Day Two of the Twelve Days of Christmas in July!

 

Hi, all!

Welcome to Day 2 of this year's 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop! You won't have to hop very far today, as I will be sharing one of my favorite ornaments and direct you to a great tutorial for making one of your own.  Then we'll follow up with the next set of instructions for this year's quilt-along.  Let's go!

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Out of the many (many!) Christmas ornaments that I've accumulated over the years, this is one of my favorites, and I'll tell you why...

Back in 2014 when we were raising money to bring our adopted grandson home from China, my daughter and I made a bunch of Christmas ornaments that became part of a sale.  We had 150 different ornaments, and each was assigned a number.  You chose the number you wanted, and the price was the number of the ornament.  So if you chose number 20, the price was $20.  This is a great way to raise money because it adds up quickly - she sold all the ornaments and raised $11325!  (Adoption is painfully expensive, y'all....)  I fell in love with this ornament after making it, and put my money towards a good cause.  Each ornament had a tag with the hashtag #bringnathanaelhome and another with the number of the ornament.  I've left both on there to remind me!

I remember this ornament fondly not only because of it's relationship to my grandson, but also because it was so much fun to make!  It's called a kusudama ball, and it's made of some very simple components - pieces you could easily fold while watching tv in the evenings or while waiting in the car rider line or at a ball game, provided you had a hard surface to work on.  Even a hard-back book will work, although I use a lap desk.  

You can use almost any type of paper - origami paper, copier paper, I've even seen them made with old book pages (those are very cool, and definitely on my list!).  Mine is about the size of a softball, and I made the individual flower petals using 3" squares.  It takes 60 of those individual flower petals to make a whole ball, but as I said, once you learn the folds, it goes quickly!

Want to make one of your own?  Here's a link to a tutorial that shows the whole process.  

And I had two tools this time that made the whole process a lot easier!  Glue sticks work much better than liquid white glue, and this is yet one more use for these handy dandy craft clips.

Have you ever made origami ornaments?  Did you enjoy the process? I'd love to know!

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And now it's time to get back to working on our quilt!  Today's task is very simple - putting together the strip sets that will eventually become  the small nine-patch blocks.

TIPS:  Shorten your stitch length (I set my Juki at 2), match the ends without the selvage printing to start, and use a very scant 1/4" seam.  I suggest sewing one strip set together, then measure to be sure it is 3.5" across.  If it isn't, adjust your seam width as needed.  This will make everything come together easier!

If you are making the quilt, you should have 23 red 1.5" x WOF strips, and 19 white 1.5" x WOF strips.  Lay out your strips as shown below.

Using your strips, make 9 red-white-red strip sets and 5 white-red-white strip sets.  Press the seams toward the darker (red) fabric.

If you are making the wall hanging, your task is short and sweet.  You should have 3 white 1.5" x WOF strips and 3 red 1.5" x WOF strips.  Using those strips, make 1 red-white-red strip set and 1 white-red-whie strip set.  Press the seams toward the darker fabric.  (Don't jump the gun and go on to the "next" step - you'll need some direction, I promise!)

That's all for today!

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Be sure to come back tomorrow for another stop on the blog hop and the next step in your quilt or wall hanging!!

Are you in the Christmas spirit yet?

Hugs!

Sarah