Still Working on Christmas Sewing Deadlines

I've been working steadily to try to get close to finishing projects for Christmas decorating.   As November came to an end, that meant finally getting the borders on the Fat Quarter Shop Jelly Snowflake top.   

This is a free mystery quilt first offered by them in 2020.

As noted when I started this one, because I needed a smaller quilt, my blocks are made from 2" cut strips rather than Jelly Roll (2-1/2" cut) strips. Once I adjusted all the pattern cutting measurements, the block construction was easy to do.  The center block is patterned as a plain background square but if you look at some of the quilts and tops made from this pattern (including the one I saw at the VA Quilt Museum), many of them have interesting pieced centers so of course I wanted in on that too!  It took me a while to come up with something simple that I liked but eventually I did.  

Top done, I then took some of the scrappy leftover bits and pieced them into blocks or strips, added in the extra color option and test blocks, made a label area and filled around all of it with what I had left of the background fabric to create my third scrappy backing this year!  

I also needed to get back to one of my other holiday quilt projects called "Christmas Ribbons".  I adapted Sally Schneider's  “Painless Borders” design so I could cut out most of it using my Accuquilt dies. 

 As you can see, I needed to make four different pieced blocks for it.  I started making my Log Cabin die version of the "Tree" blocks for the center of the top back in September.  

Then before making the other blocks, I wanted to cut and lay out the side setting triangles.  Because the fabric I'm using for those is somewhat directional, I needed to cut across both the horizontal and along the lengthwise grain to get the birds to "stand" the way I wanted around the quilt.

Once that was done, I made the the pieced "Ribbon" blocks that create the border around the top, finishing those up two weeks ago.  After that I made the remaining Sawtooth Star blocks using the same red fabrics I used to make the tree "branches".  I finished making those last week.  I didn't get to do much sewing over the weekend (and spent what little time I did working on string blocks) so yesterday and today was the final push on this and now the top is finally done!  

I will admit that as each layer of the design was added, I got more and more excited about the project!  However, at one point, I stepped back and realized it was looking different than the pattern I was working from.  Granted I had made some changes to the blocks as designed but it took awhile to realize what was different:  the tree blocks in the original pattern were pieced with a sashing around them which made them "float" when placed next to the Star blocks.  For some reason, I completely overlooked that when I redesigned the Tree blocks to make it more Go! die friendly.

For a minute I thought I was going to have to re-do all the tree blocks!  Needless to say, this late in the game I really didn't want to do that.  However, the longer I looked at it I thought yes, the blocks could use a little breathing room but that also hadn't bothered me in all the time I spent working up the adaptation in EQ8.  I went back and forth a few times and in the end decided that I didn't hate it so will leave it as is.  That settled, the good news is that I already have the backing, binding and batting too.

The two on the left are for the backing and are my favorite for winter quilt backs: flannels!  I'm going to do this backing like I did for last year's "Indigo Weave" quilt except this time the plaid WOF center will have the solid red on each side.  

I have two extra star blocks that I will piece into one of the side strips.  I will cut a strip of the background fabric used in the top and piece it in between the two stars and use that area for writing in the label.

If I am going to be able to start putting out the quilts for the season, I have to get it in gear!  A big part of that is to also think about how I will quilt all of these projects.

This little flimsie finished back in September also still needs to be quilted!

As noted last week, I had watched Holly Ann of String and Story present her  Quilt Plan Challenge workshops.  

This was just what I needed!  I got some good tips from the workshops and will use them to get me in the right frame of mind to work on the quilting.  Some of the motifs she used on her own quilts gave me some specific ideas on how to approach my own projects so I am for once excited to do this.  

I still have two more projects planned but we'll see if I am able to get them knocked out.  After all, Christmas is almost here!!