Printable 2017 Calendar

Happy Holidays, my friends.

Can you believe it? Another year is nearly over. Say good-bye to 2016 and hello to 2017. I'll be posting on instagram (sandra.clemons) and facebook (makeitblossom) through the end of year, but this is the last blog post of the year. If you haven't been following me on instagram/facebook, then what are you waiting for. You are missing out on the photo hop, which has a free giveaway of fabric at the end and I hear a surprise giveaway next week. That's the best place to stay tuned with the latest news.

Christmas is this Sunday and as gift for my savior's birth, I've created a blank 2017 calendar template for you. It is available for download here. It is designed for you to jot down key events and notes throughout the year. Plus there's a lot of extra space on the page for you to write thoughts that require more space.

Enjoy and have a blessed holiday season.
Sandra

My Quiltcon 2017 Entry

As a lifetime Chicago Cubs fan, my euphoria of the Cubs winning the 2016 Major League Baseball World Series inspired The Wait Is Over quilt. This quilt was created on my long drive home from the Houston International Quilt Market on Tuesday, December 1. I sketched it out on graph paper while my wonderful husband drove us home. Then, I waited. I waited for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series the following day, Wednesday, November 2, in the most dramatic game ever played in World Series history. 

The Wait Is Over is full of symbolism. It is designed with 108 windows to represent the 108 year drought of winning the World Series. The skyline are of actual buildings in Chicago. The large 'W' symbolizes the W flag flown at Wrigley Field after every Cubs victory. The red 'V' border symbolizes the red seams on a baseball. The machine quilting in the negative space symbolizes the movement of the bustling wind as Chicago is nicknamed the Windy City. 99% of the quilt was made from recycled dress shirts and dress pants from my husband, a die hard St. Louis Cardinals fan.

It is machine pieced, machine quilted on a domestic machine, paper pieced, and improvisational pieced.

Here's an image of my early sketch. Sorry, but it didn't scan in very well because it was drawn in pencil.

The next couple of days, I used Adobe Illustrator to formally draft the quilt while I prepped the fabric and determined measurements. Some more pictures of my drafting process:

Yesterday, I received an email saying it didn't make the show. O well, I'm going to love it anyways. I have the perfect spot for it. It will lay on my bed that I share with my husband, to remind him every day that the Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series. They are the best team in baseball.

Sandra

Tutorial - Hanger Covers

TUTORIAL HANGER COVERS

I made these hanger covers for the International Fall Quilt Market to hang my garments. I thought why now show the world what I did to make these cute covers. These covers offer a clean, uniform look for your closet. It’s perfect for those special garments to stand out in your closet.

Materials:

1 Cheap Plastic Hanger

1 Fat Quarter of Fabric

Scrap Quilt Batting, approximately a fat quarter

Sewing Machine

General Sewing Supplies

Features FRONT YARD fabric by Sandra Clemons for Michael Miller Fabrics.

Make Covers:

Choose to spray paint your hanger which ever color you so desired.

Place the hanger on top of your fabric. Trace the shape of your hanger to the fabric 3/4” larger than your hanger. Cut the fabric on your traced line. Make 2.

Place one piece of fabric to your batting. Choose to machine quilt the fabric to the batting. In my example, I made vertical straight-line stitches. Make another one.

Trim the batting to the fabric’s raw edge for both units.

For one unit, fold the top over itself with wrong sides together about 1/4”. Top stitch in place to finish the top hem. Repeat for the other unit.

For the bottom opening of the hanger, fold over the unit over itself with wrong sides together to hem the bottom of the hanger. Repeat for the other unit.

This would be the ideal timing to add any labels, accessories, and/or trims to your hanger cover.

Align the units’ right sides together. Sew with a 1/4” seam allowance along the curve of the hanger, avoiding the top and bottom hem.

Turn the hanger cover inside out. Insert the hanger and you’re done.

If you like this free tutorial, then show some love by following me on my social media. I’d love to see your version. Make sure to share a pic of your hanger cover by using #makeitblossom.

