Binding for the Noel Banner

The Holiday Noel banner has been quilted and now I have to choose the binding for it. 

I ordered some fabrics- two were white with silver. This (above) is one of them. I knew I didn't want to use white, but this didn't stand out moe than the white.

This one didn't work either.

I had already discounted the candy cane fabric. Seeing it again didn't ring my bell.

I knew I didn't want a dark binding, but when you are experimenting, you shouldn't leave anything out.

I had originally chosen this red print on white as the hanging sleeve, but since nothing was ringing my bell, I had to see what this would look like.

I can't help myself. Even AFTER I have selected the fabrics I wanted when I shop online, I have to keep looking. Even though I had discounted a darkish fabric as the binding of the Noel banner, I ordered a yard of this red and gold fabric. As soon as it spilled out of the package, I knew.

I mean, the quilt is Red, Green and Gold. Those are Holiday colors for me, so the red and gold will be the one.

Holiday Banner is Finished!

 

I sewed the pieces and parts of the Holiday banner together.

This is the boring part. Adding fabric to the sides of what I already have, and trimming the edges. Then sewing the next section.

It's 35" x 64-1/2". The darkish fabric shows the outline of the banner.

This is what I'm planning on using for the backing. I've got more fabric to add to it. It will be WOWs.

Oh No Noel!

So this was good, but I felt the NOEL letters were too blocky.

I made some taller, slightly thinner NOEL letters. I wasn't worried about the color, but I was just working on the shape. These did not thrill me.

So I trimmed down the O from the first word, are reworked the E from the first word into a lower case e.

I wasn't real thrilled with this either. Yeah,  I know the word isn't centered, but it still bugged me.

When I get stuck, I set the issue aside and move to something else. In this case, I sewed the trees together,, which meant I had to add fabric to the tops and in some cases, the bottoms of the trees and then I sewed them all together. I also replaced the big box with the bigger, busier box. Then I went to bed.

The next morning I got up made breakfast and then went straight into the studio. I was still in my nightgown and bathrobe.

In the end, I made four Ns. The original one is at the upper left. I knew I wanted the new N to be a bit taller and thinner, so I made the one at the upper right. This was a test, so the fabric didn't bother me. I liked it. The one on the lower left was too fat and the fabric was too busy. The one on the lower right made the cut.

Then I made another O, because I hadn't been in love with the original. The e is the same as the first one, and then I threw up a piece of red fabric for the l. And I made the letter O jump. 

But I didn't like the fabric in the O, so I did another one, and then I made a fancy E. 

My son didn't like the jumping O, and the N was too fat, so I took it apart and made it skinnier. But the L was too dark.

I decided to add the umlaut above the E, and I cut the letter L from one of the legs of the too busy N.

In the middle of all of this, a convo with Julie induced me to widen the design slightly.

My son said, "SEW!"

Rosie, why are the birds in the quilt? Because I like them.

On Second Thought...

 The world is indeed a funny place.

I thought, Oh, that middle box should be bigger, so I dug through my leftovers and found this one. I thought it was nice, but a little busy. So I figured I'd make another red one.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. I didn't have any more of the gold fabric I used for the ribbon on the original red box, so I used this one.

Then I put it on the design wall, and OH HELL, it's the same ribbon fabric as the box on the left. CAN'T HAVE THAT....

Ok, that's done!

But you know, I got to looking at pictures and...

I thought, geez, that looks awfully bottom heavy. I had moved the elements up on the design wall so I could reach them easier, and now it had a lot of empty space at the bottom. So I wondered...

I wasn't QUITE sure, but it was late, so I went to bed. The next morning I got up and decided I liked it better.

So now I think I see the end in sight, and I decide this would need a small thin inner border before a wider border of white before you get to the edge of the quilt, because you know it's going to hang on a white wall and I want to distinguish it from the wall... so I cut thin strips of a candy cane fabric and stick it up on the wall. Now this is GOOD because it tells you the shape of the final quilt, but otherwise, YUK!

SO ANYWAY... I sew the row of boxes together, and then I sew the birds together, and I add fabric to the right and left sides, because, you know, I'm in the home stretch.

It's late. I go to bed.

I get up the next morning and go into the studio to look at it and I think...

(You kinda knew something like this was coming, right?)

I decide I like the busier center box better.

Too funny.

It's Funny How Things Work

Way back in early December I drew this in my little notebook.

Now you have to understand, I drew this in about three or four minutes. CLEARLY I didn't stress over it.

Small star, smallish birds, asterisks at the very bottom.  

???

So OF COURSE I had to try it out.

Because THIS was clearly not working.

