after you download your free barn– you could buy this “On the Homestead” set for as low as $1.25.

Thanksgiving is at my house– I’m super happy about that, but since we live in the boonies, it means I have company from Wednesday-Sunday– it’s not just one BIG meal– it’s fifteen meals! All that, plus try to work on the website. I’ll try hard to get my post up next week– thanks so much for being here, and let the gobbling begin!

xox
Carol

Download your free barn here.