With one day to spare, I am sooooooo happy to say that I accomplished my goal to have all 30 vintage tree blocks done by the end of the year!
Throughout block construction, I’ve been struggling to come up with a layout beyond the standard on-point-with-sashing-and-cornerstones variety. After all this time, nothing had come to mind until a few days ago when it occurred to me that maybe a pieced border would be the solution I was looking for. I plugged the idea into EQ and it was perfect – lots of work, but perfect.
I also combed through my stash and found the perfect fabric for the alternate squares and setting triangles. It’s a homespun plaid and fortunately, there was more than enough to work with. I had considered unbleached muslin, but the effect was underwhelming. The homespun worked because it provided great contrast for the tree blocks.
Earlier this month, I finished these cute little felt ornaments for the Christmas tree:
And finally, a piece of my stitching past came back to me when we received my dad’s Christmas gift.
Tucked into the package was this, cut from the corner of a flour sack towel I had cross stitched for my mom when she and my dad moved into a new home in 1991-92.
Accompanying it was a note from my dad which read “A memento from the past.”
I was amazed at how well the stitching had held up and was amused that my dad had used Mom’s pinking shears to cut it. I don’t know what to do with it, but it was sweet of him to think to save it instead of throwing it away with the rest of the towel.
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