Appleton Dance

by Alisa Back in June of 2013 I went with my Mom, Aunt Sue and several friends to the Shipshewana Quilt Festival in Indiana. This is the only non-quilt photo I have from the trip! I wasn't much of a quilter back then, but I fell in love with the charm pack from the  Comma by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic for Moda  collection.  I picked up a Bosal preprinted grid ( 1" Craft & Quilt Grid On Point  1 yard) to use with the charm pack to make a wall hanging for my living room. I don't remember much else about this project until last week when I found it stashed in a project box in my closet.  I didn't want it for my living room any longer, but thought that it might brighten up my office, so I decided to finish it up since it was nearly done and all the materials were at hand. The top was complete and the sandwich was fused using  June Tailor Low Loft polyester Quilter's Fusible Batting .  The back was cut from orange yardage which I assume was

by Alisa I found this Makower UK 'Wrap It Up' advent calendar panel on Etsy when I was searching for another Makower UK fabric earlier this year.  I bought it and began planning to make it for my nephew and two nieces this Christmas. The instructions for the calendar are printed at the top of the panel.  I found this v ideo tutorial from Makower UK very helpful in putting it together.  They demo a different panel but the assembly is the same. I started by cutting the panel and the pocket strips on the solid lines.   I then used my mini iron to prep the pocket strips - creating the hems and box pleats and then sewing them to the calendar panel. After I had finished sewing all the pockets to the top, I played around with the fancy stitch options on my new machine and added some stars and a 'Merry Christmas' greeting to the borders. I used coordinating fabric from the same line (ordered from Needle In A Fabric Stash on Etsy) for the backing.