Pillow and Tree Skirt Finish....Finally!

Every week I am hoping to have a lot of stuff to show you on Friday or Saturday, but I can never seem to finish what I intend to....so is life!  I was all bummed that I did not finish a certain bag project to post about when I realized  I actually did finish a big project this week!  I finished my sister's tree skirt...yay!  I say that because I was supposed to finish it last Christmas and I only got the top done, and then the tree skirt went away for a while.  Now it is finished, and before Christmas no less.  I used the colors my sister asked for and then I came up with the design.  I really liked how the piecing came out, so much so I might just have to make another one for myself.  But that is a project for next year.  

Please excuse the lack of the ornaments on our tree, it is a longish story so I will spare you, but we are building up our ornament collection again.  Candy canes were playing a big role as ornaments this year, but as you can see in a house with four kids and a husband who loves candy, there aren't many left!

Below is an "aerial" view of the top of the tree skirt.

One of the aspects I really love about the piecing is that it forms an octagon, however there is also a star that takes shape.  I tried to bring that out a little bit with the quilting, by extending some of the pieced lines out toward the center of the skirt.  You can see the star pattern a lot better on the back of the quilt below.

My husband says he likes the back better than the top.  What do you think?  Anyway, I am just glad it is finish...it is a load off of my shoulders for sure, just because I have been wanting to get it to my sister for so long.  She actually hasn't gotten it in the mail yet, so I am still a little anxious to see what she thinks!  I will have to let you know.  Well, I took a few more photos to show the quilting so I will show them to you really quickly before I move on to the pillow.

Okay, so now for the pillow.  I really love the labels that Sweetwaterscrapbook has on their Etsy site (and their Moda fabric lines of course).  I am always wanting to buy some, but I am never sure exactly what to do with them.  Well, my will power gave in recently when they were doing their 12 Days of Christmas event.  I fell in love with so many of the labels, but I reigned it in to only a couple.  I used one set of labels for the dishtowels that I made for my sister-in-law and one of the others I decided to make a quick pillow.  Quick because I have so much to do, as I am sure most of you can relate, but I really wanted to use this particular label since it was a Christmas label.  

Super cute, right?  I am a sucker for the chalkboard look.  Anyway, I just used my favorite Kaufman Essex linen in flax for the bulk of the cover and then two prints from the Scrumptious collection by Bonnie and Camille, Bias Stripes in lime and Dots in red, as accents.  I had a hard time coming up with a design for the pillow, and this was not my original vision.  The outcome just sort of happened.  I think I like it, what I like most is that it is done and it didn't take long at all!  I just sewed a zipper in the bottom to insert the pillow, which was a first on a pillow for me, but I think it worked out pretty well and I didn't have to do any hand stitching....score.

Well, two finishes is pretty good I suppose.  Now I just have to get those darn baby quilts finished by this coming Friday...wish me luck!

This post is linked up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.