So I moved the asterisks to the very bottom, then I put the letters above them, and then the boxes, but only three because four made the row too heavy visually. Then I put my trees, and I made them arch a little from the bottom so they wouldn't be to visually heavy, then the birds, and then I threw up some leftover asterisks, because may be I needed some very pale silvery or gold up there in the sky to fill up that empty space.

Then I went across the room to look at it.

Nope. Birds are too big.

Rummage around to find medium birds.

Wellll.... dunno about that. Let's try small birds.

THAT's not right. The birds and the asterisks can't decide who's the boss. Nope.

Gotta get rid of those extra asterisks...

Oh yeah, that's better. But I should probably make my trees the same size. Because, that's the way they are in the original drawing...

Ok tree fabric chosen...

Oh hell no.

Okay, this is better.

But now I wonder, there's an awful lot of nothing above the trees. Do I REALLY need the birds?

Apparently not.

So I will make my final elements (I need a couple of smaller trees on each end with red trunks and I think I need a replacement bulb in my spotlight), and then I will sew this together.

THIS GOES TO SHOW that THINGS CHANGE and you have to let them. You cannot FALL IN LOVE with any element because you may have to sacrifice them. In writing, they say "Kill your darlings."

I may fine tune this a bit. I may make the center box a bit bigger than the other two and see how that looks. I've wondered about putting an umlaut above the O in Noel, and that would mean making it a bit smaller. It would also throw off the symmetry, so I am not sure about it. And it adds an element of "cute" that I am pretty sure this does not need. In writing Kill Your Darlings means to get rid of that overly crafted piece of writing. I would say "Don't get too cute." I don't want Cute in this. I wanted a simple banner that would proclaim the holiday season.

Message accomplished. Now I have to finish it without mucking it up.

A Star and More

 

This is one of the first asterisk stars I made over 10 years ago. I considered it a runt and sent it to Julie along with a collection of my misfits and she put it into the quilt we named Magic Happens. As I was making the bed the other day, I noticed how this asterisk looked like an elongated star. It took me a while to figure out how to replicate it.

It was my inspiration for a replacement star for the new Holiday quilt.

But the row of boxes was a big horizontal block that bothered me, so I shifted them around.

This looks better. 

Now I have to make more of the green trees just under the yellow asterisk. They will be dark green, but this one has a black background. This is an example of what I tell my students - that Value trumps Color. When this fabric is lined up next to other dark greens, this fabric looks like it belongs.

This isn't an accident. It's going to be similar to the color arrangement in the Holiday boxes.

In the row of four holiday packages, three are red and one is green. I like to have one in a row a bit different.

In the word NOEL, the fabrics are mostly red, but two have bits of green.

The plan for this quilt was to be narrow and tall - about 30" x 60".  I am mostly happy with what I have, but not much is carved in stone. I may yet tinker. Next up is to make three green trees (did you notice the red trunks ?) and then I'll reconsider. Nothing is sewn together yet.

Stay tuned!

Change Partners and Dance

 

Yeah, this star doesn't work either.

So when this happens, I have learned to let it go, and work on something else. Part of my plan was to have a row of trees at the bottom. The ones on the design wall are leftovers from another project, so I'll have to make new ones anyway. I thought I would have a great big tall one in the center and smaller ones on either side.

Then I decided to make the asterisks bounce up and down. Hmm. Three looked good. I made five. What would it look like it I threw the other two on there?

OK, so that looks good. But part of my plan is to have the letters N O E L in there too. So before I go too far down that road, I better put them up on the design wall so I can get a better idea of what's going on.

As usual, I can either sew or take pictures. An hour and a half later, I had letters, and I put them where I had orginally planned them, at the bottom.

Stepping back though, that row of boxes looks like a barrier as you work your way down. That will require some more thought.

OK, if you want to make some birds, you can get my tutorial for them here.

If you want to make letters without patterns or templates or paper piecing you can get my tutorial for those here. I tell you everything.

My tutorial for asterisks is here.

JOY

 

I started my Holiday decorating. I brought the decorations out from the closet, and I went to the big box hardware store and bought some poinsettias. Heh!

This little pointsettia is on my bedside table next to photographs of my son and DIL and DGG. But that’s not what I want to show you.

I decided to make a cover for the small pillow for the red chair in my living room. I wanted to make something with letters, and the word JOY would fit perfectly. Plus I had a good selection of red holiday fabrics with which to work.

Here is the finished pillow on the chair.

It looks great! I got a small nutcracker and displayed it on the small table nearby with a Holiday Gizzy quilt.

The letters I make are “free-pieced” meaning they aren’t made with traditional patterns or templates. I wrote a tutorial to make these letters too. The tutorial shows you how to make all 26 letters in the alphabet, both upper and lower case, as well as numbers. You can get it at my Etsy shop as well. Click on the bird in the sidebar and it will bring you to my Etsy shop.