Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Christmas decor creeping in

We are of that odd breed that doesn't trim the Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving.  December 1st doesn't turn the switch on either.  Usually the tree goes up the 3rd week of Advent, 2 weekends before Christmas Day, but then it stays up till after January 1st so we can enjoy the Christmas cheer through the kids' "winter holiday".

However, we do let a few Christmassy things sneak in, a few at a time, earlier than the tree.  This past weekend we took advantage of a milder day to deck out the front step railing with greenery and bows without freezing our fingers.  I added a poinsettia to the coffee table.  Our first Christmas card arrived yesterday so the garland we attach the cards to every year will make an appearance shortly.

And I've been playing with a Christmas fabric honey bun. It would have come together even more quickly if I'd trimmed units earlier in the process.  I haven't used pre-cuts very often, and I forgot that they aren't exactly sized.  My "1.5 inch wide" honeybun strips were a little wider so when I sewed two strips together with a 1/4 inch seam the resulting strip was wider than the 2.5 inches I needed.  This is when I should have trimmed the strips down to the proper width, but I didn't think of that until after I had subcut the strips into 2.5 inch units, which weren't quite square after all.  Instead of trimming 18 strip units I trimmed 108 individual squares.

I've encountered this kind of frustration with pre-cuts before.  Am I alone in this?  I suppose the advantage of these bundles is that it gives you a little bit of a lot of different fabrics to play with, but I don't think it really cuts down on the cutting chore.

Anyway, it's done now and today I'm going to take a deep breath and try my hand at freemotion quilting again.  Wish me luck!

7 comments:

  1. The only pre-cuts that I have ever had are charm squares and they are good. I've never bought honey buns or any of those. They seem kind of expensive to me. I love your table runner! It looks great! Good luck with the quilting.

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  2. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...every blog I see... :)

    I like the table runner. I've not had the same problems with precuts, but I haven't worked with many. Well, I should say no more trouble than with stuff I cut myself.

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  3. That is a very pretty table runner!

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  4. We don't decorate early here either, well we don't have Thanksgiving. Usually its the weekend after my birthday however this year its a fews day early as the boys have chicken pox and I needed to entertain them...lol

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  5. We tend to wait 'til at least the middle of December to put the tree up (although since we no longer buy a 'real' tree we could have it up sooner).

    I really like your zig-zag table runner. I fits the table perfectly, too. My only experience with pre-cuts is with the layer cakes I recently cut into. No two of them were exactly the same size. Good luck with the freemotion quilting.

    Sandy

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  6. Your table runner is really pretty; a really nice touch for Christmas! Your porch light looks very nice too! I've never tried the pre-cuts, but I'll be sure to check measurements if and when I do. Have fun quilting! ---"Love"

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  7. Wonderful table runner.Thanks for sharing and love your evergreens on your porch light.

    Carolyn

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