Thanksgiving Advent Quilt Sew Along, Part 2

Welcome back!  I hope everyone's quilt is coming along nicely.
Are you ready to work on your own Advent Quilt?

Click Here for Part 1.

Today, we are going to sew on the pockets and stencil in the numbers and the Give Thanks!
1. First, you need to cut out 12 rectangles that measure 3 3/4 inch x 3 1/2 inches.  

For my quilt, I had 3 fabrics, so I cut out 4 rectangles from each.

2. Ncxt,  take one rectangle and on the long side, iron down 1/4 inch with Heat N Bond hem tape.  This creates an easy finished edge.  We don't need to worry about fraying since this is a decoration and not an article of clothing that will be washed.  This will be the top opening of each pocket.


3. Now, go around on each side and iron down 1/4 inch.  Your fabric should now look like this on the wrong side.

Repeat this for all 12 rectangles.

4. Arrange your pockets on the quilt face into 3 columns, 4 rows each.   Pin each pocket in place, making sure that the side with the hem tape is facing up.

5. Now, carefully top stitch around the sides and bottom edges, as close as you can to the edge, leaving the top side open.  Now you have a pocket!  Repeat this on all 12 rectangles.






6. Now it's time to create freezer paper stencils.    If you have a cricut and a silhouette, simply print numbers 1-12 and "Give Thanks" onto freezer paper.   If you have a die-cut machine, punch these out.
I don't have a cricut or silhouette.  I don't have a die-cut machine either.  However, my local scrapbook supply store has a project room with hundreds of die cuts anyone can use.  So, I did!  If you don't have access to these things, you can always draw your letters and numbers and then cut them out by hand.   
The paper side of the freezer paper will be the top of the stencil, and waxy side will be the bottom.   You won't be using the pieces you cut out, but rather the negative.  This is your stencil!
7. Carefully place your stencils onto your fabric, waxy side down, and IRON in place.  The wax melts to the fabric, holding the stencil in place.  

8.  Paint your numbers and "Give Thanks" with fabric paint.

9.  After the paint has dried for a few minutes, you can carefully peel the paper off! 

There will be no waxy residue left, just a beautiful stencil!
Allow the paint to fully dry.   This can take a couple of hours.

That's all for today.  I will see you next week!

I will be participating in these Parties this week.

Saturday Sew Along: Thanksgiving Advent Calendar, Part 1

My kids love countdowns.  One of their favorite activities during the Christmas season is our advent calendars.  Well, why not have a Thanksgiving Advent?  This idea was emailed to me earlier this year, and I couldn't resist making my own.

I decided not to follow this version, but to create my own, simplified version, so that this could be another class taught at my Relief Society's Fabulous Friday.
This is what I came up with:

I think this advent will really help my family  increase our Thanksgiving spirit.   Each day, we will pull out a gratitude/thanks quote and small activity.  The kids will love it.
Would you like to make one too?  Sew along with me.  I am breaking the instructions down into 4 parts, and I will be posting each Saturday.  We should finish the last Saturday in October, perfect timing for hanging this quilt up to enjoy the entire month of November.  And please, email me links of your project!  I would love to see what others come up with.

1.This week, you need to purchase your fabric and supplies.


Items Needed:
1/2 yd fabric for the back and sides (d)
1/8 yd for the "give thanks" rectangle (b)
1/2 yd fabric for the background or 1 fat quarter (a)
1/8 yd for pockets (c).  If you want 3 colors, like I have, you will need 3 different 1/8yd pieces.  There is enough fabric with very careful cutting for 12 pockets out of 1/8yd.
1/4 in Heat n Bond hem tape
1/2 yd fusible fleece
Black fabric paint and brush
freezer paper
wooden dowel

2. Next, you need to cut out the fabric pieces for your quilt's face.
a. Using D, cut out 4 strips that are 1.5inches wide and at least 20inches across.

b. Using B, cut a piece that is 14in x 4.5in

c. Using A, cut a piece that is 14in x16.5in


3. Next, with right sides together, sew a to b, allow 1/4in seam allowance.

Open. Press seam to one side.

4.  Now, sew two D strips lengthwise along side. Allow 1/4 seam.  Press seam to one side when done.


Trim any strip excess off so that the edge is even.
5. Sew the remaining two D strips to the top and bottom of the quilt face, trim off any excess at the edge and press open.

 You are done for this week!  See you next Saturday!

Note: I will be linking up the These Awesome Parties!

Primitive Pilgrims

While I was working on my Beadboard Turkeys, I fell in love with their legs.  To me, it was just darling to have these substantial turkeys held up by spindly little legs.  Since I already have a turkey that goes with a set of pilgrims that I made a couple of years ago,  I associate turkeys with pilgrims for my Thanksgiving decor. So, I started playing around with the idea of spindly legged pilgrims to go along with my spindly legged beadboard turkeys.   This is what I came up with.

