12 Days of Christmas in July--Quilt Top Finished

It sure wasn't a beginning to feel like Christmas mood amidst the ring of fire heat wave, intermittent power outages, torrential downpours, flash flooding (some water in my basement studio because the sump pump went out, but not bad enough to stop me from sewing)  that occurred during the past twelve days but I'm glad my top is finished and is completed on schedule.

I love this top and that all of the fabric used came from my Christmas stash which I've been wanting to use up.  The fabric is all from different Basic Grey Christmas lines with the exception of one print which is from Sweetwater's Cookie Exchange line.  It just took me two auditions before I was happy with the fabric placement or "rhythm" like I call it.  I wasn't happy with the first audition and while I was walking the dog, the rhythm came to me.  When I worked at a quilt shop and was putting together a bargello type kit using five fabrics, I came up with a "rhythm"; Shocker (Accent), Light, Dark, Mush, Mush (medium value fabric)--you can dance a Salsa to this. I realized that since I had sixteen fabrics, four each of red, light, green and teal, I could use the same rhythm, just eliminate the last mush and then after rearranging the fabrics to this rhythm, I was happy.  

The suspense of wanting to see the way this quilt was going to turn out and not waiting until all four panels were sewn, (also couldn't figure out in my head how the four panels and the center square were going to be sewn together) I took a photo of the first panel sewn and then did a four square photo collage on PicMonkey, rotated the panels in each square and was able to preview the quilt and see that the center square involved a partial seam.  This felt like reading the ending of a mystery/suspense novel before finishing it because you had to know the outcome--which I don't do, but that's what it felt like when I was sewing the strips together.

Also, as I was sewing the strips, I was thinking that the word "Trip" in the pattern name can have dual meanings.  When you follow all of the directions and tips, your "trip" will be nice and enjoyable.  When you go off course which I did when I decided to split all of the seams of each strip sets for each panel all at once, and not one at a time like the direction, I did "trip" and stumble and became totally confused when one seam was split wrong.  I did "trip" several times--it probably didn't help that I was watching TV while splitting.  I did pay attention while sewing the strips together and always made sure I was sewing on the correct side so I did not "trip" then.  And, just as important, I pressed, according to the directions.  For such an easy pattern, it is so easy to sew wrong.  I've made several Trip Around the World Quilts before, but Sarah's (Confession of a Fabric Addict) directions were the best.  I've never made one like this one before and my strips laid nice and straight and sewed together very nicely (there were some spots where the seams didn't nest but like Sarah said, the pattern is so busy you won't notice them.

Now that this top is done, I am ready to join  the I Wish You A Merry Quilt Along which starts August 1st, (details can be found here).  I'll be using my Christmas Cotton+Steel stash for this quilt.  Of course, I needed buy some green fabrics to add to this mix and I might as well confess now, I also bought some more Christmas fabrics to add to the never-ending stash.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop. ( Be sure to visit each blogger's site for wonderful holiday ideas and be eligible to win some great prizes), My Quilt Infatuation Needle and Thread Thursday;

Thank Goodness for Christmas QALs during the Summer

We're experiencing a heat wave this week, a "ring of fire" as the meteorologists are calling it and, of course, our central air has decided it needs to be fixed.  It's days like this I appreciate that my sewing studio is in the lower level, i.e, basement.  Also helping me to stay cool is the Quilt Along that is happening along side the 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop.  Today is Day 6 and I am on schedule with my quilt.  I'm loving this Quilt Along because it only lasts 12 days, the helpful tips which were provided and also because I am using mostly several collections of Christmas fabrics from my Basic Grey stash which meant no new fabric was purchased.  What also is very nice are the tools which are helping me stay on task:  my die-cutter used for the sixty-four  2-1/2" strips needed for this quilt and made them nice and straight, my two big basting boards to keep my strips in order and my big Shape Cut Ruler Pro which made cutting the 2-1/2" strip sets an absolute breeze. (changing the blade on my rotary cutter helped too).

Please be sure to check out the 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop,  (you can see it here) where twenty-five bloggers will be sharing their hand-crafted Christmas ideas.  Sarah is doing a great job with the blog hop and I like that the new links and the next quilt steps are posted each day after Midnight so I guess I'll be staying up late tonight just to satisfy my curiosity.

And once the July QAL is done, I'll be ready to start another one on August 1st.  I'm looking forward to participating in the I Wish You A Merry Quilt-A-Long,  and reuniting with some of the bloggers I met through the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.  Eleven of these quilt bloggers will be releasing every other Tuesday, a new Free 12" quilt block pattern and tutorial.  (More information can be found on Quilting Jet Girl's blog, click here).  My plan for this one is to use my Cotton+Steel Christmas stash and to have a new wall hanging for the holiday.

I'm linking up with the fortnightly Sew Stitch Snap Share link up hosted by Linda of Kokaquilts.  I am honored and thrilled that Linda has mentioned me in her post today.  Please be sure to visit and join the link up to see Linda's lovely work, I love her fabric mashups, and to check out some of the other bloggers.

Here's hoping your quilting is keeping you cool!

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