Christmas Club 2009

Last Sunday was the first day of my online quiling group's Christmas Club. What is the Christmas Club? Well I was never very good at traditional Christmas Clubs. I always thought it was a great idea. Put a little money aside each week and around November, you get a check so that you can do all your Christmas shopping. I always started out well but my resolve fell off pretty quickly.

I'm hoping this Christmas Club doesn't go the same way. I am notorious as I'm sure everyone is that I always want the completed "holiday" or seasonal project to use to decorate about the time the holiday or season has arrived. But of course those projects are either not finished or in many cases, not even started. So currently the UFO box contains some Valentine's Day placemats and table runner, an autumn block exchange (just blocks), a patriotic block exchange that would be perfect for July (also still just blocks). Well anyway, you get the point.

So when someone suggested that on the 25th of EACH month of 2009, we work on a Christmas project (or Hannakah or whatever holiday floats your boat), I was all for it. This project can be a gift that will be given for Christmas or a project for personal use or decoration. So what to work on???

Then I remembered. When I was a brand new quilter...I don't think I owned a rotary cutter at the time and I clearly had not mastered the 1/4 inch seam....I started a Christmas Tree wallhanging. I found the project in a 2002 issue of Quiltmaker. It was listed as "easy" so I thought why not. Well if it had been listed as hard, I probably would have tackled it anyway. That type of friendly advice never stopped me before. I must say that now that I have some experience, I think "easy" was not the correct assessment.

Anyway, I'm not much for cutesy country things and this project is clearly that. I do, however, live in a 1903 Queen Anne Victorian house and one of the typical Christmas decorations of that era is a feather tree. A feather tree is one of the first versions of an artificial tree. It's branches are made of feathers died green and it is attached to a pole. We do own one and the idea of decorating it properly includes lining up as many ornaments on each branch as possible. So thist this pattern inspired me to make my own version of a quilted feather tree. I picked more elegant fabrics and I will be using pearl and rhinestone buttons on the branches and velvet ornaments.

When I pulled this project out of the big UFO box in anticipation of Christmas Club day, I realized that all the pieces were already cut out and it was 3/4 put together. The first thing I did was attack it with an iron. This was when I discovered it was a bit wonky, mostly as a result of very poor seam allowances. The surprising thing was I really still like the pattern and my ideas for the finished project. So on my first Christmas Club day, I finished putting it together. I will now put it away until February 25th.
This is a good thing because I REALLY need to get the t-shirt quilt finished that I mentioned in an earlier post. So I'm using this tree project as an reward for getting the other quilt finished.

You will notice that there is something missing at the top of the tree. That is the place for an appliqued star. I need to find the right fabric to use for that. I haven't gone through the stash yet so I'm sure I've got something that will work. As for quilting, I'm thinking about using some sort of shimmery or metallic thread even though I hate working with it. I do think it would look good though...

So one month down, ten more to go. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I make more than one deposit in this Christmas Club! And if I do, I'll be hanging this Christmas Tree wallhanging in time for Christmas 2009.

Happy quilting!