Christmas Charming Stars - Finished!

Unlike some of my recent finishes, which had been marinating too long in the sewing room for me to like them anymore, this one was a joy to finish. So why did it take me so long? Sigh.

Christmas Stars was started in 2011. Probably. I don't want to go back and look in case it was longer. It's from a Moda Bake Shop tutorial - although I used charm packs and changed up most of the layout. Let's just say the blocks are from the tutorial.

The charms are Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas. I'm pretty sure the stop border is from Flurry. I love that it's definitely Christmas-y but not red/forest green. And I adore those elves skating!

My layout of all four blocks together leads to another star in the middle. And I kind of love it. The same fabrics was accidental, I'm sure, but it works in its awesomeness.

And the candy cane stripe bias binding? Perfection. It's Scottie Christmas by Wilmington Prints, and I might have bought half a bolt or so for all Christmas quilts. And hand stitched, even though it took me foreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever.

The back is plain old cotton. I knew this would never be anything but a wall hanging, and I don't see the point in something pretty on the back. It has a hanging sleeve {not stitched down yet} and corner pockets to help hang it straight.

The backing shows off the quilting - this was done quite a while when I wasn't quite good at filling in spaces properly or swirling the right way. The "swirls" do match the designs in the fabric on the front, and the front is busy enough that it looks fine there.

And hey - look! I managed to get a good rolled up shot!

And now I want it to be Christmas so I can hang it up.

Just when I thought there would be no cat pictures, I realized I needed to measure it. And that meant Miss CC had to "help."

Measures approx. 44" square

Linked:

Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF @ Ms. Midge

Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Link A Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts
Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

I Quilt @ Pretty Bobbins

Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation

Let's Make Baby Quilts @ Michelle's Romantic Tangle {I know this isn't a baby quilt, but it's baby quilt sized, and since it uses charms, it's a pretty easy finish.}

Feline Friday @ Sarah Did It!

Finish-Along @ The Littlest Thistle {FAL List}

WiP - VBS

This week was Vacation Bible School at our church, so I got a little less sewing time, but a lot more craft time. Somehow every time we find a new church, they automatically put me in the craft room for VBS. Weird. ;)

This is the pile of crafts the kids brought home. I'm most excited about the Jesus sign - we had one in our house growing up, and now I have my own! I mean, the Dude has his. I guess. Technically.

In the afternoon, I tried to stick with making five blocks a day for the flannel stars. I failed by the end of the week, but with a final push on Saturday, I got them finished and laid out with the pillowcases and jeans. All the columns are stitched together now; I just need to put it all together.

I also finished the inside patchwork for Cardinal Charms. Unfortunately, the consensus is my friends hate me don't think I should be lazy, and it really needs a stop border before the blue cardinals. I'm hoping I have enough leftover of the cream with red dots from the above quilt.

I made some awesome candy cane stripe binding and attached it to the front of Christmas Stars. Now I just need to get some hand stitching time.

I finally pulled a couple more Weekly Churn Dashes together. A couple darker greens this week, since I did bright greens during dark green month.

And my new leader/ender project - California Girl Hourglasses. I just have to say, it is great to have a L/E project that I love, because it makes me want to work on my other projects to add blocks!

Also, everyone say "Hi, CC!"

On Sunday evening, I had finished all my weekly projects, and it wasn't quite time to start dinner. I didn't want to drag out a big project, and clearly I wasn't going to clean anything, so I started playing with the leftover corners from Wee Wander.

But then the girls ended up in the same place on opposite sides, looking like the creepy twins from The Shining, and the boy is really a faceless body catching fireflies, and maybe they're not catching fireflies but SOULS. And now something so very sweet is kinda creepy.

On another note...the color palette of the week...purple! I know Jennie's a big fan of Frozen, so I counter with the much better recent princess movie.

Linked:
BOMs Away Monday @ What A Hoot
Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times
Color Mondays @ Porch Swing Quilts
Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River
WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced
Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ SoScrappy
Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts
Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric

FAL - First Quarter

My January goal list was mostly finish blocks, not finish quilts. So...what do I want/expect to actually finish before March 31?

The pile o'unquilted tops is nearing the top of the chair...should probably work on that. 

Specifically, Fall-gyle, Frolicking Pinwheels, Star Wall Hanging, Layer Cake Snowballs, Skorca!, and Olivia Schnibble. That's two a month, one big, one small. Doable.

