Finishes!

What a great feeling it is to finish long-standing projects!   This morning, I took pictures of two things I finished recently.

First is a Christmas throw made of one of my guild's blocks of the month.  I think the month was December, so the drawing was in January.  I call the block "Ribbon Star," although I'm not really sure what the name was.  At any rate, it was quite easy to make.  I really like the alternating sashing - green and red.  My friend Marie quilted it on her long arm using variegated green and red thread in a loopy floral design.

I have two more of these blocks left over so I may make some placemats for us to use over the holidays.  I didn't use them in the quilt because it was big enough and one of them was made of a juvenile print with a gold glitzy background (not my style!).  

I enjoy participating in the guild block of the month but I try not to enter more than once a year for fear I will win.  I usually make the block but don't put my name in the drawing.  I'm not sure who I'll give this throw to or if I'll put it in my etsy shop.   For now, it's going in a pile with all the other quilts I'm not planning to keep.

I received five homespun Ohio Star blocks in a "teacup" auction at the state guild meeting.  People buy tickets and then put their tickets into the teacup - or in this case a brown paper bag - by the item(s) they want to win.  No one was putting tickets into the bag for this item which also included some books, patterns, and fabric.  So, of course, I did... and won.  

All of the blocks were different colors except the two in the table runner I just made.  It took me a while to decide that I didn't need to use all five in the same project.   I love the denim-colored quilter's linen I used around each block set on point and am happy to have some left over for a future project.  Now I have two blocks left over that will probably become potholders.  I'm going to take this table runner to the florist/gift shop downtown to sell when they are ready to take more items.  They opened the day after the flood cleanup but are still fine tuning.   

This morning, I got the binding on the bargello Christmas tree skirt, but I didn't take a picture yet.  Will do that tomorrow if I get a chance.  That project wasn't too hard once I figured out that paperplates were helpful for keeping track of the order of each fabric.  I used a preprinted piece of batting from the Warm Co. and found the instructions very helpful.  I needed over 6 yards of bias binding, though, and didn't have enough coordinating Christmas fabric.  I ended up buying green commercial bias binding, and it turned out surprisingly nice, even though it is a bit stiff.