Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Christmas Quilt

On May 5, 2023 By tbudnik05In quilting2 Comments

In July of 2022, I finally completed my Rudolph Christmas quilt that I made with a repurposed fabric panel.

My Rudolph Christmas quilt has been in the works for a handful of years. Last July, I finally finished it.

I bought a fabric panel that was intended to be sewn into a fabric kids’ book. Before I could make the book, I was gifted the completed book. (Disclaimer: I love the 1964 Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Christmas special—dated language and all—and I have an affinity for the Bumble. People tend to gift me and my family Rudolph-themed items!)

I decided to make each page a block and use some of the Rudolph and Bumble fabric I had been collecting as borders and backing. I did have to buy some white snowflake fabric to use for borders, too.

This was the first quilt I made after I realized I like quilts big enough to use. I want a quilt to be at least twin-size—it should cover my shoulders and feet! I simply kept adding borders to the page blocks until I was satisfied with the size

To quilt it, I decided to hand quilt it with big-stitch quilting. I quilted in each page block around the scene with white DMC pearl thread. Then I did straight quilting in a combination of red and green DMC pearl thread in the white snowflake borders. In the green Rudolph print borders, I did more straight quilting in white DMC pearl thread.

The binding is just a black Christmas-themed fabric. I think it’s a nice frame to the red, green, white of the quilt.

I was able to save the Rudolph logo from the panel and stitched it onto the back right above my quilt label.

I have to say, I love this quilt! I love the colors. I love the quilting. And the size is perfect. I have no desire to only have this quilt out at Christmas. Ha! And, isn’t that the point? To make a quilt that you love and use?

The details:

+ 76.5” H x 61.5” W

+ Machine pieced

+ Hand quilted

+ The blocks are from a panel that was designed to be sewn into a fabric book. I like the quilt better the book—it’s warmer, too!

+ Don’t ask how long it took me to finish this quilt!

How I Mended a Quilt by Reinforcing It with Fabric

On August 25, 2021 By tbudnik05In Mending, quilting3 Comments

I have a quilt that is about 15-years-old and had started to deteriorate on one side. I mended it by sandwiching the worn area between two layers of fabric and quilting it with big stitches.

Yellow quilt repaired and ready for bed.

A little history on this quilt: my mom made this quilt from a block-of-the-month quilt kit she got from Joann Fabrics & Crafts circa 2000. In 2006 or 2007, she mailed it to me as a college graduation gift (I graduated in 2005). Readers, this quilt is hand quilted. It has a muslin backing that is so soft. (Y’all know I love a muslin backing.) I love this quilt.

Unlike my M&M’s quilt that I mended by simply cutting off the worn area and re-binding the cut side, I didn’t want to lose size with this quilt. Inspired by Japanese Sashiko and Boro methods and aesthetics, I decided to reinforce the worn area of this quilt. Head over to Upcycle Stitches to learn more about Sashiko and Boro and to be inspired.

Since the worn area was about 6” wide along one side of the quilt, I simply cut a 13” x 72” strip of complementary fabric—at least the fabric in my stash that matched the best and that I had enough yardage of—ha! And, I had to cut and stitch together a couple of pieces to get a patch that size.

Here the patch is cut, ironed, and ready to be machine-stitched onto the front.

I then folded the fabric patch in half, longwise (wrong sides together) and ironed it. The ironed fold allowed me to see the halfway mark along the patch, which I wanted to land right on the original binding.

Next, I pinned the fabric to the quilt (right sides together), machine-stitched it down with my quilting foot, and then folded it over and gave it a little iron. Think of this patch going on like a really wide binding.

Pin-basting, getting it ready for quilting.

This is where it got a bit tricky, because I needed to quilt the fabric down before attaching the edge of the backside of the patch. I pin-basted the patch in place. Once that was done, I went to town with stitching big stitches in pearl cotton thread.

Finally, I stitched down the short sides and the edge of the backside using a needle-turn appliqué technique. I folded back and tucked in about a ¼” of the edge of the fabric and stitched the patch down right at the fold.

