52 in 52 for 2014

There is a challenge I have taken part in the last few years, making/finishing 52 items in 52 weeks.  There have been times when I have succeeded, and times when success has been elusive.  

This time thought, I decided to start at the beginning of my Christmas crafting rather than on the first of January.  

1  Mat for the Christmas tree

A friend gave us two cushions that almost, almost matched the colour of our sofas.  Sadly the almost match did not look good on the sofas, but as long as the cushions were in another part of the room they looked good.  It wasn't terribly practical, so I used the fabric to make a mat for the Christmas tree.  I didn't want the top of the chest being scratched by the base of the stand.  The mat was then edged in a cream fabric with small circles of red, gold and green.

2 and 3  Minion Hat 1 and 2

Hats for my elder daughter and her boyfriend.  One of them is delighted to have a Minion Hat.  The other is not terribly impresssed.

4  Square Hat

This is the hat my elder daughter really wanted.  It doesn't look much when lying flat, but when worn, it looks like there are cat ears.  

5  Penny's  Hat

Penny is a character from "The Big Bang Theory", and she has a hat just like this.  This hat made my younger daughter very happy.

6  Shaun the Sheep Shirt

There’s a family tradition of ‘interesting sleeves’ for shirts. The men in my family are all kilt-wearers, and the kilts get worn at formal events. The shirts look very formal when worn with a jacket, but when the jacket comes off, the silliness is revealed. My husband’s wing collar shirt has Winnie the Pooh sleeves.

I bought a shirt for my elder daughter’s boyfriend, and then unpicked the sleeves. These were used as a template and new sleeves were produced in ‘Shaun the Sheep’ fabric. The sleeves were stitched into the armholes and cuffs.

7  Denim and fleece quilt

top

This quilt is unusual in that it has no batting between the top and bottom layer, but with the weight of the denim and the warmth of the fleece it isn't required.  It is made by taking a square of demin and one of fleece and stitching around the square 2 cm in from the edge.  The squares and ten joined together with a 1.5cm seam allowance.  

The central panel was made from jeans supplied by J and family members. Cutting squares from jeans takes a considerable amount of time, and it was getting harder to find jeans to use.  Therefore I bought denim, and that was so much easier to use!  

The instructions said to fray the edges of the denim squares.  I found it best to do this before stitching.  It made the work progress well.

This is a warm, snuggly quilt, the same size as the duvet underneath.  It is the underside of the quilt that I like best.  It looks so much tidier!  No fuzzy, frayed edges.

underside

However this quilt has been made for a guy who is now almost totally blind. It is very tactile, and so snuggly.  I'm sure he will love it. (He does.)