Nordic November! Danish Heart Quiltlet

Nordic November is well under way and thank you guys for welcoming it (and continuing it) with me! Yes it is purely my own invention but it just seemed right.

Big Christmas Mystery Giveaway!

There is a new giveaway starting this week too! To be in with a chance of winning, simply leave me a comment at the bottom of this postThat's all there is too it.

And what will you win? I have a nice bundle of Makower fabrics for you including a few huge advent calenders, over fifty 10" squares, some labels and a few other surprises - it is a mystery bundle after all. Here is a sneak peek....

Quite a lot in there and not all Christmas stuff so you can enjoy it all year!

Entries close 23rd December 2015 and I will announce the winner on Christmas Eve!

Right! Back to busniness.....This time, we are stopping over in beautiful Denmark and I have a pretty Danish heart for you which I  translated into a block last post. This is an icon in Scandinavia and it is found in many places. It is also an instantly recognisable image. But what in the name of all that is holy is a quiltlet??

I made it up - which is why Wikipedia is being spectacularly unhelpful. Sorry. I keep doing this. First Nordic November and now quiltlets. It's like the last days of the Roman empire around here! 

Don't worry, a quiltlet is quite simply a very small quilt. In this case, it is a little quilted hanging with a sentiment on it. I was thinking about cards one day and the fact that we send them and love getting them and I wondered how this concept would translate to fabric. And to something lasting that we can hang in our house. 

I know that you can make quilted and embroidered cards but this is more. This is a little quilt. made the same way as a super king sized one but around the size of a dinner plate. And it's round. All the things that I like.

I hope that you do to and it is a cute way to make use of the BOM for this month of Nordic November. Take a look....

Now I love round things - my Grandfather did too so maybe there is a genetic component...so I have decided that this little quiltlet will be round. Before we get into the whys and wherefores, what do we need for this week's make?

Gather these supplies:

-last week's Danish heart block

-scraps of red and white fabrics

-fat quarter 272 Thermolam wadding (Vilene) and you can find out about that here.

-black embroidery floss

-fat quarter of something for backing fabric

-something gorgeous to use as binding

-small ring (like a 10mm split ring) to hang

-red or grey bow

-water soluble marker

-thin card for a template

-your usual sewing needs

Here is your template. I have included the measurements for you to check when you print it out.

Print it out and then make a shape with your thin card. You can just trace around it onto the scraps and then cut them out - much easier!

Cut out 10 assorted red and white shapes and then sew them together to form a ring like this...

Iron the ring well, opening the seams. Lay your heart onto the fat quarter of wadding and then pin the ring over the top of the heart block, centring the heart perfectly....

Fold the inner edge of the patched ring under and stitch it with needle turn applique....

Don't worry, the outer ring will take care of itself. Folding the inner edges under like this opens up the circle a bit more and naturally gets rid of those pesky threads too. And you have done some of the quilting too. 

Time for the embroidery now. Thread a needle with one strand of the embroidery floss and make a herringbone stitch over the edge of the inner ring.

This is an easy stitch. You come up (see the black thread coming up through the fabric)...

Make a long stitch to the right and go down through the fabric and then up just to the left of it.

Make another long stitch to the right crossing over the other bit and come up again. Repeat around the circle. Once you get the hang of it, it is easy, there is a rhythm to it. And it really is sort of like an attractively distorted cross stitch.

Draw the words for your personal message around the heart with the water soluble marker. I haven't given a template for this for two reasons. One, I don't know what you want to write and secondly, it is better in your hand writing. More personal. Practise on a piece of paper and keep the message short. Don't clutter the space up too much. Embroider the words in a backstitch.

Here is what it looks like now

Time to finish that quilting off now. 

Lay the embroidered top onto the backing fabric and pin it. Quilt round the patched border in concentric circles like this....

I have machine quilted the circles but you can do them by hand if you prefer.

While you have your hand sewing thread handy, make a running stitch around the heart too...

Trim the three layers using the round top as a guide. Bind with your chosen bias binding

Now attach the hanging ring on the back 

and the bow to the front top

And there it is!

These make great and quick Christmas gifts. They are a wonderful alternative to a Christmas card (no trees wasted either) and they can be kept for generations. What's not to love there! 

Now don't forget the Christmas giveaway! I will look forward to seeing your comments and good luck!

Love and hugs

Debbie xxx