Wednesday, December 09, 2015

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!

13 comments:

  1. Loving the Christmas quilt so far. Can't wait to see it all pieced together. And those deer are cute. I haven't made one yet...might have to remedy that this weekend.

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  2. It is looking a lot like Christmas on your blog. Love the reindeer are so cute.

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  3. How you have time to do this with twins and a traveling husband is beyond me! AND you blogged it! AND both projects are SO cute.

    Amazing!

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  4. Wow, you are cruising right along! What cute reindeer; Lorna is amazing with all her animal design ideas.

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  5. Love your Christmas quilt so far!

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  6. OH my goodness, I hadn't seen these reindeer before, they are precious! I love your fabric choices, they are perfect. I love all the Christmas-y things you're making!

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  7. Oh, I forgot to share my reindeer pillows from Lorna! I love yours - they are pretty challenging at first, I think. I made three and only got one right! But I love 'em anyway. (It could be that I'm bad at following directions, though...)

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  8. Those reindeer are wonderful, especially your brown fabric choice. Look forward to seeing how all your work comes together.

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  9. Lorna's reindeer are adorable, and the three you've made will make a great pillow. I love that you pieced scraps together to make pieces big enough for your Christmas quilt. Make it work!

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  10. Both projects look great. Love the reindeer.

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  11. The Christmas squares quilt is looking great, and I love how no scrap is going to waste.
    For a moment, I was a little puzzled by BT's Christmas fabric pull (brown is a Christmas colour?), then I kept reading. Oh my goodness, I adore the reindeer!! That pattern is going straight to Pinterest for when I ever get around to making a tree skirt.

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  12. That is one seriously jazzed level of productivity Jenn! Wonderful Christmas projects! Your reindeer look terrific lined up ear to ear, in a row!

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  13. oh wow, you have been busy! nice work!

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