The Countdown Can Commence

The pattern book: 12 days of Christmas: Art to Heart by Nancy Halverson
The dark border fabric: metro green goes blue by Michael Miller
The other fabrics: Sorry, didn't look!

Finally! Last night I finished my countdown to Christmas quilt hangings. It ended up being a much bigger production and money drain than I'd ever have imagined. It was fun, and I'm very glad I did it, but I am ready to move on to a new project!



If I were to sell this set, I'd honestly charge $200+ for it. That would break down to:

• $10 per quilt block (Matt says that wouldn't be enough for all the hours I put in)
• $24 for the stupid metal hanger that I ended up buying (I figured after all the time I put into it, it needed to be properly displayed! I tried to jimmy rig something, but it just didn't do it justice.)
• $20 for the book (it has tons of patterns in it I love, though, so I imagine I'll be using it for more Christmas projects down the road.)
• $30 or more for fabric. It's expensive to get good fabric, but I am beginning to be converted for "heirloom" projects. It's so much better quality and beautiful, vibrant prints I just can't resist any more.

I learned a couple things on this project.

• When leaving a hole to turn it right side out, don't leave it on a corner! Start and end in the middle of a straight edge.
  
• When you're working with 1/4 in. seam (something I never do!) it's nearly impossible to do the hidden stitch for the end closing.
  
• You have to be much more precise in sewing when you're working with a real patchwork pattern!
• Fabric selection can be extremely difficult and timely process.
• A good, large cutting mat is essential. I had a small one, but I wanted one that would measure up to a yard for proper squaring. I ended up getting one at Michael's with a half-off coupon.
• If you're not an expert at blanket stitching by eyeballing, start on a straight line, not a curve. I started on zero and I seriously almost want to take it out and redo it. But I won't. My stitching improved greatly from the first block (zero) to the last block (santa).