Wednesday, March 29, 2017

It is Done!

Awhile back, I made a pledge to finish my Christmas Tree Skirt. I can now say, it is finished, completely finished. It won't win any prizes, since it won't ever be entered in any contest, but it is done.
While I was working on quilting, Mary Fons announced an essay contest, on her blog. so, while I was quilting, I composed an essay about the quilt. in my head. I typed it up, and printed it. I even mailed it to Mary. So, binding finished, I will share my essay with you.




I bought a kit to make a Christmas Tree Skirt, a number of years ago. It is in blues, greys, white and sage greens. The colours are not traditional Christmas colours, but I liked them. I bought the kit during a post Christmas clearance at an on-line quilt shop. So it arrived in January, of 2010, I think.

There is a problem with making a Christmas tree skirt. One only thinks about it in late November, when one is too busy to do anything about it, so it gets forgotten for another year.

The October after I bought the kit, I took it to a quilt retreat and spent the weekend making the blocks. The blocks are nine patches and snowballs, set on point, with setting triangles. By the end of the weekend, I had the blocks completed and the blocks sewn into rows. I was sure I could get it finished by Christmas.

About two years later, I sewed the rows together. Then I started planning how I would quilt it. The snowballs should have free motion quilting, I thought. Maybe snowflakes, or something. Of course, I don’t do free motion quilting, but that didn’t seem to be a problem. I put it away, and planned to learn some free motion.

I came across it before Christmas, 2016. I decided that this was it, it would be finished by Christmas. Of course, I hadn’t figured into that thought that, this year, there was a new grandson, and he would need a Christmas stocking. The new grandson, himself, would take much of my attention. It wasn’t finished by Christmas.

In February, I decided that the only way I was going to finish this, was to try to work on it every day. Forget the free motion, straight lines would do fine. Even if I only did one row of quilting, each time I sat down at the machine, it would eventually get finished. Of course, I would need to be able to set up the machine and just leave it, so that I could do a row, whenever I had a chance.

So, whenever I have had a few minutes, I have added a row or two to the quilting.  I am quilting it on my 1939 Singer machine, a wonderful flea market find. Since I haven’t quilted on this machine before, it isn’t my best work, but it is okay. After all, the finished product is going to lay on the floor, with presents piled on it, and probably a cat sleeping on it. As I sew, I revel in the engineering that went into my 1939 beauty. I wonder what her story is. The decals are pristine, so the machine was barely used. The machine is sitting in front of a window, where I can see the street, and watch the snow, the neighbours, and the kids coming home from school. The time passes quickly.

Now, the quilting is done. The binding is made. I will trim the quilt and add the binding, either tonight, or tomorrow. I will take the quilt to my quilt group on Monday and show it proudly, at Show and Tell. It is done. It isn’t perfect, but it is done.


6 comments:

  1. Beautiful skirt and Great story! It would be lovely if that story could somehow stay "attached" to the tree skirt. Maybe just a printed sheet of paper tucked into a pocket on the back?

    Anyway, show it proudly and enjoy it. It really is lovely.

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  2. I like Marie's suggestion to have the essay printed and attached to your tree skirt,Those colours, the pattern and super binding, and after all, like cheese, all good things take time. My 150 Canadian Women blocks have taken a back seat lately, just saving all the details, the freefall leaves are cut, and the laundry day wall hanging is almost done.Show off your finish, be proud, it is stunning.

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  3. Well done! Every quilt/project has a story, and your quilt skirt has quite a history.

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  4. It's so pretty! I'm glad you sent the essay on for the contest. Wishing you good luck!

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  5. I love your tree skirt! -and your story. Have you posted pictures of your 1939 beauty before? I am interested in knowing what kind of attachments you have for your machine. I inherited a Singer 301 last year with the coolest attachments. Just have to figure out how to use them.

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  6. It's beautiful and it's done. Happy Dance.

    Thanks for linking up with Needlework Tuesday.

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