Needle-turn-like appliqué to finish the sides and back edge of the patch.

So, the repair is like a wide single-layer of binding that I quilted with big stitches and attached like an appliqué.

Is it perfect? No. Is this the proper way to repair a quilt? Probably not. Is the quilt now usable and back on my bed? Absolutely! Does it sleep like a dream? You know it! And, really, isn’t that all that matters?

Now, let’s take an appreciation tour of my mom’s original quilting:

For all you crinkle lovers. There’s no softer thread count than 15-year-old, well-used quilt!

How do you repair your quilts? Leave a comment if you’ve got a tip or trick that I just gotta know!

Why I’ll Never Use Glitter Fabric in a Quilt Ever Again

On June 4, 2021May 13, 2021 By tbudnik05In quilting3 Comments

The glitter-covered quilt backing fabric I used sheds a lot of glitter. So, I’m putting it aside and vowing to never use glitter-adorned fabric in a quilt again.

Simple patchwork quilt featuring Violet Craft’s Palm Canyon fabrics.

This is one of those quilting failures that holds an unforgettable lesson. My daughter and I made a super-quick 10” charm pack patchwork quilt out of Violet Craft’s Palm Canyon fabric. We were pressed for time, so we just stitched the 10” squares together instead of making a more intricate design. But, the fabric is so fun and soft that after getting the top together, I really liked it. The simple design puts the fabrics on display.

I love how the fabric design is on display with this simple quilt.

Because of the pandemic, I ordered batting and fabric for the binding and backing online. I chose a pink material for the backing. From the picture on the website it looked like the pink fabric would match the pinks in the Palm Canyon collection and maybe sorta there was glitter on it, but there wasn’t much of a description and besides, why not glitter?

Why not glitter? I’ll tell you! While the fabric isn’t 100% covered in glitter, the glitter sheds everywhere. In the washing machine. In the dryer. Anything the quilt back touches gets covered in minuscule specs of metallic shine! It gives truth to a lot of those glitter memes you see pop up on the internet.

Look at how the backing sparkles in the sun! And, boy, how it sheds that glitter!

Sigh, so I told my daughter that while the quilt was great and I’m happy we got it done, it’s going to be an “outside quilt,” which is a thing I made up just for this quilt. We’ll use it for picnics and playing outside and while shedding glitter in the wild is probably not good for nature, it’s at least better than my family inhaling it. And, maybe it will shed all of the glitter it will ever shed and we can use it inside the house as originally intended.

Of course I tied this quilt. It’s one of my favorite ways to finish a quilt, especially a design this simple.

The good news is, I have a glitter-adorned fabric that I acquired for binding a different quilt that is about halfway done, but now I know better! I will not be using that fabric! Truth be told, I am attracted to shiny objects, including glitter, so this has been a heartbreaking lesson, but an aggravating one, too. It was so frustrating that my attraction to sparkles has waned. Never again will I ruin a quilt with glitter fabric!

So disappointing to have a quilt ruined by glitter!

So how about you? Are you pro- or anti-glitter? (Do you know any secret tricks for getting glitter off of fabric?)

My Completed Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt

On April 11, 2021 By tbudnik05In Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt, quilting4 Comments

I finally finished my Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt, crossing off my one and only 2021 quilting goal and completing the pattern I started making four years ago.

*Label on the back of my Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt*

A quilt label can mean only one thing: I did it! I finished my Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt, Sarah Fielke’s 2017 block of the month program. Yes, I have been working on this quilt for 4 years. It was my one and only goal for 2021. (And, I’m kinda proud that less than halfway through the year and it’s done!) Now, I have finished other quilts since starting this one here, here, and here, because apparently I like a good distraction.

I am so proud of this quilt. For being my first serious endeavor to make a quilt, I’m happy with how it came out. There’s very little that I would change.

Let me tell you about some of the details. First, I have a notebook that I create little collages in. I just pull pages from magazines and catalogs and when the mood strikes me, I tape them into the notebook trying to follow some sort of theme per page. I used this spread for color inspiration.

