Christmas Wrap Up

As always, with Christmas approaching I wanted to make something seasonal.  I've been chipping away at my Christmas in the City bundle and this year added Christmas in the Cabin to the mix.  I've got my Christmas Baubles hanging and I'm sooo close to finishing the Atomic Starburst quilt I started last year so it seemed like a pillow was in order.  I was tempted to make another Swoon pillow but then I spotted this North Star block and decided it would be perfect.  

It's a fairly simple paper-pieced pattern though the sharp angle of some of the background pieces make it a little tricky if you're not used to how paper piecing works.  I know it's meant to use scraps but I would have appreciated some guidelines for block sizes to use for each piece.  

Because I wanted to take advantage of the novelty scene I decided to use a fussy cut circle for the center.  It's been a long time since I've done an inset circle so I did a quick review using this Insetting Circles tutorial by Bill Weeks at Modern Quilt Studio.  Weeks and Bill were a big part of the original modern quilting movement and if you've ever used one of the patterns you know how much attention they pay to both the design and the process.

I used the 12" block but since I like my pillows a little bigger I  wanted to add a border.  Of course I wanted mitered seams to match the lines of the star so that took some remembering as well.  Thankfully my BQF is always there for me with this fabulous tutorial.   

Once that was done I used my first day of holiday vacation to baste it together and quilt.  For the center I kept the quilting simple in the spirit of getting things done and just outlined the star components.  I deliberately made the border the same as my Starburst quilt so I could try out my swag idea.  I definitely won't be doing that on my quilt!  As you can see most of my arcs are a bit wobbly and I don't think it enhances the design.  Back to the drawing board on that one.

Another quick review of my go to zipper closure tutorial by SOTAK Handmade and I was ready for Santa.  It was so nice to have some handwork to do while I relaxed by the tree with some (spiked) eggnog and Scrooged.

Still no quilt but now I have a pillow and a wall hanging.  I put this adorable Patchwork Bow on my Christmas list so we'll see if I can manage to make that as well before I totally wrap up this holiday.  

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow is 18" x 18"
Pattern: North Star FPP Quilt Block by Amanda at Prairie Quilt Co.
Fabrics: Christmas in the City and Christmas in the Cabin by Art Gallery Fabrics.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in SilverWhite (2309).

Christmas in the Keys

This is another one I pushed myself to finish up before we leave.  When it became obvious I wasn't going to finish my Bats table topper in time for the holiday I started thinking about Christmas.  I fell in love with this Christmas in the City collection and immediately started dreaming of all the things I could make with it.  

To get warmed up I decided to start with another version of the Christmas Baubles.  For those keeping count this will be my 3rd go at this pattern.  I'm not sure why I keep making it, it's fairly tedious with lots of small pieces.  Rather than marking all those 1 1/2" squares I used the diagonal seam tape method.  It's not as accurate as drawing all those lines but it's much speedier. 

But there's still all that trimming and pressing.  Eventually I finished the blocks and got them together but by then that holiday had also passed.  

I was on a roll after quilting my Bats quilt so I quickly basted this and got quilting.  It felt a bit silly to be quilting snowflakes in Florida but you've got to go with what works.  At least it'll be all ready when Christmas rolls around again.

The local quilt guild here hosts a weekly sew-in at the library so I took this with me to bind while I made new quilt friends.  They're a lovely group and I hope to get more involved when we come back in the fall.  

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 20" x 26"
Pattern: Christmas Baubles by Jen Daley for Moda Bake Shop.
Fabrics: Christmas in the City and Pure Solids in White Linen by Art Gallery Fabrics.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in SilverWhite (2309).

Atomic Starburst

I've wanted to make the Atomic Starburst quilt by the adorable Violet Craft for ages and the MCM vibe of this Christmas in the City collection seemed like the perfect match.  I decided to go off book and size this down to make it a bit more of a throw size and I also added a border to frame it up.  

A lot of people have made this quilt but very few give details.  The best are these videos and blog posts by Canary Quilts.  I especially appreciate her measurements for the background paper piecing pieces and her tip for how to cut piece 4 makes all the difference. If you're new to paper-piecing here is another nice tutorial by I See Stars Quilting.  In general I used the template so that my diamonds didn't have bias edges but for the ones with a directional print I found this triangle ruler worked perfectly.  

Another place where I didn't love the pattern as printed was attaching the sashing.  I started by cutting the strips to size and adding them but quickly decided it would be easier to just sew them on to a continuous strip and then cut them to size.  I did this for both the side and the top sashing.

This is another super useful tutorial by Quilt Addicts Anonymous.  She's using a different pattern but it's a similar diamond quilt tutorial and around the 9 minute mark there's a good explanation for cutting the filler triangles and she also has great tips for matching the points on your sashing.  Matching all those points is a bit tricky but once you get the hang of it they go together nicely.

I was on a roll so I went ahead and basted this one but I doubt I'll have enough time to quilt it before I leave.  Now I have to decide if I take it with me or leave it here waiting for my return.