Christmas Creations...

Well the Christmas Tree quilt top was done Monday night and I still haven't made the backing yet. See, as I sewed the tree quilt I was also stitching a few things here and there for the tree skirt. The one cool thing about the FQ's used is that you will have a nice wide strip of pieces left over from the sides. I even cut mine a tad larger than the estimated 12x18, instead adding another half inch or so to the size on each side. So as sewed I made some pieces out if the smaller strips so I could start the tree skirt trees. I continued to sew yesterday until I had the regular Tree Topper pattern and then I put it on the design wall to decide how to enlarge it even more so I wasn't square, and was a little bit bigger.
Then I got the idea! Make it more octagonal and use more of the left over strips!! After making a freezer paper template I started making pieces and the tree skirt is all done, except for quilting and binding, of course! I left open the flap on the bottom all the way to the center and once I see how big the new tree center is, I'll cut a circle and bind it up. This is Marcie's pattern just jazzed up a bit by me!

Now I better get back to finishing my tree quilt. I sewed it together Monday, leaving off the last side row, thinking about just how wide I wanted it to be. It still seems far wider than needed and too wide for the length, but I'm satisfied. My cut blocks turned out to be 9 3/4 x 14, but they looked so leggy that I trimmed them to 13.5". Now I wish I had kept the extra 1/2 inch, but what do you do afterwards, huh? It's still a cool quilt.

Thanks so much for all the comments! I am really blushing! Next picture...all quilted and on the hanger! Next to the tree and the new tree skirt!