Small wall hangings, banners, and table runners all make wonderful gifts. We have many patterns for these over on Arbee Designs, but today I wanted to share with you some quick easy ideas that you can make literally in minutes if you have spare blocks you already have on hand. Practice pieces also work well. In particular, I like using frames or embroidery hoops to finish them off and give that perfect picture look.
This series of frames was cut from one small quilt that I had been playing around with. You can use applique or patchwork to create an interesting display. You can find a free tutorial on how to frame these here: Easy way to frame a block
Small series of frames
cut from one small quilt
The butterfly hoop was fun to make and would pretty up a small girls room. Using your imagination, you could make anything to go in the hoop that would be ideal for a boy or grownup too. I used a metal hoop for these. It works in a similar way to the embroidery hoop, but I'll include the free tutorial here too: Butterfly hoop tutorial
Butterfly hoop
The butterfly in the hoop is one of my patterns available here: Blue Butterfly
If you are looking for a free butterfly pattern, I have a tutorial for the one below: Butterfly Tutorial
applique and stitched butterfly
Instead of using hoops, you could simply frame a block with stretcher bars or a canvas block like I have done for some of my flower blocks.
Framed flower blocks
Instructions for how to do this can be found here: Framing with a canvas block or stretcher bars
Those are just a few ideas for frame a small picture. Of course, if you want to make a small wall hanging, you can find plenty of options on our website here: Small wall hangings, banners