I love them.  They are fun and rustic looking.  And, since I was already going to be making the turkeys for Fabulous Friday, I decided to add the pilgrims as another craft available.
Wanna make your own?
Here is what I did:


I came up with my basic shape for the boy and the girl body that I traced onto 1/2in MDF.  I saw no point in cutting these guys out of real wood since I was going to be painting them anyway.  The mdf is cheaper and easier to cut!  The boy's hat brim, girl's bonnet and the collars, I cut out of 1/8in mdf.  Their design is loosely based off of these felt pilgrim stickers I used on my Thanksgiving banner last year.



After cutting the wood, I sanded all the edges and imperfections smooth with my belt sander. And yes, that is sawdust all over the place.  I really need to take the time to clean my shed...

After that, I drilled 2 holes in the bottoms of each pilgrim and small wooden rectangles that will serve as the base for each pilgrim.  Then I cut dowels to use as legs.  I inserted the dowels into the holes after first adding a drop of wood glue to the holes.


Next, I painted the bases, legs and bodies black and the faces flesh toned.


Next, I painted the girl's bonnet and the collars white.  It took about 3 coats to get complete coverage.


Then, take your wood glue and glue the bonnet, hat brim and collars to the pilgrim.  I know you might be tempted to grab your glue gun, but, use the wood glue.  Glue gun glue will hold right now, but the chances are high that the pieces will peel or fall off.  The wood glue creates a tighter bond between wood to wood.  In the long run, you will be much happier with the wood glue.



Now its time to paint the faces.   First I add the cheeks using a stippling brush.

Get a very small amount of paint on your brush.


'
Get rid of almost all of the paint on the brush by making a stenciling motion on your palette or a scrap piece of paper.

When you think most of the paint is gone, that's when you stipple on the cheeks.  It's just a light brushing.  Nothing to dark.
Then, its time to make your eyes and the twinkle on the cheeks.

Dip the end of a paintbrush into the black paint.

Next, lightly touch the tip to the wood and pull up.  You should have a perfect little circle.  If you're nervous, its okay to practice a couple times on a piece of paper.  Just remember that you need to redip the tip into the paint every single time if you want your circles to match.
I repeated this step with white paint and a smaller paint brush to create the white cheek twinkles.

Finally, I am ready for the finishing touches.  I lightly sanded the edges for a distressed look.  Then, using a glue gun, I  added the bows and gold buttons.



And my pilgrim couple is complete!



What a cute, happy family!

Beadboard Turkey Trio

I had Fabulous Friday (a class and craft night with the women at my church) 2 days ago.   I taught a few of different classes, one of them being these fantastic turkeys.

I saw this idea over at Jessica's blog last year right before Thanksgiving.  I wanted to make them then, I just ran out of time before the holiday.  So, I put the turkeys on my to-do list for this year.  I thought they would make a great, simple craft for Fab Friday. So I spent a lot of time with my scroll saw this past week cutting out the wood in preparation.  Then the girls just had to paint and glaze.  I simply love the way these little guys turned out.  They just make me smile!
I used 1/2in MDF as a base that I glued beadboard onto.  Then I cut out the feathers with my scroll saw.  I drilled holes in the bottom for the legs.   I made the bodies out of 1/8in MDF.
It is so fun to make Thanksgiving crafts.  Sometimes I feel like we just skip over Thanksgiving.  The stores are packed with Halloween junk, everything from costumes to candy to decorations.  Then it seems like November 1st rolls around and the stores already have all of their Christmas inventory out.  What has happened to Thanksgiving?  I understand why the stores do this.  Commercially, they make money on Halloween and on Christmas, but not really Thanksgiving.  However, I think its important that we take the time to really celebrate Thanksgiving.  We need to focus on all that we have to be thankful for.  I find that when I focus on all of my blessings and thank my Heavenly Father for all that I have, I am happier, feel more joy, have more patience with my kids, love my husband more, etc.  The list goes on and on   Everything is my life is better when I remember to be thankful.  So, even though Thanksgiving is a couple of months out, Happy Thanksgiving!
Gobble, Gobble!

Give Thanks Banner

This was a super cute, fast banner to make. After my Trick O Treat banner fiasco, I wanted to make a cute banner for Thanksgiving that didn't take multiple nap times to make. I created this in one evening! First, I traced my letters onto Heat N Bond, then ironned them onto brown felt and cut out. Second, I cut out squares of natural and orange burlap that I sewed together. I ironned one letter onto each burlap square. Then, I attached felt stickers that I found at my local craft store. Next, with an exacto knife, I cut two slits into the top each square so that I could run a length of brown grosgrain ribbon through the banner. Finally, I hung on my mantle to enjoy!