Twinchies at Flowerpatch

Each December at Flowerpatch Quilters we have a bit of a Christmas party with nibbles, refreshments and ......... sewing, of course. This year we sewed "Twinchies" which are simply 2" squares of loveliness.

These are some of the cute results after an evening of sewing, chatting, laughing, eating and drinking. As you might anticipate many are still WIPs.

Firstly a Christmas selection

Hearts for the romantics

and lovely others.

So what do you do with a Twinchie?

• Sew or stick to a blank card for an instant birthday / thank you card.
• Sew on to a garment or bag
• Display as a group on a background fabric or in a frame - especially nice if they are themed.
• Make them into a tiny book.
• Tuck into presents or cards for friends and family as a little bit of loving extra. As I popped one or two into presents my man said "I hope you haven't made me a Twinchie!!" - Oops, maybe that wasn't such a good idea!

Before the evening I made up lots of Twinchie blanks for those who wanted to get straight on with embellishing without having to neaten the edges with blanket stitch or similar first. I think they look cute even before embellishing! :) ... and it made me want to get stitching immediately.

I thought you might be interested to read how I made these up because although it seems like a simple task I did chew up the edges of quite a few before I settled on this method.

To make 9 Twinchie blanks
Cut two squares of different coloured fabric 7" square and a piece of thin wadding the same size (I used curtain interlining).

Mark the lighter fabric (I used a Frixion pen which disappears after ironing) with squares of a smidging over 2". Start by drawing two outer lines a little way in from the edges of the fabric and at right angles.

Sew along each side of the middle lines with a short length, narrow width, zigzag stitch. Normally I would use a lighter thread on top and a darker thread in my bobbin. This top thread is a little too dark but I want you to be able to see the stitches.

Sew around the edge inside the marked line with the same zigzag stitch.

Cut along the marked lines and iron to remove the pen marks on the edges.

Below are the four twinchies that I made before our meeting

and two that I've sewn since. Launceston Castle was made as a gift for a friend who is off to live in the warmth of Spain.

Earlier this month it was the annual Tree Festival in St Marys in Launceston. Flowerpatch Quilters make decorations to hang on our tree and this year Dawn designed sweet quirky mice with long noses, and also bells.

The church looked beautiful.

Still on a Christmas theme (and as this may be my last post before the 25th) I found Rudolf wandering in our garden recently.

He looked so cold, poor "dear", that I brought him indoors to keep him warm until Christmas Eve.

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, although I think my Twinchies finish at even smaller than Amanda Jean's lovely tea-pouches! :)

Happy Christmas - Anita x

PS The next Flowerpatch meeting is on Thursday 11th January when we will be sewing the blocks together for our Rainbow Quilt - this year's charity quilt.