Hello Friends, I hope you have been well. You know what July 25 is? It is National Merry-Go-Round Day, and that also means there are 152 days till Christmas!
I am happy to be a participant in Benartex’s Christmas in July Project Hop this year. And my fabrics of choice are from the Ode to Joy collection. You may click here to view all the fabrics in this metallic Christmas line. Of all the prints in this fabric line, I think my personal favorite is this one. It’s Christmasy cheerful, and whimsical at the same with the gold accents!
With this fabric, I made a gingerbread man block from my You Can’t Catch Me pattern. Pattern is available for sale HERE.
The gingerbread man block finishes at 9″ x 9″. I added border strips around the block to make it into 15″ x 15″ finished block for a Christmas throw pillow. I have a secret to share. While I can make quilts, I can’t make much of anything else, except throw pillows!
You remember my You Can’t Catch Me pattern, don’t you?
And these sneak peeks I have shared?
Well, in the case of using Ode to Joy for the gingerbread man block, the take-away lessons are:
#1. Gingerbread Men don’t all have to be brown!
#2. If a quilt pattern has a distinctive block design, chances are you can easily just make one block, and turn it into a throw pillow, or small wallhanging.
#3. The advantage of making just that one is two fold — it serves as a test block to make sure you have cut the pieces, and followed the instructions correctly, and… to determine whether you like making that particular block enough to invest the time to make a larger quilt with the blocks!
And here you see that I used the Ode to Joy fabrics to mock up a 9-block quilt using the gingerbread man blocks in keeping with my suggestion earlier that not all gingerbread men have to be brown!
And here are a couple more fun versions for you!
So you see, the different fabrics chosen give the design totally different final looks, don’t they? Therefore, I hereby declare that quilters don’t have to feel guilty about their large fabric stash. How else would quilters decide for the final looks of their quilts without a large fabric stash to play with? Haha.
If you are thinking about attempting these gingerbread men blocks, I shared a few construction tips HERE. There is also a block diagram available for you to print if you would like to note the measurements of the different pieces cut for the block.
With that, I shall wish you a Merry Christmas in July, my friends!
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Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivory_spring/
My Etsy Shop (THREADS SHIP FREE to US addresses): https://www.etsy.com/shop/ivoryspring
My Online Machine Quilting Classes: https://www.anniescatalog.com/onlineclasses/instructor.html?id=16
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Be sure to check out the projects from the other participants here:
Monday July 20th – Nancy Scott, Winterberry http://masterpiecequilting.blogspot.com/
Tuesday July 21st – Heidi Pridemore, Rejoice https://www.thewhimsicalworkshop.com/
Wednesday July 22nd – Laura Piland, First Frost http://www.sliceofpiquilts.com/
Thursday July 23rd – Lisa Ruble, Camp Joy https://lovetocolormyworld.blogspot.com/
Friday July 24th – Debby Kratovil, Festive Chickadees https://debbykratovilquilts.blogspot.com/
Saturday July 25th – ME! Wendy Sheppard, Ode to Joy https://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/
Sunday July 26th – Debby Brown, River’s End https://www.debbybrownquilts.com/
Monday July 27th – Charisma Horton, Deer Festival http://charismascorner.com/
Tuesday July 28th – Sandra Walker, Better Not Pout https://www.mmmquilts.com/
Wednesday July 29th – Kate Colleran, Joy https://seamslikeadream.com/
Thursday July 30th – Tammy Silvers, Snow Village & Rustic Village Christmas https://www.tamarinis.com/
Wendy, this is a cute block. I am going to make a few.
YESSSS this is why we have a good stash of fabric. We are like scientists and always testing for various results.
I love this!!
Thank you for sharing the pattern and your ideas
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Cute, cute gingerbread men! I like the idea of making an “orphan” block as a “test” block and then turning it into a pillow!! Wendy, you always have great ideas. 😁
Making your orphan block into a pillow is a great idea for block testing. The little guy looks so cute in the Christmas fabric.
The block is adorable and I so agree that making a single block can turn into adorable projects on their own like your pillow is.
How sweet! thank you for sharing!!
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Hello there. Fun pattern! Happy Merry go round day to you!
Wendy, your gingerbread people are so cute, and I love the way they look with the different fabrics. I really don’t like making the same block over and over again, but with the different fabrics, there’s so much variety that it won’t get boring!