Ultimate Home Decor Blog Hop (plus giveaways!)

I'm so excited that it's finally my day to show you what I made with my surprise Winter collection.  Keep in mind, my ambassador box arrived in December, before Christmas.  And when I realized that the Winter collections were for a home-decor themed hop AND saw what collection I had, I knew pretty much right then what I would make.  A Christmas tree skirt!

My surprise collection was Glacier View, a lovely collection of blues with a winter theme designed by Kathy Engle.  The designs include penguins, moose, snowflakes, trees, and other nature-inspired designs.  I love that it's winter-y without being red and green.  There are so many possibilities of what I could do for winter decor!

Glacier View

Of course since I was thinking about all this at Christmas time, it meant my tree was up, which meant my tree skirt was out.  Except it wasn't a tree skirt, as one of my friends pointed out years ago, it was a tree coaster--no opening.  I've been wanting to make myself a real tree skirt for years, and it was all starting to come together.  On Black Friday I bought the Daily Deal from Missouri Star Quilt Company that was a new template for a quilt-as-you-go hexagon.  They did a You Tube tutorial on this template and one of the samples was a tree skirt.  And then less than a month later, I get the perfect fabric!  Meant to be!

Aren't those penguins the cutest??

My husband gave me EQ8 for my birthday (also last December).  I'm still learning how to use it, but I was able to play around and get a hexagonal top that I could fill in with fabric swatches.  This gave me a basic layout of the hexagons on the front. Glacier View has 21 prints and I used them all.

Since this is quilt-as-you-go, the back also shows on the front as the skinny sashing around each hexagon.  I was careful in my planning as to how the backing fabrics would look on the front, but not on the back.  So imagine my surprise when I finished it and realized that the back looked like a snowflake!  I love this almost as much as the front!  I knew the finished tree skirt would be reversible due to the nature of quilt-as-you-go but this was even better than I expected!

I used scraps of Hobbs batting leftover from other projects.  Don't tell the quilt police, but I used a combination of Heirloom 80/20 and Heirloom 80/20 bleached batting.  This was great for using up leftover batting bits. 

Items used in this project were provided to me by Island Batik, Hobbs, Aurifil, and Schmetz.

Before stitching, I started with a brand new Schmetz Microtex needle, Chrome.  These babies are sharp!  For piecing the hexies, I matched my thread to the backing fabric that folded over and shows on the front.  I used 1128, 2770, and 2785, all in 50 weight.  Then to join them, I needed a thread that worked with ALL the background fabrics, since the stitching would be zigzag and the fabrics touched, so the stitching would both show and be against multiple fabrics at the same time.  I landed on 2735 as the best color compromise.  Both the 2735 and the 2770 came from the Como Color Builder that Aurifil sent.

I'm really quite pleased with the finished tree skirt!  And I love that the quilt-as-you-go nature of this project meant that when I finished the piecing, I had a finished tree skirt!

You'll have to forgive the lack of Christmas tree in the photo shoot!  I had planned to try to find a store that has a tree set up year round but, well, stores are closed, and so is access to the local parks.  I have one evergreen tree in my yard and it's small.  So I switched to the Japanese maple in front of the house for a pop of color.  Even though this is a Christmas decor object, I took these photos on Easter Sunday!  Here's a peek at the bunny on my door :)

Now for a giveaway!  I have a fabulous winter-themed Glacier View set of fabrics: 3 fat quarters and 3 strips about 13" x WOF.  Leave me a comment to enter, and visit me on facebook for another entry.  Contest runs through the blog hop which ends May 26th.  You can comment about anything, but if you need a prompt tell me about a home decor or other non-quilt project you've made.

Prize package!  WOF strips on the left, fat quarters on the right

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And Island Batik is giving away a precut bundle of gorgeous Cascadia fabric designed by Claudia Pfeil this week! That's a pack of 10" squares AND a strip pack of 2 1/2" strips.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please visit my fellow Island Batik Ambassador Megan Best of Best Quilter to see the gorgeous wall hanging and table runner set she made with Glacier View.  And be sure to check out all the Ambassadors this month for some beautiful fabrics and amazing home decor projects!  And Island Batik posts a new precut giveaway every Friday during the hop!

May 4
Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore
Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs
May 5
Carolina Asmussen ~ Carolina Asmussen
Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt
May 6
Megan Best ~ Best Quilter
Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
May 7
Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese
May 11
Pamela Boatright ~ Pamela Quilts
Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde
May 12
Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts
May 13
Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack’s Blog
May 14
Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts
Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks
May 18
Joanne Hart ~ Unicorn Harts
Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
May 19
Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts
Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke
May 20
Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter
Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter
May 21
Sharon Riley ~ Sew Riley Designs
Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts
May 25
Gail Renna ~ Quilt Haven Threads