Posted on by agilejack

More Little Tree Ornaments — But Different

I was day dreaming during one of way too many Zoom meetings today and came up with a new idea for some holiday ornaments. More trees, but different approach.

I had an idea to make these using Heat and Bond to affix the trees to the fabric and then do some free form quilting over the top. Here’s the result.

The first one I made was the bright green one with the really pointy trees. I sewed it all together before I decided that I should do some quilting. But at that point it was too late.

I’m not feeling very confident that these trees will actually stay attached to this ornament. The Heat and Bond was basically absorbed by these batik fabrics! I’ve never seen that happen.

So on the next two I fused a piece of fleece to the back of the appliqued piece and then did some quick quilting. Here’s a close up.

Haha! That quilting is sort of a mess! You can tell this is the first one I did.

And here’s the second one.

The quilting is a little bit better, but it’s not going to win any awards! Good thing I don’t care about awards!

I like these little ornaments better than the ones I made earlier. They feel sort of vintage and rustic to me. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like the muted colors! I’m sure I’ll make some more out of brighter colors.

To make these appliqued trees I fused some Heat and Bond to the back of some batik scraps and then used a ruler to draw the trees on the paper backing. I rounded the corners on these when I cut them out so it would be easier to quilt the points.

And I had a brainstorm on what to use for the hanging strings. Several years ago I bought a good selection of colors of faux leather cord to use with wooden beads as zipper pulls on pouches. So I dug out a pouch I made to hold all those small spools and found this perfect green for these little trees.

I’ve hardly used any of this stuff. Most of it is still in the plastic wrapper. this next photo shows the zipper pull made from some of this material.

I love using up scraps on small projects like this, but it looks like a bomb went off in my sewing room!

I did a little grocery shopping tonight and used this pig feed bag tote for the first time. That’s $96 worth of groceries in one bag!!! These bags are big… and it was really heavy! Good thing it’s sturdy.

A friend of mine sent me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for my birthday last week. I’ve had them for a week now and they are still gorgeous.

I trimmed the stems and changed the water tonight. I’m guessing they will last at least another week. She sent me flowers last year from the same place and they lasted forever. It’s so nice to have fresh flowers in the house when the days are so short.

We had an absolutely amazing sunset tonight. I stood and watched it for quite some time.

I have a three hour meeting first thing in the morning. Yikes.

34 Replies to “More Little Tree Ornaments — But Different”

  1. Love your little tree ornaments and will definitely make some. The would be cute used to decorate Christmas gifts as well as trees.
    That sunset is beautiful!

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  2. What will you dream up in this mornings three hour meeting !! I like the tree ornaments, I will add some Maine balsam fir needles to mine for fun. Beautiful sunset ! Niki

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  3. I do like the 2nd version – also I like the middle tree to be in the background. Of course they don’t all need to be green – some wild and wacky KF would look wonderful. That sunset is amazing!

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  4. Love this new version. More trees and haphazard are good by me. Definitely going to do some of these myself. Slick idea on cording for hanger. Like the multi/variety colors. Only thing missing from post was puppy pix!

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  7. Love your little ornaments, think all our rooms are crazy this time of the year. So many ideas to try, have a Franken bag on the go, feed bag waiting for handles, and a mystery quilt started. Thank you again for your wonderful ideas and tuts. Belated b’day wishes, your flowers are beautiful!

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  9. Thinking your meeting is over by now and hopes that it went well! I adore those sweet tree ornaments and think I’ll have to whip up a few or dozen with my scraps. Every time I use my scraps, my sewing area looks like a bomb went off. You’re not alone! Thanks for the ideas!

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    1. the good thing about experimenting with small projects like this is that if you screw it up, you’re not out anything more than a few minutes of your time. Plus, you get the benefit of having learned something!!!

      Just remember that I don’t post photos of all my failures!!! There are plenty of them! But I learn from every one of them!

      Get out there and experiment!!!

      Anne

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  11. Loved the first ornaments. Love these second ones even more and they look like they would be faster to make. I make 4 ornaments every year for my daughter’s family (there are 4 in the family) and these are going on my list. I can see them being personalized by the theme of the fabric used. Brilliant about using some balsam needles and also tying onto packages. Your “repliers” come up with great add-ons to your great original ideas. I do like the idea of making a bunch and stringing them across the mantel. I checked on leather cording and Amazon offers a multiple colors grouping that I think I will have to order. So don’t go to bed earlier and whatever you do, don’t forget the dog photos. Thanks for your inspiration!

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    1. I thought they would be faster too, but I think they actually take a little more time because of the quilting. but they are still pretty quick to make.

      I’ll make sure I include photos of my boys in every post!

      anne

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  13. Ideas just keep spilling out of your imagination, inspiring you, which you share with us! Keep on, keep on! I’m over my card-making craze and now must continue to work on the Aboriginal quilt for my son. It’s been on the design wall far too long. Belated Happy Birthday, Annie, and many more.

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    1. These little projects are helping me gain a little inspiration back. I’ve been in a bit of a dry spell. I have all kinds of new quilts I want to start but I have too many that are in process. I like being able to make little things that bring me joy without committing to something big right now.

      Get busy on that Aboriginal quilt!

      anne

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  14. I Love ❤ all your ornaments! Thanks for your inspiration. You gave me an idea – a ah ha moment for a “stitch book” I have a huge learning curve going on with my new sewing machine! Head is spinning with possibilities!

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