Wednesday, December 31, 2014

December ALYOF Goal Complete

It may not have been done for Christmas, but I finished my little guy's stocking for my December 
A Lovely Year of Finishes goal. (He wouldn't have known the difference, and I had gifts to sew before the 25th!) But...next December, I will be so thrilled to pull this out, ready to go!

Here's his finished stocking:

And a close-up of the top and lining:

And a pic of all three boys' stockings together:

And a pic of my little guy, Benjamin, now 4 months, with his stocking. My story is that he looks displeased because his stocking was late. :)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Ta da...tree skirt!

This was my WIP Wednesday that I was committed to finishing tonight:
I pieced it last November and then let it sit for 10 months. I finished quilting it and then stitched on the binding over the weekend. All that was left was hand stitching the binding to the back side. 

And about that--if you ever feel like your mitered corners on bindings need work, might I suggest you bind a tree skirt like this? 
 
There are 20 points to miter, plus 4 more typical corners, plus 19 inverted points (I'm sure there's a better name for those.) Yep, lots of mitering. By tonight, I was down to the home stretch. Four points plus the straight edges and inner circle. And let me tell you, bias-cut binding folds down so beautifully in a circle!

Here's the finished skirt. It's under the tree now, and I'll show you that as well, but the tree is in the way, so it's hard to see the skirt.

And under the tree. Taken in the dark at 11:45 pm, with my phone. So basically an incredibly high quality photo, but you get the idea. Last night we decorated the tree; tonight I added the finishing touch--the tree skirt. Let Christmas begin!


And one more WIP--a look at my design wall right now, which is a real mish mash of things.
The biggest project on the wall is my improv medallion quilt in the works from a workshop with Gwen Marston back in April. Filling in around that are the blocks I've made with my two boys (plus a few orphan blocks of mine they've appropriated).
I let them choose fabrics, strip width, and where to add the newest piece. I let them sit on my lap and lower and raise the foot and needle, then I run the pedal and they help guide the fabric. The two blocks on the left in the fourth row belong to my 3 year old. The remainder belong to my 5 year old, except that I made the flag block based on his suggestion, and I made the green/red wonky star and the green/yellow overlapping block next to it. I think it's just about time to assemble the quilt top! (After Christmas, of course...)


p.s. Linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.


Sunday, December 7, 2014

December ALYOF Goal: Stocking time!

I didn't make my November A Lovely Year of Finishes goal (I think it's because December snuck up so quickly after Thanksgiving!). So I'm upgrading my December goal...to actually finish my new baby's stocking.

Here are the four we have right now, on our freshly decorated mantel:
 (Sidenote...my best friend created the art hanging in the photo there--isn't she talented?!)

Little B's stocking will have a blue cuff and a red sock. I dropped the cuff fabric off with my embroiderer friend on Friday. Now it's time to get the rest of the stocking quilted! I'm making this my December goal because I can see getting pushed to the bottom of my to-do list as the holidays get closer. So here we go!

And, before I go, here's a sneak peek at what I have been working on--finishing my tree skirt. I finished quilting it on Saturday and stitched the binding on. I've got about half the hand stitching of the binding left!