Two are Christmas, but with a move halfway through the year, I'd really like to get all the Christmas stuff packed and moved together, including the finished quilts. Which requires finished quilts.

I also want to get over my nerves and deconstruct a flight suit. Really want to make it into a camera bag for our Spring Break vacation. Desert or regular?

And I have two t-shirt quilts, a heart wall hanging, and a Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star quilt to make. But they're not UFOs, so they don't count. As much. I took the orders in 2012, so maybe they should count!

Linked:
Finish-A-Long @ She Can Quilt

Design Wall Monday - Week 51

Nothing, really. I took Debbie's suggestion and hung Christmas Stars on the wall, even though it's done. It's keeping the Christmas spirit while I finish the binding on the Grinch and Rudolph.

And in Skorca news!

Starting to look interesting... I wonder what these units are going to connect to. Seems like we've used a LOT of black & white and still not much of the main color!

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times, and more Orca Bay progress at Quiltville!

Work in Progress Wednesday - Week 40

It's Christmas. I'm not in panic mode...yet. I actually keep thinking it's the week OF Christmas already - and then I worry that I'm not in panic mode!

Christmas Sewing:

 Grinch panel quilt - niece - basted & half quilted

 Rudolph panel quilt - the Dude - quilted!

Star Wall Hanging - finished top & "hanging" on my design wall 

Quilt-Alongs:

Fat Quarter Stars - three blocks behind, planning a catch-up day! Er, probably in January... 

 LQS Saturday Sampler - November's block done - I really like this one.

Quiltville Orca Bay {Skorca!} - 50/112 B&W QSTs, 9/36 red strings, 34/175 B&W HST, 32/32 blue squares to become triangles

Untouched This Week:

Chunky Log Cabin

Frolicking Pinwheels

St. Paul's Cross

Swoon A Little, Swoon A Lot

Hunter's Star, round two

Awaiting Quilting:

Sunkissed Jewel Box

Bad Romance

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Hunter's Star

Fall-gyle

New Projects: 0

Completed Projects: 1

In Progress: 16

Don't check out more at Work in Progress Wednesday - Lee is taking the month off. :)

Check out other BoMs at What a Hoot!

{And check out my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day giveaway here!}

Sunday Stash Report - Week 50

Let's see... I finished the top for Christmas Stars. Not sure if I'm going to quilt it before Christmas or just tack it to the wall as is.

Two more American Girl dresses - one from stash, one from purchased fabric. They just need minor trimming and velcro in the back.

And I picked up the last block for my LQS's Saturday Sampler.

And the pattern for next year! I'm very excited about this one - simple, classic blocks in solids with a black background. I was happy with the original reproduction fabrics, but I think it's going to be even cooler in solids.

Used this Week: 3

Used Year to Date: 123.91

Added this Week: 0.75

Added Year to Date: 165.45

Net Used for 2011: (41.54) yards

Check out how everyone else is doing on Patchwork Times!

Design Wall Monday - Week 48

Still Christmas Stars, still so close to being done.

The two side borders are attached now, and I decided I'm just going to bind it with the red instead of adding another border. Which means I should really just get it done instead of playing with....

Skorca!

The directions for step two call for 3.5" string blocks. I planned on just cutting 3.5" blocks because I don't have that many strings and I'm not going to cut some just for this. Then I checked my red scraps.

Uh, okay... They're almost all strings!

 So now I'm six blocks in, powering through some stringy scraps and having way too much fun with these little things.

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times, and more Orca Bay progress at Quiltville!

Work in Progress Wednesday - Week 37

Lots of little finishes this week. Like...

...a Swoon block.

...90 light blue half-blocks for Hunter's Star, round two - halfway!

Quilt-Alongs: 

Fat Quarter Stars - two blocks behind, but I whipped this week's together quickly. I think I was supposed to use my neutral. I'm probably going to take it apart and redo it. It's really bugging me.

Argyle Quilt Along {Fall-gyle} - top done until I start seam picking

LQS Saturday Sampler - need to pick up next month's, and do last month's

Quiltville Orca Bay {Skorca!} - 26/112 QSTs - I'm doing a half-size quilt...though 37x42" might be too small. When it's over and I know the design, I might add a row or two. Also, I'm doing "draw-and-sew-and-cut-and-press-and-draw-and-sew-and-cut-and-press" method, so I'm well over halfway.

