Christmas Tree Skirt - Finally!

If I remember correctly, I started this Christmas Tree Skirt sometime around August 2011. 

That means that this tree skirt took me about the same amount of time to make as it takes for me to make a baby.  Only without the nausea, heartburn and stretch marks. 

Yay for that part anyway, right?

But seriously, I had it cut and pieced and ready to go, but then I decided I should probably get moving on the gifts I was making for other people, including another version of this same tree skirt.

So, as often happens, my own skirt got shoved to the back burner while I created for everyone else.  Sigh.

However, once I put my tree up and saw how ugly and barren it was under the tree, I was determined to get my tree skirt finished and under the tree.  So I pulled it out and got it all finished up to the binding sewn onto the top, but knew that it would take too long to hand sew the binding onto the bottom.  I wanted it hand bound, so I decided to just throw it under the tree with the binding half sewn on and told myself I would sew it on as soon as I took the tree down.  Yeah, right.

Four months after Christmas, it is finally totally complete!

I really love it.  I have three little boys, so I wanted something that was fun for them to look at.  This has darling snowmen, holly and vintage ornaments all over it.  I also love the vintage feel of the fabric, because when it comes to Christmas, I am all about memories and tradition!  And because of that, I picked all the red and green fabrics, and left out the non-traditional teal and more olive-y green.  I put those in the version I made for my brother, which was intentionally done a little more modern, but just as beautiful, if not more! 

I bought a jelly roll of the same fabric at the same time which I am going to make Christmas stockings with this year.  And now I have my embroidery module so I can embroider names on the cuffs!  I am so excited!

Christmas Tree Skirt Stats:

I followed this tutorial here

Fabric: Fruitcake by Basic Grey (out of print, but possibly still available on Etsy.)

Quilting: stitch in the ditch, done by me.
Started: August 2011
Finished: April 2012

Linking to these parties:

WIP Wednesday #5

Well, I am back from my 3 week trip and trying to get back into the swing of things at home.

I drove with the boys from Virginia to Tennessee to have Easter with my sister and her family before we all flew from Nashville to Provo, Utah (with 6 kids in tow!) for my brother's wedding the following weekend.  After flying back to Nashville, we stayed one more day before making the drive back to Virginia.  That's a lot of driving and flying.

The wedding was wonderful, and the entire trip was fun, stressful and crazy all at the same time!  All my siblings were together for the first time in literally years, so it was good to spend time with my whole family (minus my husband, of course...dumb Army.  Boo!) 

However, it is definitely hard traveling across two time zones for almost 3 weeks with 3 little boys all by myself.  Fortunately, my boys are very good car travelers.  Unfortunately, they are horrible airplane travelers.

So, like I said, I am back home and trying to get back into our normal routine.  And it's been slow going.

I did manage to hit one fabric store while I was in Utah.  The Fabric Mill is a darling little store tucked away on a side street in Orem, Utah, that has been there for as long as I can remember.  And I grew up there.  So that is a LONG TIME. 

The reason I went there in particular is because they have an enormous selection of flannel, since they are known for their hemstitched flannel receiving blanket and burp cloth kits.  And I was looking specifically for flannel for the back of my Denim Rag Quilt.

{As a side note, I should mention the lack of fabric resources I have where I currently live. 

Truly, it's pathetic. 

I have a Hancock Fabric (which I hate) about 25 minutes away, and a Joann's a half an hour away.

There is one so-called quilt shop in town (also about 25 minutes away), which is actually where we bought my new Bernina, but their fabric selection is pathetic.  Their focus seems to mainly be on machine embroidery.

So needless to say, it is a treat for me to go to Utah and be able to walk into an actual brick and mortar quilt shop and see and feel all the beautiful, wonderful fabric in person!}

So, knowing I was looking specifically for flannel, I knew the Fabric Mill was the place to go.  And I was not disappointed!  I bought a half yard each of (I believe) 9 different fabrics.  I would post a picture, but I left them with my mom to be sent later (along with a few other things) so that my checked bag wouldn't go over 50 lbs on the fight home.  (Dumb airlines!)

SO---I suppose I can count buying the flannel for my Rag Quilt as progress, right?  If not, I didn't make much progress at all on any of my WIP's :(

I did take my tree skirt and was able to work on it a bit here and a bit there.  I would say I am almost 3 quarters done with the binding.  I wanted to have it finished by the time I got home, but I just didn't have as much free time as I thought I might.  Sigh.

WIP Stats

Total WIP's: 5

WIP's worked on this week: 2 (I'm counting the fabric, darnit!)
New WIP's: 0

WIP's Finished: 0

WIP Wednesday #4

The past week has been fairly productive, sewing-wise.

After I finished my Spiderman totes earlier in the week (which, by the way, were just featured  over at Threading My Way, so go and take a look!) I somehow found a the time to work on three other projects.

I replaced the feet on a couple of my boys sleepers, I was able to finish the quilt top for my twins Fundraiser Quilt, and I cut a few more squares of denim for my Denim Picnic Rag Quilt.

And all this while having my three usual distractions underfoot, preparing to send my husband off on deployment, and getting ready for a major trip with just me and the boys.

But honestly, that is probably why I got so much done.  Sewing is my destressor.

But back to my projects, particularly the rag quilt.  I finally sat down and decided how big I wanted it to be.  When I first started saving jeans for it, I didn't really have a size in mind, because I knew I was a long way from having enough denim to worry about it. 

Last night I pulled out a couple of jean legs and cut about twenty 6-inch squares out of them.  As I laid them on my stack, I thought, "Hmmm...I should probably get an idea of how many of these I need!"  So I did a little research on the average size of a picnic quilt and decided on making it roughly 6.5 feet square. ( My husband is 6'4, so I figured if I am making something for us to all fit on, I might as well make it at least as long as he is tall.  You never know when a guy will want to lie down and take a nap, right?)

Well, that means I have to cut out 196 squares of denim.  And flannel.  And batting. 

That is 588 total squares. 

That's a lot.

And this stack only has about 75 so far.  I'm going to be working on this one for awhile.

I am going to Utah for my brother's wedding next week.  There is a fabric store there that has the most insane selection of flannel that I have ever seen in one store.  I am going to make a stop there and see if they have anything in my color palette for this quilt, which obviously from the photo above is navy, teal and lime green.  I'm crossing my fingers that I find something awesome.

As I mentioned last week, I am also taking my tree skirt to finish binding.  So I should have at least one more project finished by the time I get back from my trip.

WIP Stats

Total WIP's: 5

WIP's worked on this week: 2
New WIP's: 0

WIP's Finished: 0