Christmas in June

The most amazing thing is happening at my sewing table these days: I am ahead of schedule on a project! I’m not very good at last-minute panic sewing. Sewing is much more enjoyable when I don’t fixate on a deadline. Of course, this means I’m still working on a quilt for a January 2014 birthday and a quilt for Mother’s Day 2014. Yesterday I finished a tote bag for Mother’s Day 2014 just as the recipient was walking through my front door—only 23 days late, people!

I’m slowing chipping away at this table topper with Christmas fabrics from my stash. I like how the design pairs a rigid geometric pattern with the haphazard placement of patterned fabrics. I’m using my last bits of Martha Nagley’s Poinsettias and Holly (below), Robert Kaufman’s Quilter’s Linen in red, and a snowflake pattern from (I think) Michael Miller. Everything is tied together with Color Spectrum Dark Moss.

I like how it’s turning out—I think I’ll keep it for myself, actually—but the project is forcing me to consider when close enough is close enough for me. That is, when do I rip out a seam to get my triangles a big tighter and when do I let things ride? It’s important to me that the pinwheels meet nicely in the center. I also wanted the dark moss triangles to have intact points. There are some wonky blocks . . . we’ll see what happens with them as I finish piecing. Since I’m using my last bits of these prints, there is no starting any of the blocks again from scratch, just ripping out seams and redoing.

I have to put this down every so often to work on more pressing projects, but with five months of lead time left, I think it’s safe to say that it will be done for Christmas 2014!

I’m linking up to Work in Progress Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced today. If you’re also working on something Christmas-y or if you have a recommendation for another Christmas project, I’d love to hear about it!