Christmas Celebration Wreath Row

Say “Wreath Row” several times fast! No, it is not an airport in London. It is the fifth row in my Christmas Celebration quilt from the Shabby Fabrics Christmas Celebration Row Quilt series. There are six blocks to make in this fifth installment. Wreaths are made out of these six green fabrics and these two red fabrics from the Emmitt and Ivy Sweetwater line for Moda. It is always a nice surprise to see the new additions each month. This month the fabric not revealed before in previous rows was the cream background one with the mini Christmas trees, fifth from the left. I mistakenly made the red bow four times for a wreath out of this fabric. Details later.

 

I cut the six green fabrics three layers at a time, to assure cleaner cuts. I cut the two red fabrics at the same time and labeled my pieces with letters. The pattern does not assign the pieces letters, but this is a habit I use that helps me keep organized. I write my assigned letters on the pattern and then lay the corresponding Alphabitties on each stack. During assembly, a letter is easier to reference than the dimensions of a piece.

This is the first wreath I made. From the triangles I cut off each of the four corners, I made a pinwheel.

Then I made the inside of the other five wreaths all at the same time. These cut off corners were too small to make a pinwheel, even for pinwheel obsessed me. 

Next I decided to make all the bows at once. They are fussy and tiny and I was on a roll This is the bow for the wreath of mini Christmas trees. I made it once. I took it apart because I wanted the center knot fabric to face the same was as the loops of the bow. I reassembled it…wrong a second time. This next time I got it oriented the way I wanted. When I went through my stack of wreath centers to add the bow on top, I found, stacked between the layers, a bow I had already made…and correctly, too! Oh, well. Now I have an extra.

Here are the six wreaths all joined in a row. Above them is their corresponding bonus pinwheel. I now have an extra bow for the wreath second from the left. The row measures 8½“ high by 50½“ wide. I am excitedly awaiting the shipment of the sixth row near the end of July,

September Log Cabin and Schoolhouse

The theme for the  Pieceful Patchwork banner for September from Shabby Fabrics is a home and school focus. There are two Log Cabin blocks and two Schoolhouse blocks. The color scheme is made up of deep reds and autumnal oranges for the log cabin blocks. The central cream of the log cabin block has typeface on it, which is a favorite feature of mine. The school house blocks are navy, teal, and deep brown, with a calico like floral pattern in some that makes me think of Little House on the Prairie. As usual, I cut out the fabrics and organized the pieces in my tray with Alphabitties. I used blue Alphabitties for the warm tones of the log cabin and black Alphabitties for cool tones of the schoolhouses.

I made two log cabin blocks at a time. They seemed straightforward enough that the risk of me messing up twice was small. I am usually more cautious. September’s kit seemed simpler than other months.

I then moved on to the schoolhouse components. I also made both of these blocks at the same time. The roof and part of the front wall are shown in the next photo.

Next are two side walls with two gold windows and two completed front walls with a teal door each. When I assembled the schoolhouse parts, I also made a pinwheel from the corners cut off at the roof.

All blocks are ready to be assembled with green sashing, brown inner border, and red plaid outer border.

I have sandwiched the top with bamboo batting and cream colored backing. I usually procrastinate on this step, so I am proud I did not delay for September’s banner. My binding and hanging sleeve are ready to go. So now I am prepped for free motion quilting. This is when I need to stare at it for at least a day or two to decide the motifs to stitch. No. This delay is not undesirable procrastination. It is my normal, justified thinking time.