WIP Wednesday: Christmas UFOs

Linking up these works in progress at Freshly Pieced

It's Wednesday and I actually worked on some long time Works in Progress that can be classified as UFOs, the Thangles Tree Skirt and matching Advent Calendar (Tutorial here). I finished the stockings in time for Christmas last year. I am hoping that at least one of these 2 will be done before Christmas this year.

The Advent calendar just needs to be bound. That means making binding.

November 2012

I know, it looks kind of atrocious. Apparently I am terrible at pressing consistent 1/2 hems. None of the pockets is the same size, exactly, so when I sewed them down, going up and down and the rows and across the bottoms of the pockets, the quilting lines went really wonky between them. (Yes I was being lazy.) I have not ironed it yet, so that might help. Or I may need to quilt the white areas to death to hide the crazy. :)
I had some trouble fitting them all on the background, probably from my inaccurate pressing. I had to trim the header a ton to get them to fit. I think if I made it again, I would cut the background a couple inches wider all around and give the pockets a little more room. I also need to ping Lee and see what batting she used. I used fusible fleece, which looks pretty darn bad. It only fuses on one side too, so I quilted down the middle and around the edges to get the front to stay down. I used the cruddy looking side for the back.



The tree skirt is transitioning to a quilt, or rather not transitioning from a quilt top to a tree skirt. I decided to keep it as is and use it to cuddle under and keep on the couch instead of under the tree. I can still put it down there, it just won't be so easy to do without the slit.

October 2010

November 2012

December 2010

December 2012

Did you notice that I put the corners on backwards? :) I noticed too late, but since it is not going to be a round tree skirt I don't mind, so they stay.
The reason it has not been put together is that when I trimmed the blocks, I had no idea what I was doing (still don't) and left very little seam allowance, which cuts off points. I put the rows together and lost the points. I ripped them out and packed it up. 2 years ago.
So this time when I put them together I used a very scant seam allowance and only lost one point, just barely. Of course, when/if I border it I might lose a few more.
I plan on doing a scrappy back with all the leftover fabrics.

I still have several scarves outstanding that I need to get going on. Then my holiday sewing will be done.

Have a great week!