Tree Skirt - Getting There

I am slowly making progress on the tree skirt. I had all the wedges laid out in the order I wanted to sew them in pairs. after all the pairs are sewed together there is always some adjusting to be done when something shows up that didn't before sewing. I kept everything in order pretty well but then when I sewed the pairs into 4's I got the order mixed up and I had to lay everything out again on my bed (no design wall yet). Every time I sewed a few more seams I checked to see how it looked and made some more adjustments. I finally sewed the last seam and I see that there are a couple of places that have two patches of the same color next to each other. They are not the same prints so it will stay the way it is.  After all "Random is Random" and after all my arranging and rearranging and getting things out of order it sure is random.

This is half of it pinned to a design board. Behind it is one of my bulletin boards, foam core covered with gray flannel. I covered my boards with gray because a couple bloggers, who seem knowledgeable about photography, said that if you have some gray pinned to the design wall or photographing area the colors are more true. My photos with the gray behind the tree skirt look more like the real thing than the photos without the gray.

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Tree Skirt

I am back to working on the tree skirt. The 9 degree wedge ruler I ad ordered from Amazon came yesterday; it took a long time to get here partly due to being sent to my old address. I cut all my wedges in the afternoon and arranged them in the order I want.I had arranged the strips of charm squares the way I wanted them but after they were cut in wedges there were narrow wedges that needed to be placed where they look the best.

Here is  the stack all ready to sew in pairs. that little pile of trimmings is about 1/2 of all I have left. Using Annie's tutorial,  You get 1 wide wedge and one narrow wedge that are used in the tree skirt and one very narrow wedge that is scrap. Last year I used those narrow scraps as a gag prize for the Basement Divas annual Jellyroll Race ( they were probably thrown in the trash). This time I took off the narrowest 2 pieces and sewed the rest together. This piece is 22 x 13 after trimming I will layer it up and quilt it and probably just add binding or or maybe turn it pillowcase style and then quilt it.
It might be good as a large hot pad for the table. LOL, when I showed it to Jack he said "what is that hodge podge." He is usually far more diplomatic than that.







Yesterday when I posted a photo collage of the Mary Ellen Hopkins tribute I did miss some quilts and I am sorry to say I do not have photos of them. I missed 2 of Kathy's and one of Lynn's. I even remember talking about one of them and for some reason I didn't get a photo. If I get photos from someone I will post them.

I'm so sorry Kathy and Lynn.

Tree Skirt Progress

I am making progress on the tree skirt. All of the sections of 5 charm squares are sewed together and ready to be cut in wedges. I have them pinned in order on a design board. I had sorted the charms and laid them out in the order that  I thought I would lay out the large wedges and then I will place the narrow wedges where they look best.  I will make changes as I go along but this is a starting point. Annie from Freezeframe has a nice tutorial explaining how to get two 9 degree wedges from a 5 inch strip of charm squares. This is the third tree skirt from her tutorial and it goes together easily.


The only problem I had this morning was with these two.  When I got up to pin a strip on the design board the cat came in and sat on my our sewing chair. I moved her off, under protest, and when I turned my back she got back, not once but twice more. I gave up and moved the chair over and took the design board off the other chair where it was propped. While I was doing that the dog came in and plopped down under my sewing table. We finally got ourselves sorted out and I was able to finish the strips.

The animals sure make life interesting; 

Jack says they own me.

Who would have thought it?

Tree Skirt Again

When our church group had our retreat we took some time on Saturday afternoon To visit a couple of quilt shops. i was looking for Christmas charm packs but didn't see any but I saw a kit in one of the shops that included a layer cake Solstice by Kate Spain. I didn't want the kit but that was the only way to buy the layer cake. I guess I could have waited but now that we have move it is not so easy anymore to get out to the quilt shops.

I cut the layer cake into 5 inch squares over the weekend and and on Monday I sorted them into rows of 5 squares to a row in the way I want to sew them together. Here they are on a tray in stacks of 5 squares. Right now they are in order but after I cut wedges with a 9 degree ruler the order will likely change some.





 I made 2 tree skirts using this tutorial from Annie (Freezeframe), It is  good tutorial and not hard to do.The one on the left is the second one that I made.











