WIP Wednesday - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...at least on my design wall. This week I went all bonkers and started two new projects - one large, one small. Warning... this post turned into a Christmas-y behemoth! ☺

Once I finally decided on what to make with my Naughty or Nice Bundle from Pile O Fabric and set my ALYOF goal for December, I couldn't stop working on it!

I got a little carried away! Cutting happened on Saturday and sewing was underway on Sunday. The hardest part was the element of pre-cuts. When Allison @ Cluck Cluck Sew says there's very little waste, she means it. It also means that you're down to the last ¼ inch on some of those FQs, especially if you're a pre-washer like yours truly. I'd not normally leave a frayed edge, but this time... well, you gotta do what you gotta do!

 

These square in a square blocks came together nicely. Simple but effective!

Next up, the strip blocks. To get that planned scrappy look, I turned my trusty Rubbermaid box. It's great for holding current scraps or for mixing up squares or strips. Just pull two out and sew 'em... unless they look horrid together. Can't have that.

I must have been a little tired (imagine?!) while cutting. I noticed more than one oddball piece. ½ an inch too long, you say? Yup.

 And lickity split, a stack of strip blocks. Did I mention this is coming together quickly?

I took a page from Dominique @ The Running Thimble's book for these miscuts. In her recent scrappy Christmas quilt, she pieced some of her squares so as not to waste fabric. Mine was to cover some inattention while cutting. Either way, in a scrappy quilt, no one's going to notice!

Then on to the most labour intensive blocks, the 16 patches. This pile of squares makes me so very happy!

I even had to pull the same trick to get one more 16 patch block... I didn't want to repeat any fabric squares! Who pieces a 2½ inch square anyway? Me, apparently.

 In the end, I had eight 16 patch blocks and I love 'em.

Squee! With the other 41 blocks being 8½ inch squares, I'll ready to lay this baby out. Only my design wall is a little small...#firstworldstudioproblems

As for the small project, it's all thanks to BT's profound love of pillows. He drags them all around the living room and flops on them. I figured he needed another Christmas one. You know, because he knows it's almost Christmas. So off to the stash I went for a fabric pull!

Some Sun Print Bike Path in Brown, Kona Latte, C+S XOXO in Picnic Gold, C+S Sprinkle in Black Cat, and C+S  Dottie in Cotton Candy Gold. Look at me using my stash! And there's that Latte from this week's Sunday Stash. I know the suspense was killing you diehards.

Just like with the Dog Gone Cute blocks, I reached for my trusty masking tape to label all those little bits. Honestly, the extra effort pays off in the end!

I ♥ chain piecing.

Lately, I've been hoarding scraps. Honestly, I think whatever ScrapMaster has is contagious. It seems like every project I work on breed another one in scraps. But I'm drawing the line at these. I will not make them into HSTs. I will not.

And here they are!  Some lovely little reindeer!

The  pattern is courtesy of the lovely and talented Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts. She shared it with us Dog Gone Cute Blog Hoppers as a thank you, but if you'd like your own copy, pop out and pick up the current Quiltmaker 100 Quilt Blocks magazine. Perhaps you'll make all nine of Santa's reindeer. I'm stopping at 3... for now.

What a week! If I keep up this level of productivity, I might even have a finish for Friday! I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, as well as WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced. Hope you took a little time away from the Christmas preparations to sew a little something too!

J