2011 Mini-BOM! Ringing in the New Year!!!

This is a case of something that wasn't planned but turned out to be really fun. I wasn't planning a new BOM for 2011. I was going to catch up on old BOM's. :-) But then a funny thing happened. A friend inspired me ........ and this little jingle bell door pillow was the result of her gift which was my inspiration.
The friend whose gift inspired me is Susan of Desert*Sky*Quilts. We "met" a few months after I began blogging in 2008 as we had crazy quilting in common. She won a little crazy quilting giveaway on my blog. Recently, she joined my Yahoo BOM group and I knew her name looked familiar. She's a wonderful contributor to the group and shared some threads for a prize at one of our Friday night Quilt-ins. Two members won the threads, but Susan was so nice that she sent me some, too. That's the threads in the photo below..................

Gorgeous aren't they and they look so cool with those snowy fabrics. I had an idea as soon as I placed them together and I took my sketch pad and started drawing. I wanted a little design for the New Year, but I was inspired and in no time at all, I drew a design for each month. Yep, I wasn't planning a BOM for this year but the creative urge just grabbed hold and away we went!!! Here is the first pattern for January. Around about the first of each month, I'll share the next pattern in the monthly series.

A little edit.......reader Sandi noticed that on the pattern page I wrote that I "sketched the designs on December 30, 2011"....that should have been December 30, 2010. LOL! I'll re-do the pattern page and correct that little error. :-)

I'm going to share some ideas for what you can do with this design and provide a little tutorial for the little jingle bell door pillow. You may think of other ways to use this design. I embroidered the design with the threads from Susan and put them in this frame. I really think I want another frame that is more colorful but this is the only one I could find to use for this post. The little snowman is an original design that I made in 2005 and one day may get a tutorial for that posted, too. :-)

You could also take the embroidered design as shown below and turn it into a fabric postcard. Just stitch it to the stiffy stuff and give it a fabric backing that can be addressed and send it on it's way. :-)

You could embroider the design on a dishtowel, color it as a card, glitter it, paint it, anything you want!! My first thought was to frame the design, than I decided I wanted to stitch it into a little door hanger pillow. I decided to stitch it up in two thread types. Directions below work for both but you will only need Steps 1-3 for the framed design. You will need a 5 x 7" frame with glass for the framed project. I also used the frame as a guide as you will see below. For the pillow, you will need fabric scraps, floss, thread and poly batting, plus some jingle bells, buttons, and ribbon.

Step 1. Cut an 8 x 10" piece of fabric for the embroidery design. Remove glass from frame and using 1/4" masking tape mark the area where the design will be traced and stitched.

Step 2. Trace the design using a lightbox (piece of glass placed over four soup cans will work if you don't have a light box). Once the design is traced, place in your hoop and begin embroidery. I used an outline stitch for the letters and French Knots for the little confetti dots. I used the threads from Susan in the framed design but for the pillow, I used hand-dyed threads from The*Gentle*Art .

Step 3. When stitching is completed, you will trim your design.

For the framed piece you will trim the design to 5-1/8" x 7-1/8". You can use fabric spray adhesive to adhere design to a piece of cardstock before framing. If you are going to use this as a postcard, stitch it to stiffy pellum (or whatever you call that stuff), add a backing fabric that you will be able to write an address on for mailing.
If you are making the jingle door pillow, trim the stitched piece to 5-1/2" x 7-1/2".

Continuing instructions for the pillow...........

Step 4. From your choice of fabric, you will cut two strips that are 2" x 5-1/2" and two strips that are 2" x 10-1/2".

Step 5. Sew the two side strips in place as shown in the photo.

Step 6. Sew the top and bottom strips in place so that your piece will look like this when finished. Press lightly.
Note: At this point, you could also frame this design with border in an 8" x 10" frame. You could also stop here and use this as a quilt block and each month you will make another quilt block and at the end of the year, you'll have enough for a nice wall quilt!!

On with the pillow instructions........

Step 7. Cut a piece of backing fabric and two pieces of batting that are 8-1/2" x 10-1/2". I used Quilt Basting Spray to position the stitched design to one piece of batting and the backing fabric to the other piece of batting. When I am making a pillow, I feel that I get a smoother look to the pillow if I place batting behind the fabric.

I also have another little trick, although I'm not sure you can see it. In the photo on the right, there is about a 6" strip along the bottom where I have done a zig-zag stitch along the edge of the fabric that will be the opening for stuffing. I do this so that the batting and fabric will be secure when I turn it under to slip stitch the opening closed. I hope that makes sense.

:-)

Step 8. If you want to add some quilting stitches, this is the time to do them. I chose to do two stitches......one by machine at the edge of the border and a running stitch just inside the border. I used embroidery floss for this stitch.

Step 9. Pin your pieces together and stitch around the edges but leave that approximately 6" opening at the bottom. Clip your corners carefully and then turn the pillow inside out. I use a little tool calle "the Purple Thang" which is fantastic for getting perfect little corners on projects.

Step 10. Stuff the pillow with poly or cotton batting. I also placed six large jingle bells inside the pillow. That's optional. :-) Don't overstuff your pillow. Pin the opening closed and stitch with a slipstitch or whatever stitch you prefer.

If you plan to use this as a little pillow, then your project is finished. My models, Mr. Bear and Fluffy the Snowman, feel this pillow would be excellent for a long winter's nap.

If you plan to hang this from a doorknob, then continue on.....

Step 11. Cut a 24" length of ribbon. Place a pin at the 7" mark on each end of the ribbon. You will pin the ribbon at these points to the top seam of the pillow, 2'' in from each corner. See the photo for clarity. :-) Tack the ribbon with a couple of stitches.

Step 12. Sew a button at each tacked area of ribbon.


Your pillow is almost done but to give it some curly-Q pizazz, here is how I made the ribbon stay curly-Q'ed. Note that in the picture on the right, that the ribbon is rolled up and pinned in place. Before I did that, I took spray starch and sprayed it the length of each ribbon tail. This makes the ribbon very damp. Roll it up and pin it to the pillow. Let it dry. It's just spray starch and it won't harm the fabric.

When the ribbon is dry, remove the pins and let them unfurl like ringlets from Shirley Temple's hair when she was a little girl. I know all about those ringlets as my mother loved Shirley Temple and so as little girls, my sister and I had lovely ringlets in our our hair. I'll try to find a picture that will prove it. But back to the pillow...........it's all finished now. Hang it from the door and let it jingle everytime you open the door for guests, for the mailman to deliver packages from your blogging buddies, or if the dog needs to go out. :-) Have fun with this and enjoy creating!!!

And now here is the disclaimer.........I thought this was a unique idea. I wanted to give this little project a clever name. I started googling and discovered many others had made door jingle thingies. Every clever name that involved "door-jingle-dingle-dangle-bell-ringer-thing-a-majig" had been taken. I gave up. Just so you know, I didn't see it somewhere and copy it. We have this old Christmas bell ornament on our door that rings when you open it and I just wanted something cuter to hang there. Inspiration was born but I didn't invent the wheel - or I mean the pillow. LOL! Next month there will be a Valentine design but you won't need the tutorial. I'll just post the design and you can refer back to this post or use your own creativity and stencil it or woodburn it or paint it or stitch it..........you get the picture. :-) Have a great creative day!
Sandi

This post is done in memory of my friend, Cindy, who passed away of cancer just a little over a year ago. This day is her birthday. She was a great lady, good friend and an encourager of the creative soul in all of us. I was blessed to call her friend. :-)