I learned so much while making this quilt. I learned needle-turn appliqué, foundation paper piecing, and how to assemble a medallion quilt. I honed my piecing skills. Some of the borders have a lot of little pieces!

There were some changes to the pattern I made in an attempt to save time. Joke’s on me! And, in no way did my changes make this design better than Sarah Fielke’s original pattern. (Honestly, I prefer hers and the pattern came with 3 different options!) the biggest change I made was to the floral border. The two long sides were supposed to be different than the two short sides. I made all four sides the same. Again, this isn’t a better way to make the original pattern, it’s just what I did.

To finish the quilt, I went back and forth about what to do. At 96” square, there’s no way I could ever had machine quilted it myself. To have it professionally quilted with a longarm machine (huge quilting machine that allows quilters to quilt FAST) would have cost a lot. It would have been worth it, but unfortunately not in my budget. Hand quilting it would have taken a lot of time. And so, I turned to my good old friend tying. I did crisscross ties with tails in the back in most places, but tied with the tails in the front in each flower to create “stamens” of sorts. I also couldn’t resist doing a touch of big stitch quilting in the thin blue borders and around the half Dresden plates. I’m 100% happy with how it turned out.

*Roofs of houses were foundation paper pieced*

Finally, sometimes you have to get creative and on the ground. Right now, my sewing machine is on a card table that also holds a bunch of other stuff. In this spot, I didn’t have enough room to stitch the binding on to the front of the quilt. Well, guess what? I just popped my machine onto my bedroom floor, stuck my right leg out so I could push the pedal and tucked my left leg in cross-legged style. I scooched the quilt along the floor as I stitched. Ideal? No. Comfortable? Not at all. Did it get the job done? Absolutely!

*There’s not much room on my floor either! And, yes, that’s my scorched ironing board.*

I was so excited about getting this quilt done that I have already popped it in the wash and it’s on my bed. I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to taking “good” pictures of it. But, it most definitely is a comfortable quilt to sleep under!

*Unfinished, but this is the best whole quilt pic I have. When I take pics of the whole completed quilt, I’ll share!*

*Back with a bit of big stitching visible*

*Glamour shot of the big stitch quilting and crisscross ties*

So tell me, what project have you been working on for what feels like forever? Any tips to increase creative productivity when you feel like you can’t get anything done? What questions can I answer for you?

My One & Only Quilting Goal for 2021

On January 21, 2021April 11, 2021 By tbudnik05In Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt, quilting3 Comments

In 2021, I have only one quilting goal and that is to finish my 4-year-old Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt.

I’ve heard a saying about goals (and Google isn’t helping me verify it) that goes something like, “I’d rather you shoot for the moon and miss than aim for the haystack and hit it.” Basically, it means, go for the big lofty goals because just going for them is better than accomplishing small goals (even if you fail at those big goals).

Me? The heck with that! I’m shooting for the haystack because I know I can hit it! I’m setting the bar low so I can just step over it!

With that mindset, my only quilting goal for 2021 is to finish my Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt that I started in 2017 as Sarah Fielke’s block of the month program.

Last summer, I finished piecing the top and pin-basted it. See here:

I estimate that I am 1/3 of the way done tying the quilt. It sits in a heap out in the open so I can easily do a tie here and there.

I have the fabric for the binding. I just need to (1) finish tying it; (2) trim the edges; (3) make binding; (4) machine stitch the binding to the front; and (5) hand stitch the binding to the back. And then (6) throw it into the wash, because I wash my quilts after I make them.

This should be doable, right?…if I don’t start any other quilts or work on any of the other in-progress quilts I have. Of course, my 7-year-old convinced me to start a new quilt this past weekend because it was all her heart desired. Still, I’ll get this one 4-year-old quilt done, right? Right? Haha! Stay tuned!

What’s your quilty or crafty goal for the year?

T-Bud Co. Creative

Category: quilting