Tag: Christmas
Christmas Tree Skirt
Christmas Tree Skirt 2014
Quilt #141 on the 200 Quilts List
(Post updated August 2019)
Here I laid out the old Christmas Tree Skirt on top of the new one; it was made in the early 1970s out of pre-quilted fabric with a tricot backing, and homemade bias tape.
I was inspired by Betty’s skirt that she made last year, as well as others. The original inspiration was a tree skirt from Fat Quarterly 2013, but since I didn’t have a pattern and it was all proportional squares, triangles and rectangles, I just started cutting. Here I’ve laid an embroidery hoop so I could judge how the center circle would look. It took me about two days to get all the houses and trees arranged, partly because I wanted to use my stash and it that necessitated some color and value balancing. I have a piece of fabric from my first quilt in here, as well as some scraps from dirndls made from German fabric (which I love). I even have scraps of fabric from cotton I’d purchased in Rome, Italy some 14 years ago, as well as some Japanese fabrics, also purchased on a trip. Build your stash, everyone. It’s a fun place to visit.
UPDATE 2019, BASIC DIMENSIONS:
Fuse a series of fun fabrics to Steam a Seam II. I cut everything a bit larger, then trimmed to make sure the fusing covered the back completely.
- Basic skirt circle: 52″ diameter (piece some white cotton fabric to allow for this dimension of circle)
- Center hole is a traced 6″ circle embroidery hoop.
- Tall Skinny House: 9″ tall by 3.5″ wide
- Pointed triangle roof is 6.6″ wide and 4.5″ high. Follow the basic directions for tall Christmas Trees to cut yourself a wonky triangle.
- Two-story house, short: 7″ tall by 6″ wide
- Two-story house, taller: 9″ tall by 7″ wide
- Trapezoidal Roof measures 8″ across the bottom, 3″ across the top and is 3″ high. So, cut a rectangle 8″ by 3″ and fold in half. From the outside lower corner, draw a line so it ends 1.5″ from the fold. Cut that section off and you’ll have the roof.
- Pointed Roof for two-story house measures 7″ wide by 4″ tall.
- Tall Christmas Trees: Cut a rectangle 7″ tall by 4″ wide. Fold in half lengthwise, and cut from lower outside corner to the center fold at the top, making a Christmas Tree shape.
- Medium Christmas Trees: 6″ tall by 4.5″ wide (cut as above)
- Stacked Christmas Trees are formed the same, but the dimensions are 3.5″ tall and 3″ wide.
- Christmas Tree Trunks are 3.5″ tall by 1″ wide…but some are shorter (like 1.5″ tall). Cut them to your liking.
- Wonky-cut stars (Do a search for a 2″ pattern online; trace the outlines onto fused fabric, then cut). —-> Or use this one: 5-sided-stars <——
Use my photograph at the top of this post to plan and map our your pieces, but cut some different dimensions if that’s what you like (like making a shorter, skinny house).
WARNING: Prewash your reds!!! I did them once with Dye Catcher Sheets. I should have done it three times, so my tree skirt suffered. We still use the tree skirt, as the discoloration is up near the binding in the center circle, but I wish I’d washed them more than once. Now we call it Christmas Tree Skirt at Sunset.
I thought I’d use a large red/white dot for the binding, but when I cut it on the bias, I got this effect. So I went with a narrower stripe than the one shown, cutting it on the bias so it would go around the curves. I pieced it, then folded it in half, then sewed it to the back and topstitched it to the front. A trick I learned in Clothing and Textiles in college was to press a curve into the bias tape. It went on like a charm.
In working on this, I zipped through two books and am in the middle of one more. The two I couldn’t wait to listen to were both Inspector Gamache mysteries, set in Canada. One was titled Still Life and the other was titled A Fatal Grace, both by Louise Penny. And I’m halfway through The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. Fitting, isn’t it?
We finally finished decorating the tree, and I’m enjoying the new tree skirt!
Bobbin Statistic: 5 (in other words, how many bobbins it took to get this thing quilted)
Quilting: First I stitched through the quilt sandwich on the raw-edges of all the house and tree shapes, letting it be slightly wonky as I went. Then the top-stitching on the stars. I switched to white thread and did a loose, large meandering quilting around all the shapes.
Nice to See You, Christmas Quilts!
We have a tradition that nothing Christmas happens until after the Thanksgiving meal. In the Old Days, when I had children at home, we’d sing Christmas carols that afternoon, a cluster of us at the piano. Now, we turn on iTunes and listen to the songs while we do the dishes. This is Christmas Star, #80 on my 100 Quilts List, in case you want to read more about it.
This morning I got out all the Christmas quilts that have been in the cupboard for a year. It’s nice to see them again. This is Star Mother’s Youngest Child, #108.
Christmas Treat, #111.
This was about the first Christmas display quilt I made and I called it Christmas Wall Hanging. It’s label-less, but is #15 on my 100-Quilts List, having been made twenty-two years ago. I have made other Christmas quilts, but they’ve been passed on to others.
I also found time to make a little pouch for a granddaughter, at her mother’s request. It’s Noodle Head’s Wide Mouth Pouch, but I made it a little bit taller.
I also added a tab at the zipper closure end so it’s easy to grab. Her birthday is coming up this week, so I popped it in the mail the day before Thanksgiving.
Hope you enjoy getting reacquainted with your Christmas quilts, too!
Circles Block #6–another view, EPP Sew-A-Long
I told you in the last post that I’d made up another version of Circles #6, and today I’ll show you what I came up with.
When I was sewing this up, I kept thinking what a great Christmas pillow it would make.
So I made one!
As usual, I audition fabrics to see what I like. You can see which won.
I lined up the Star Point with the lower inner arc and put a pin through the centers.
It’s easier to stitch when you do it three-dimensionally.
Cute little thing, isn’t it?
I made this circle differently. I think the method I showed you on the first post is much better, but here’s this one: Stitch the inner ring pieces together, then stitch to the center circle. There’s no need to ease; it should fit together neatly by taking a stitch or two at a time, then moving along. Sew the final inner ring seam together.
Now stitch together the inner arc (red) and the small star point (blue) and add the left star points (more red, on either side of the blue). After you’ve made six of those little units, start making the larger outer ring by attaching the large star points (white). Like the first ring onto the center circle, it should “match” easily onto the sign. You can see how I began here, by dropping the ring down and starting the stitching. I did take time to figure out how I wanted the white star points to be aligned on the final block.
See the two circles side-by-side, above, to see the different alignments. The Christmas Star has a star point centered, pointing North, but the other circle has it differently.
Like I said, I think the other method is much easier.
Done!
Ah, you know I love this view!
I had several backgrounds to choose from, but my granddaughter Emilee helped me choose the white one with the stars.
Papers out, and here we go a-quilting!
One thing I learned from Sandra Eichner’s blog is how to let the batting poof up under a design element by stitching towards it. First I did the red pieces in between the star points in a meander, trying to quilt toward the star points large and small. Then I went for the outer margins, having fun and letting the machine roll. Black thread and a tiny stipple for the inner ring, dodging the berries, and then outline the angel in the center in order to control the fullness of the batting. Lastly, I outlined everything, using my even-feed straight-stitch foot.
Yay! A new piece of Christmas fun. Hope you’ve enjoyed seeing both of these Circle Blocks. I’m taking a break during December and will be back in January for the last six circles in this project. Yes, I’ve decided I’m stopping after twelve EPP circles. That ought to give you enough to play with! If you are making these blocks, please shoot me a photo, and I’ll post it up on the blog.
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 