Saturday, November 22, 2014

The Last Holiday Pattern of the Year: Part 1

I haven't written in my blog, I haven't posted a new pattern, I haven't kept up with my housework, and I haven't even begun preparing for Thanksgiving. I would feel horribly guilty if it weren't for this one little thing that's kept me busy and totally preoccupied.

What can need so much attention? The blame all belongs to the last holiday pattern of the year. It's not the last pattern, mind you, just the last one with a holiday theme.

This one is taking forever! I'm making three different variations of the pattern, too. Thank goodness, it's turning into something I really, really like!  From the beginning I had a vision in my head, but creating that vision in fabric has been quite a challenge this time.

The background was the easy part. I finished the piecing earlier in the week and only needed to fill in the blank white spaces with color. 


The appliques, though! Oh my goodness, what a marathon of trial and error! I don't know how much paper I must have gone through in designing them. What should be so complex about poinsettias and holly that the planning should take three days?  

Thank goodness, I was finally finished with the templates yesterday afternoon. The poinsettia appliques are in three sections each. Aligning every little piece of a petal of leaf individually was just too much like working with a jigsaw puzzle. 


I had errands to run this morning, but the afternoon was spent fusing appliqes in place. By dinnertime they were firmly attached to the table runner, the small table topper, and the really small table topper. Tomorrow I plan to blanket stitch everything in place.  I hope to be be finished with the sewing and the pattern by Thanksgiving. "Hope" is the key word here. Fingers crossed!

I won't give everything away quite yet, but this shows the poinsettias before the applique stitching. 




Wishing you all a wonderful week!

It's going to be a busy one at my house! A pattern to finish, a birthday cake to bake, and Thanksgiving dinner is at my house this year! Yikes!