Gift Wrapping With Quilt Fabric

Using Fabric for Gift Wrap

Christmas Showcase for Quilters and Other Crafters

From Home Biz Notes, a b5 blog I write with Yvonne Russell, you’ll find some more last minute gift giving and wrapping ideas, too.

Are You Gift Wrapping Challenged? Follow These Basic Video Steps

Add a Fancy Cellophane Plume

Gift Giving Suggestions for the Home Business Owner

I’ve been tucking items into small gift bags and adding tissue paper and bows to complete the festive look.  These I hand deliver or give out to friends and customers.

My husband and I’ve also printed Christmas postcards to send to customers and business associates (as well as family and friends), using a winter scene photo I took.  In between writing and shoveling snow (we’re in the midst of a big storm here in central NH), I’m addressing cards and adding notes.

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Last Minute Gift Giving Inspiration & Wrapping Ideas for Quilters

So often, techniques for one type of art or craft can be utilized in another.  Also, you could combine paper scraps with fabric for a mixed media effect collage gift tags.

Katelyn has given directions for making these gift tags at her blog. 

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Quilting Scraps for Patchwork Gift Tags

Recently I read of a group of ladies who made quilts they donated to the birthing center of a local hospital.  The donation was made in memory of a past president of their guild who apparently suggested the idea.

One lady made lap quilts for elderly in nursing homes, “to help keep them warm,” she told me.  She began to get others interested in her project and soon many quilts were donated.

These small quilts don’t have to be intricate or time consuming unless you want to make them so.  I’ve found very nice baby quilts can be made from a single piece of fabric printed with colorful and interesting designs.  Simply complete with a layer of batting and backing.  Then they can be tied or machine quilted.  Lap quilts for older people could be made from patchwork printed fabric, if you don’t have time to piece or applique a quilt.

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Quilting Donations for Worthy Causes

What would quilters and fabric artists like?

*scissors

*pin cushions

*assorted basting pins with colored heads

*unique threads

*rotary cutters & extra blades

*assorted unique threads

*fat quarters

*quilting videos & DVDs

These are just a few of the items.  Browse through a quilting store or ask the clerk or owner what she’d like.  Put these in a basket, tie with a ribbon, and you have something to please any quilter.

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Christmas Gifts for Quilters

However, others companies produce calendars that appeal to quilters.  Some are derived from paintings of quilting scenes.  Others have quilting designs.  Some even may contain patterns for the quilt designs.

You also can make your own quilting calendars with photos of your fabric art and quilts.  With the printing programs now available for computers, producing calendars to give as gifts and even to sell is becoming common.

These calendars that quilters and fabric artists collect aren’t ones they throw away at the end of the year.  They become collectible items that are saved like their books and patterns.

Below is a calendar as well as a book for making various pieces of patchwork throughout the year that might capture your interest or give you ideas.

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Collecting Quilting Calendars

There are many small items, as well as bed quilts to make as gifts.  Some of these include: placemats, potholders, clothing, wall hangings of many sizes and types, small appliance covers, toys, doll quilts, and more.

Do you have something special you’re making for holiday gifts?  I’d enjoy hearing about it.

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Are You Doing Christmas Quilting Yet?

However, as I think about it, the small quilts aren’t entirely new.  My grandmother made quilts for my sister’s and my dolls.  She took the scraps from her larger quilts and other sewing, then created these tiny coverlets for us. 

We loved them and used them.  Unfortunately they wore out, so I didn’t find them with the few dolls’ clothes my mom had saved as memorabilia from our childhood.

However, these could be called the mini quilts of a generation or two ago.  We didn’t consider them art, just something Nanny made with love and gave us for our dolls.  You also could make tiny quilts, trying out various patterns, for youngsters in your life.

The following books do give you ideas for patterns and directions:

Great Little Quilts: 45 Antique Crib & Doll-Size Quilts with Patterns and Directions by Eleanor Levie.

Small Endearments: Nineteenth Century Quilts for Children and Dolls by Sandi Fox.

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Making Doll Quilts

 My mother had Alzheimer’s so didn’t really notice the pattern.  My mother-in-law wanted a small quilt to hang on a particular wall in her suite.

So we decided Mother would enjoy a lap quilt most, made of soft fabrics.  We actually used patchwork printed fabric, filled it with thin batting and backed it.  Then we tied it.  This was well used and worn when Mother passed away.

The quilt hanging for Mum’s wall consisted of four star blocks (12″ each), separated by sashing, then a border all around and backed with a print fabric.  Beth machine quilted this.

The star pattern was an Ohio star variation because Mum was born in Ohio.  She lived there until after the birth of the first three of eight boys.  (My husband, Beth’s dad, was one with an Ohio birthplace.)

When Mum died, the quilt was given back to Beth.  She surprised me with it as a Christmas gift that following year.  I now have it hanging on the wall of my study in memory of Mum and our quilting family.

Quilting gifts for family can include so many memories.

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Making Quilts for Grandmas

Quilting for the Men in Your Life: 24 Qulited Projects to Fit His Style by Pearl Louise Krush gives you ideas and patterns for quilts and home decor projects in sports-centered themes.  Among these are patterns for soccer, football, and golf designs.

With a little creativity, you can interchange soccer designs for quilts with basketball, football, and other patterns to make a quilt that fits your sports enthusiast’s interest.

If you act quickly, you might get a soccer or World Cup quilted project finished for a Father’s Day gift.

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Soccer Theme Quilts & Pillows

He’s been involved in a fire fighting program for young people since he was 14-years old, so the quilt had meaning for him. 

The squares were 9-inches.  Those made with triangles alternated with plain ones and others with a fire fighter design…truck, firemen, Dalmations, etc.

At first I thought these designs were cut from fabric, pieced, and appliqued.  However, they were entirely made from thread by one of the sewing machines designed especially for this process.

My grandson now wonders if his mom can get a machine that will do this on a quilt for him, with designs of his choosing. 

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A Graduation Gift Quilt