alidiza: Christmas Wrap Up

Sunday, December 29, 2024

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.