2022 Tuesday To Do #39: Last Finish of the Year? And Oh, btw Go Army! Beat Navy!

Cue Andy Williams:
🎶 "It's the holiday season!" 🎶
I have always loved traditional and older Christmas
music.   It just has the real vibe of the holidays for me.  
I've been kind of off / on with the holiday feels so far.
In our society (esp in retail!) it's sometimes easy to
forget that it's only early December and we have
plenty of time ahead of us to prepare.  And the actual
celebrating doesn't even start until Jesus comes.  So if
anyone out there is feeling a bit panicky, I'm sending
a gentle reminder to relax. You have time.

Now, let's all make our lists and just have some fun.
I invite you to join the rest of the do'ers on the

Last Week's Goals

1) Finish Midnight Pines
DONE! 


This is a big finish.  It's funny how I forget just how much
more work a full queen quilt is.   It's like it's 1.5 times
as big as my usual but somehow 2.5 times more work.


The finished top ended up about 89x108.
Hubs and I prefer a good-sized quilt on our bed so I was
using it for sizing--until I learned my daughter didn't really
 want a pillow tuck so the whole thing was just too long.


If you're going to trim, you might as well make it a
useable trim right?  So I cut 2.5" off the top and counted
 on the quilting to shrink it another 2-3".  Trimming
from the top keeps the shorter border under the pillows
(though I think it looks fine if it shows) and would bring
the quilt up from the bottom so that last row of trees
ends at the edge of the bed instead of hanging off.


In the end, it came out 88x104 so it's likely still
too big but at least by not quite as much.

Sometimes as the maker you get so caught up in
constructing a quilt that the final full finish can
catch you by surprise.  This one has kind of
blown me away--and the pics don't do it justice.

For reference, the pattern is Holiday Forest by Edyta Sitar.
(I increased it in size--about double?)

2) Plan quilt for wedding gift, maybe even start pulling.
DONE, mostly.
The colors are "burgundies, blues and grays" and
style-wise: "minimalistic, doesn't like lace or florals."
However, I still want a slightly traditional quilt feel to it.
The grays are "on the cool side," and I prefer warms.
This might be a struggle so an easy quilt would be helpful.
With that in mind, I think I'm going for this, but with
 a neutral (background fabric?) border:

"Circle of Friends" Jelly Roll Quilts In a Weekend
by Pam Lintott and Nicky Lintott

I'll likely have to add to the color scheme for some pop
and avoiding flowers is next to impossible but I'll see
what I can find.  I don't think I'm trying for an actual
bed quilt here, just a throw.  If anyone knows of any
fabric lines that might fit this, let me know but I'll
likely just make my own jelly roll.
(I really like the colors in the pic!)

3) MAKE SOMETHING FUN JUST FOR OUR HOME!
Very little but I'm still looking for ideas.


I've started on some holiday pillows from panels.
I'm pretty anti-panel but these match our basement
holiday decor to a "T" so I thought "Eh, what the heck?"
On the side of these are smaller panels that I'm not
real sure what I'll be doing with but I'm open to ideas.
I could work them into a throw quilt but again,
I'm anti-panel so not sure about that...


My anti-panel excuse for my other pillow project is
that they match our bed quilt so well and they were
also clearance deals.  As much as I hate dinking with it,
I'll probably add some trim to these if I can find some.

All of these have seen at least one or two seasons
go by so it will feel great getting them done.
And I think some no-brain sewing will be as welcome
as getting these things out of the sewing room.

In other news

To finish Midnight Pines, I took a trip up to my fave LQS
(for one of the borders and the binding) and found a
super-awesome bargain that I have to share.
I just know her $5/yd clearance price is going to go up
(or disappear completely--*gasp!*) one of these days so
I always feel like I need to take advantage of the deals.

(Ivory/black)

You all will totally understand why I grabbed the entire
bolt here.  It was very clear to me nothing had been taken
off of it but because she didn't want to bother with the
hassle of measuring, she only charged me for 13yds 
"just in case"--if that was okay with me?
So, 14 yds of Moda fabric for $65.  (Yeah, buddy!)
Tell me this wouldn't make great backings!
Maybe even backgrounds?
It matches so much of what I work with!
Quilty friends, keep situations like this in mind in a few
weeks when I come out with my final fabric tracking
numbers for the year.  The numbers are exponential,
and sort of embarrassing!  (Sort of....)
So don't judge.