 I am still quilting the MEH challenge. These blocks are 4 1/2 inches  and I am wishing that I had made smaller blocks;  I am going to have to do some quilting in the negative spaces.

It is not going to be quick!

A Finish

I decided to switch gears and finish up the second tree skirt. I was getting bored with sewing the triangle/diamond rows together. I am finished with the tree skirt and toward the end I was getting a little bored with quilting in the ditch on that with all the stops and starts as I quilted each blade.
This is the one I just finished.

#2

I decided to use red for the backing on this one; I used white on the first one. I fiddled about with the placement of the red patches a little more on the second on but I don't think in the end it makes any difference at all. I am keeping the first one and gifting the second one but not sure yet who will be the recipient. Below is the first one.



#1

I bought a jelly roll of the same fabric (Moda Blitzen) when I got the second set of 4 charm packs. I will be using that for the 2nd annual Jellyroll race with the Basement Divas in January. They were on sale for 1/2 price and Blitzen was the only one left with both Jellyroll and Charm packs. I might have used something else but who can argue with 1/2 price, especially when you really like it.
I had some thoughts that there were some things I would do different when I layered it and quilted it but in the end I did it the same as the first one with the exception of layering the top with the batting and pinning it and then layering that with the backing. After that I turned it, just as I did the first one. I had some issues with smoothing the whole thing out after I turned it to the right side the first time and this time it went easier. Once again, in the end I am not sure it made any difference.  I am happy with both of them.
I don't think I will be making more any time soon. Who knows, if everyone in my family thinks they should have one I might make more. It won't be this year and it won't be the same fabrics. It might even be a different pattern although I love this one which I got from Annie's tutorial at Freezeframe.http://freezeframe03.blogspot.com/2011/12/tutorial-christmas-tree-skirt.html.

I think before I get back to the black and white challenge I am got to clean up a bit and then make somehouse to send to Beth at Love Laugh quilt for her 3rd Annual Neighhood Block Party. I really like to make houses.






Progress

I may not finish this today but I am making progress. As I expected, I didn't get back to my tree skirt after dinner but I got back to it first thing this morning. 

I  wasn't sure how I wanted to proceed. I  thought that maybe I should not have stitched the Prairie Points on until after I layered it and quilted it. I knew I did not want to unsew them but I couldn't decide  what to do next.

I woke up early and dozed off a few times and each time I woke up I  was thinking about a different solution.

In the end I layered the backing and the top and pinned all around the edges and stitched it and then cut away the excess backing. Next, I layered it with the batting on the bottom, then backing and finally top on the top ( makes sense, top on top, right) so I could stitch exactly 3/8 inch along the edge. I stitched  the straight sides where they meet, leaving one open in the center for turning. Finally, I stitched around the center circle even though I will trim it and bind it after the quilting. The Prairie Points made it easy to work out the edge and press it, all I had to do was pull on the points.

As I was working this morning I was telling myself that the next time I will put the whole thing together differently. I hate not knowing if something is going to work. If I found that it looked really bad after I turned it and pressed it I wasn't sure I would ever finish it. It looks good and I think after I quilt it and trim the center hole and bind it that it will look even better.

Now lets see,

Maybe I can start agonizing over what thread to use to quilt it.

Tree Skirt

I got the backing for my tree skirt yesterday and I started working on the Prairie Points.  I had almost a full Blitzen charm pack left over after sorting them for the second tree skirt. I cut a bunch of them into quarters and made my Prairie Points with 2 1/2 inch squares. I usually make them with 3 or 3 1/2 inch squares but I wanted to use the charm squares that I had.

Here they are, start to finish. They are now sewed around the bottom of the tree skirt and this is probably as far as I will get today, at least until later this evening. I have family coming to dinner today and I have to go to the store (even though we got everything we need on Monday). By request, I am making deep dish pizza, not having made it in a long time, I did not remember everything I  need.

I just realized that we are halfway through August, Christmas will be here before we know it. Hopefully this year I will have a finished tree skirt; I am planning on it, and maybe even one to give as a gift. However, I am not going to count my chickens (quilts) before they are hatched(finished); after my fizzled finishing frenzy I am going to be more realistic.