A little ornament fun!

Welcome to the Riley Blake Designs ornament tour! To celebrate the release of the newest collaborative low volume collection, Hush Hush 2, the Riley Blake designers have teamed up to bring you some fun little ornaments. And here's my contribution!

For those who don't know me, foundation paper piecing is one of my favourite things. This technique worked perfectly to create these little patterns to fit 3" embroidery hoops. At first I started with just the little penguin design but then thought it'd be nice to have options that are a little simpler if you don't want to work with small pieces. And so the one pattern became three ;) That just means more options for you!

The penguins though are my favourite. I may however have gotten a little carried away with fussy cutting fabrics for their tummies. They're kinda like Care Bear penguins!

I couldn't resist fussycutting the little geometric cloud from my print from Hush Hush 2 called Cloud Cover. Here's another little look at the full print - and some more penguins ;)

The other two patterns make two different shaped ornaments (or baubles as we call them in some parts of the world). The pattern includes an option to make them with stripes, or plain to give you the opportunity to dig into your stash for a bit of fussycutting.

These foundation pieced patterns are a free download. Each design makes a 5" block. This makes them perfect for a 3" embroidery hoop.

For my hoops I chose to wrap them in ribbon before I fit the block inside. I do recommend not stretching the block too tightly as it will pull at the seams.

Now I tend to mostly create quilts or cushions or other projects like that. This was my first time dabbling in making embroidery hoops. So I turned to my friend Lauren of Molly and Mama for advice. Lauren has an excellent tutorial on her blog on how to finish an embroidery hoop. I highly recommend checking it out!

You can find the PDF as a free download by clicking here.

If you need a refresher or a little tutorial on how to foundation paper piece, you can check out this video.

Here's a closer look at the ornaments I made with the gorgeous fabrics from Hush Hush 2. Make sure to ask at your local quilt store or fave online store to get your hands on this great new low volume collection!

I can't wait to see your versions of these fun little ornaments! Make one or make a bunch! I found it hard to stop at just one as you can see ;)

Happy sewing, my friends!