Back to those holiday feels...
I did finish decorating but there have been two major
hurdles to jump before I let myself completely relax
 and do all the fun things like finish my shopping, wrap
gifts, etc.  The first was that ginormous quilt for my
daughter; the second comes at the end of this week.  
It's a bit of a bucket list item so I'm pretty excited!
(It's prob not an easy one but any guesses?)
And after that it'll be full on-Christmas fun!

SO, for next week:

1) The Big Bucket List Item
Woot woot!

2) Finish/top off pre-holiday cleaning

3) Start a gift for in-laws?
Waiting for hubs to find something first.  If not...
My MIL loves quilts but the issues there are 1) they
are more for her than both of them and 2) it would
be more from me than from both hubs and I.
But when people are really hard to buy for....?

4) Wedding gift quilt
Keep thinking on/looking for fabrics

Happy quilting!
Go Army! Beat Navy this week!

P. S.
I spent hours in a coffee shop writing this post and playing
online.  I haven't done this me-time thing in quite a while;
it's so therapeutic and somehow it really brings order to
my brain! I recommend doing this for pre-holiday sanity.
I might have to engage in a repeat in another week or so!

Comments

Ivani said…
Midnight Pines ia a lovely quilt, Cheree. And the weeding quilt will be perfect for the occasion, I am sure you will find the perfect line fabric for it.
piecefulwendy said…
Midnight Pines is just gorgeous, and your quilting looks great! I'm thinking on the fabrics for the next quilt, so will chat with you about that soon. I know what's on your bucket list, so won't give it away!
Kathleen said…
Love the Midnight Pines quilt. Sorry you had to trim some, but it does happen. I don't like pillow tucks but find all my 80 x 80 quilts are a little too small for my linking on my bed, so I made the last one much larger. I need to make us a new one, so I will try to settle on something that works! Love your plans for the wedding quilt - it will come together. Nice score on the bolt of fabric....I don't think you will have any trouble using it.
Midnight Pines turned out beautifully! I even like the black and white color scheme, but wasn't sure about it when you first talked about it. That does sound like a bargain for that bolt of fabric, and we know you'll use it. Gifts for relatives are always tricky for me - I actually bought my mom a fleece blanket at Kohls because I think she is more likely to use it than the quilts I've made her!
Anne-Marie said…
Great find on the bolt of fabric! My guess is computer.
Home Sewn By Us said…
Hi Cheree! Isn't that interesting that DD didn't want a pillow tuck?! Did she ask for pillow shams instead? Just curious - I like the tuck myself but whatevs. That was brilliant cutting down the top by 2.5" - a strip size you will undoubtedly use. The next wedding quilt just looks so joyous to me. Happy circles dancing around, celebrating the wedding. And you're anti-panel? Hmm. Me, too, kind of. I am frustrated that they are printed poorly, crooked, and fiddly to work with. BUT, in their defense, they have such cute ones that sometimes they are just warranted and unavoidable and fiddle-worthy. That was a backing STEAL. You could not have left that behind at your LQS. Not only would the quilt police have arrested you, but I personally would have to take severe measures for not taking the whole bolt. Good grief - it's polka dot. It has many uses. Bucket list guess - hmm - so many choices - golf related? Cadet-involved long driving trip for the weekend. That's all I've got. {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne
Sharon Kwilter said…
Great job on your Midnight Pines quilt. Congrats on the finish!
Sharon - IN said…
That's a beautiful Midnight Pines quilt. Circle of Friends looks great for the wedding quilt. Enjoy the hunt for their color way! I've never been much of a panel person, but then decided they do make a good place to start for charity quilts.
Peggy Stockwell said…
Your pines quilt is fantastic! I don't think your daughter will be saying anything but ooohhh! Pre-Covid I use to write my blogs at the coffee shop as I never could get any peace and quite at home. Post-Covid... Things are different and for some reason the coffee shop is not so comforting. Oh I know what it is. My co-blogger Simba can't go to the coffeeshop! Such a great deal on the bolt of fabric. You can't go wrong with that buy. I come and go with panels. Add your own quilting and it will be perfect.
Good luck this week and enjoy your holidays!!!!
Linda said…
Every time you finish a quilt I think it is my favorite, and Midnight Pines is no exception - might be my favorite(?) I would not have thought to ask about the "pillow tuck". I am guessing playing golf in the snow? LOL I don't know! Good luck on the big game!! Thank you for always sharing so well with us at To Do Tuesday. (I want to do the coffee shop thing!)
Kate said…
Midnight Pines turned out beautifully! Enjoy your bucket list item and good luck with your list for this week. I've had a hard time with Christmas this year, but I did get the wrapping stuff out yesterday and that helped some. Happy stitching this week.