Piecy pIecy

Ok…. YES!  You all so absolutely knew I was starting a Christmas tree skirt.   Great minds think alike, right?  Well, with no suspension left, let’s get to work.

I promptly slashed about 5 inches of each fabric, end to end, to make this pile of strips, ranging from 1-2″ wide. In the morning, the sun fell on it in such a lovely way. Who knew a pile of scraps could beckon me so?

But, when I pieced my very first triangle, I immediately started having second thoughts about that teal. Even though the Christmas spice prints have a tad of teal in them, the solid strip just stood out so much from all of the other warm shades.

I was set on proceeding sans teal, until it came to me in the shower (ah, for clear shower thoughts)… the teal is my only dark value. Remember those value quilts? Sew Katie Did suggests that if you’re not happy with your color choices, pay attention to value.  Now, I do want my skirt to have a range of values.  To me, that makes a quilt seem happy, full-of-life and also gender-neutral.  So here goes:

I added 2 black and white prints and a darker green textured fabric.  See how friendly they are with that teal?  I think they tip the overall warm/cool balance and help with depth of value.  Now, here’s the result:

So, do you think that it works?  Please say yes!  Sometimes I think it looks a little nutso, but I remind myself that our Christmas decor has the personality of those multi-color vintage Christmas lights.  Not very subtle. And, hey, this is very merry, right?

In other news, Aria has discovered that she can actually, truly help me with this project by deciding on the order of strips for piecing.  I laid down a few rules (or the child would have chosen all prints!) and she was off.  I’ve really been sewing a lot of what she lays out, so this is a true collaborate effort.  Good memories, I’m sure!

I have a confession:  Aria is disappointed that none of these fabrics are designed by Anna Maria Horner.  She also hopes to meet the designer when we go to Nashville this month.  I suppose that reveals the depths of my affections for Ms. Horner (blush).  When we were working together today, Aria was shocked to discover that Anna Maria Horner makes solid fabrics.  Imagine THAT!  Perhaps that legitimizes my insistence on so many solid fabrics in this project to my little artist-to-be.

P.S.  The table, is just a little messy.

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Interrupted

This week I dared to try a little stitching during the day.  I didn’t get too far before Aria was imploring me to help her make a wedding dress.  Apparently, a wedding dress is strapless and long – really long.  She wanted to attach a blue playsilk to the hem of her pink and white hibiscus print sundress and remove the straps.  Um, err….

I steered her towards the concept of classic white, honestly hoping she might toss the idea so I could get back to work.  But, of course not.  She simply suggested I get some white fabric!  So, abandoning all hope for my project, I sent her to fetch this white petticoat dress of sorts that she’s been wearing as a nightgown.

Here she is proudly pinning her chosen purple chiffon to the hem of the dress.  It was her first time at this type of pinning.  When we went to stitch I realized that I had forgot to emphasize that ideally the dress hem and chiffon should be pinned together without gathering either fabric.   But, as Aria says, “It’s ok, Mommy!”

After pinning Aria chose a thread color for the machine stitching.  She worked the sewing machine foot peddle while I fed the fabric into the machine and removed the pins.  She prefers to go painfully slow.  Her favorite part of machine sewing is choosing a stitch.  After much consideration and reconsideration, she chose this wavy pattern which shows up quite nicely, I think.

So, there you have it.   One loooong wedding dress!  Aria handstitched a leftover chiffon scrap to a headband to create a veil, so I think we’re all set for the big day.

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