Sandra

Tutorial - Scrap Batting Ornaments & Garland

 

Tutorial Scrap Batting Ornaments & Garland

Today, let’s use up our scraps of batting to make Christmas ornaments. I know I have a tons of scrap batting from my quilts and I’m sure you do too. This is super quick and cheap. Most of the items on the material list are things you can find around your house and you don’t need your sewing machine. The ornaments and garland are great to make with kids, too.

Materials:

Scrap Batting

Accessories Goodies - pompoms, buttons, bells, ribbons, etc.

22 Gauge Floral Wire

Scissors

Craft Glue

Hand sewing needle

Thread

Make Ornament

Cut your scrap pieces into 1” strips and then subcut them to 1” squares. These don’t have to be perfect and you may want to vary your squares slightly in size to add more interest to your ornament.

Cut the floral wire to about 10” or as desired.

On one end of the wire, bend it over itself about a 1/4”. This prevents your batting squares to fall off the end. You may choose to use a thread and needle to make your wreath instead of the wire, but I found that wire is stiffer and can hold its shape.

Use the straight end to poke the center of batting squares. Continue adding squares. Choose to make your ornament as loose or tight as desired.

Once you’ve finished adding squares, pull the straight end of the wire through the loop of the other end. Twist and wrap the ends together.

Now the fun part really begins. Choose to hand sew on bells, glue on buttons, tie a bow, whatever you choose. Remember to add a loop to hang your ornament to your tree. Hang your ornament to the tree and tada, you're done.

Here I added pink pompoms to the wreath.

Have a lot of batting scraps? Consider making a garland out of them. I purchased a bag of red pompoms to add a pop of color to my garland. What would you do?

If you like this free tutorial, then show some love by following me on instagram and liking me on facebook. I’d love to see your version. Make sure to share a pic of your ornament by using #makeitblossom.

Merry Christmas!

Sandra

Free Christmas Printable

Hello Makers,
My favorite song during the Holidays is O Holy Night. By far my favorite. Love, love, love it.

To download the printable version: Click here to download the PDF printable. Print on heavy card stock. It is size for regular letter size paper.

Please note: All images, patterns and designs are © Sandra Clemonse of Make It Blossom. You may not reproduce, re-create or sell in any way, but please feel free to download for your own personal use. If you share on your own blog (I would love that), then please direct your readers to this post to download the file. Thank you!

Enjoy a free printable.
Sandra

Holiday Traditions

What are your family traditions during the holidays? I hope they are wonderful. We normally spend the holidays just the three of us (my husband, daughter, and I) in Denver, Colorado. We are Christians and celebrate Christmas. Our traditions include:

- A visit to Santa during the week of Thanksgiving to beat the rush.
- A family photo for our Christmas cards. (see above)
- Of course a Christmas tree, which we put up over Thanksgiving weekend.
- Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ by going to Christmas Eve service.
- We bake Santa a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies on Christmas Eve.
- I always have a holiday project, whether it be a new wreath, yarn ball ornaments, a Christmas quilt, there's always something for me to make.
- We're allowed to open up one gift on Christmas Eve.
- Our big meal is on Christmas Eve, which always include my husband's marinated pork tenderloins, mashed potatoes, corn, chocolate pudding pie, and baked beans.

This year, we're adding on to our house by expanding our basement and building a 2nd floor. We had to modify our Christmas, which means a 2 foot Christmas tree. But all in all, we're excited for our house addition, and know that by next year, we'll have wide open space to entertain and celebrate like never before.

Here's a quilt I made, called Gingerbread. I used a layer cake to make the stars, bought a few yards for the border and background. The backing came from Ikea and it 'still' glows in the dark. :)

Darn those loose threads, they always haunt me. Here we've snuggled with this quilt for 3 years and right there, it's a thread. Can you find it below? I can still hear my quilt teacher's voice in my head, saying that's why it's important to cut loose threads as you make them.

If you're interested in the quilt pattern, then you can find it in my shop.

Happy Holidays,
Sandra