I've had the idea for this Thanksgiving project circling around in my head for a while and finally had a few hours this morning to knock it out.
It's my Give Thanks mini quilt— a quick little project and the perfect reminder to pause for a moment to ...well... give thanks!
To make your own little quilt, you'll need:
1—7" x 7" square of background fabric
1—7" x 7" square of backing fabric
1—1¼" x 30" strip of fabric for single fold binding
1— 7" x 7" square of batting
embroidery floss (shown in 729 (gold), 400 (rust), and 898 (brown))
13" length of jute, ribbon, rope—whatever you'd like to hang your quilt with
1. You can find a pdf of the embroidery pattern here. To make your project as shown, the box around the pattern should measure 5¾" square. If you'd like to make your quilt bigger, feel free to enlarge the pattern—just remember to adjust the size of your fabric squares accordingly.
2. Using a washout marking pen, trace the embroidery pattern onto your 7" background fabric square.
3. Layer the marked 7" background fabric square with the 7" square of batting, insert into an embroidery hoop (I used a 4" hoop), turn on a holiday movie, and settle in for a bit of embroidery. Use two strands of floss and a backstitch for the lettering and wheat stalks. Stitch the tops of the wheat using two strands of floss and lazy daisies.
4. When you're finished embroidering, wash out your marked lines. I use a spray bottle for small projects like this. I spritz the marked lines, then blot off most of the water with a clean tea cloth, and let the quilt top dry flat on my ironing board.
5. When you're satisfied that the marked lines are gone, press your work. Then thread a needle with a short length of embroidery floss or perle cotton (I used green perle cotton). Insert the needle on one side of the wheat stalks and then bring it up through your work on the opposite side of the wheat. Tie the two ends of floss or perle cotton into a little bow and trim the ends.
6. Layer your embroidered background fabric/batting unit with your 7" backing fabric square (I basted my layers together using spray basting adhesive), and trim all layers to desired size. Again, my finished quilt is 5¾" square. Bind.
7. Finally, tie a knot at either end of the 13" length of jute (or ribbon, rope, etc.). Stitch the knots to the back of your quilt to make a hanging loop. And that's it!
Hang your little quilt on a door knob, from a hook, or wherever you like.
Or wouldn't it be great to give as a hostess gift on its own or wrapped around the neck of a bottle of wine or a bouquet of flowers?! Yes please!!
Hope you have fun with this little project and I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!
(p.s. Check back here after Thanksgiving for news about my upcoming 2nd Annual Holiday Mystery Quilt! Can't wait!)