Christmas Sewing:

 Grinch panel quilt - niece - top done! And the back is pieced, so all I have to do is figure out how to quilt it.

Rudolph panel quilt - the Dude - the fabric arrived yesterday!

Star Wall Hanging - finished piecing the borders

Advent Calendar - made the flying geese units and started machine embroidering them

Untouched This Week:

Chunky Log Cabin

Frolicking Pinwheels

St. Paul's Cross

Awaiting Quilting:

Sunkissed Jewel Box

Bad Romance

Layer Cake Quilt Along

Hunter's Star

New Projects: 0

Completed Projects: 0

In Progress: 17

Check out more at Work in Progress Wednesday!

Design Wall Monday - Week 47

I'm combining link parties with this one.

First up, the design wall - Christmas Stars Wall Hanging.

I mentioned I was sewing the side 2.5" squares as leaders/enders. Except I never actually counted how many I'd need. My plan was two rows, to line up with the skaters on the top and bottom. Um, obviously I went past that. Luckily my Advent calendar will be the same fabrics, so I guess it's going to be getting a 2.5" squares border, too.

Second, Orca Bay. Which has already been renamed Skorca. Which is my favorite Penguins of Madagascar episode of all time. What? You don't have a favorite episode? You must not live with a six year old boy.

Bonnie said red is the most prominent, then black, then blue. My scrap bins said blue (the sky) is the most prominent, then black (the orca), then...um...maybe a touch of red? 

{Skorca! Aaah! Who can be safe from the terror that swims the skies?}

3.25" squares are slowly becoming HSTs, which will be turned into the required QSTs. Skipper will be guarding the project.

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times, and more Orca Bay progress at Quiltville!

Fifteen Minute Challenge - Week 12

My fifteen minutes of Christmas sewing were the only non-craft-show sewing I got to do this week, so I'm very grateful for the forced opportunity to do some piecing.

Tuesday - pieced Rows 1 & 2

Wednesday - pieced Rows 3 & 4

Thursday - pieced sashing, Rows 1 & 2

Friday - pieced sashing, Rows 3 & 4

Saturday - nothing :(

Sunday - pieced all rows together

Monday - pieced backing, started plan for borders

It definitely needs a skinny red border to tie it all together. Then I have green and white Grinch-y fabric for the back, of which I can cut 3" borders. I think. I need to double check my math before cutting!

As leaders and enders, I pieced 2.5" squares for the Christmas Stars.

So now I have a box full of those to press and add as a border. Which needs to be done before I can start the Advent Calendar, which will be made of the leftover charms.

Check out how others are managing their time at Life in Pieces!

Christmas in July - Week 5

I'm having one of THOSE weeks.

The AC broke - twice. 

{It's only been over 100º every day for over a month. No biggie.}

At the hotel on Sunday, I couldn't connect to the internet, but something sure managed to infect the laptop anyway. So now I'm erasing the hard drive. And poor Nettie the Netbook is STILL at the repair shop. 

{Three people + 1 PC = arguments over whose turn it is to play Plants vs. Zombies.}

The DVR broke twice, the Keurig has been short-cupping me...

So, basically, not much sewing this week.

Christmas Kaleidoscope is done because I cut the borders wrong. I pieced the backing and mopped the kitchen floor in preparation for basting. I even have a plan for the quilting!

The center of Christmas Stars is pieced. I finally ordered fabric for the borders, too.

Er, I'm going to have to find a picture to trace onto this, because I forgot that I can NOT draw.

So since this is the last Friday in July, the summary is...
1 quilt pieced/basted
1.75 wall hangings pieced
1 table runner pieced

And now it's almost time for Quilting August!

Design Wall Monday - Week 30

I was going to make a joke about how this is my design wall...

But then this happened...

And now I'm too hot to be funny.

The actual design wall is Christmas Stars.

I was going to do a second block like this one, but now I'm thinking about just putting them together as they are. I like the middle star that I won't get by breaking up the blocks.
 I can still use the strips of 2.5" blocks I've already made in a border. I'm going to get something else for the first border, though. The white up there has roses and isn't very Christmas-y.

However, there will be no sewing, of the dress or the stars, until the AC gets fixed!

The cats have the smartest plan - get as flat as you can on the tile floor.

Preferably near a fan.

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times!