half-dressed

Remember that tree skirt I was working on in late November and wasn't sure I'd finish before Christmas? I can happily report that it WAS finished. Completely finished. With the binding and everything. Two weeks before Christmas!

Awkward pause... I hear a "but" coming...

But... I chose not to cut a slit from the center all the way to the edge so it could easily wrap around the tree. No-sir-ee, I only cut a hole in the center so if I'm ever tired of it as a tree skirt, I can use it on a table with something pretty and/or functional covering the hole.

Here's where the half-dressed part comes in...

The tree was up and decorated before the skirt was finished. I know, you're shocked ;) After a very comical attempt by my family to lift the tree from the base straight into the air while slipping the skirt under the center pole (it's a 9 foot tree, keep this in mind), we gave up and just folded the skirt in half and laid it under the front half of the tree. Make it work!

Here you can see the whole thing finished...

Quilting close-up...

Border swirls quilting...

And the fun striped bias binding...

I did wash it before putting it to use. That crinkly texture makes it look more cozy and home-y to me. Next year I hope we can remember to put it under the tree before assembly and decorating!!

Happy Holidays!!

more tree skirt progress

My seven stars are pieced and ready to go, and I've cut my outside setting triangles (Moda Essential Dot in Lipstick). Today I'm placing all the half-hexagons on the design wall and sewing them into rows:

In the book (Living Large 2 by Heather Mulder Peterson), this "Starlit Evening" pattern is rated as Intermediate. If you define "Intermediate" as utilizing very careful cutting, piecing, and lots of Best Press, then I wholeheartedly agree. It wasn't an impossible task getting these sashing pieces to line up properly, but it did require lots of measuring twice, cutting once, and pins. But WOW, don't you just love it when it all works out according to plan!

Each vertical row is pieced first, then two rows pieced together...

...and finally the center is all put together and ready for borders!

Next time - one border or two?

10 days till d-day

Christmas decorating-day, that is. Early in the year I made a goal for myself to complete a new Christmas door banner and tree skirt by the end of December. Well, I've got the door banner top finished and ready to quilt (see this post to view), and now I'm getting down to business making my tree skirt.

I'm using a pattern from Heather Mulder Peterson's book Living Large 2 called "Starlit Evening" (see all the quilt photos from the book here). You'll need:

7 coordinating fat quarters
3/4 yard sashing fabric that forms the stars
1/3 yard setting triangles for the outside edges
and some border fabric to go all the way around (more about that later)

Initially you create strip-pieced units using the fat quarters and sashing, which are then cut at a 60-degree angle to form parallelograms. Another piece of sashing is added in the center of two parallelograms to form a diamond (you'll make 3 of these from each fat quarter), seen here:

You then cut each diamond in half:

...forming 6 equilateral 60-degree triangles, which are then pieced as half-hexagons:

Each half-hexagon will eventually be sewn together forming a full hexagon with a star embedded in it. Pretty cool, huh?  But don't sew the hexagons together just yet!  Yes, I learned this the hard way, and feel compelled to warn you not to make my same mistake ;-)

More progress to report tomorrow!