The Christmas Gnome Quilt is a finished quilt top!
Originally, I planned to make this quilt in a 6x8 layout, but once I reached that target, I still had so much fabric left over that I decided to make it a bit wider-- 7x8. (Probably a more pleasing pair of dimensions, anyway-- not so skinny.) I pieced the extra blocks and decided that the quilt was large enough. (It will be a couch quilt, so no sense in making it too large.) Some of the left-over strips will serve as binding, and the rest can either be worked up into a table runner/table-topper or used as strings.
There were too many blocks to fit on the design wall, so I had to put some of them on the table for the final layout arranging. After it was all joined up, I spotted a cluster of red that I probably would have rearranged, had I noticed it earlier. It's not really a problem, though, and I'm not sure I could have done much to improve the layout, even if I had noticed in time. If you move things to disperse an unintended grouping of one color or print, you often discover that you've only created a different unplanned cluster somewhere else. It's fine as it is-- a random-ish checkerboard of dark and light.
I used the webbing technique for joining up the blocks. I can't seem to decide if I like webbing or not. It does make things easier, in some ways, but maneuvering the unwieldy bundle of webbed blocks to sew them together in the other direction is awkward and a little annoying. Does webbing make joining in the other direction any worse? I don't know for certain, but sometimes it feels that way. I guess it's worth any extra effort, since it does reduce the chances of putting a block in the wrong place or joining a strip in the wrong direction (like I did with the Halloween quilt, and then had to unpick that long seam)-- but it will never be my favorite part of the process.
Here's the quilt hanging over the light rail. You can't see the whole thing, of course, and it's kind of blurry, but it gives the general impression (and Luna's in the photo, so I "had" to choose this one). I'll get better photos once it's quilted, though the quilting may take a while to get around to. The "Use it Up" crumb quilt is still on the frame, so I'll need to finish it before I can even think about quilting this one. A backing will have to be arranged, as well. If I can find flannel in the stash that's a good coordinating color, that's probably what I'll use. Flannel seems a decent choice for a Christmas quilt.
What I do have ready is the binding. Originally, I'd planned to make a scrappy binding from the leftover strips, but there were plenty of the dark green snowman print left, so I kept it simple and just used those.
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And that's it for now! I've been feeling slightly under the weather for a couple of days. Nothing too bad, but just enough to make me a little tired, even though it's not even eight p.m. I think I need to get a little extra sleep (and drink more water).
It's hard to believe November is nearly over! It feels like just a week ago that cool October had finally arrived, and now it's time to think about putting up the Christmas tree... Where does the time go?! Donald just celebrated his 50th birthday over the weekend, speaking of the passage of time! Everything they say about time only going faster the older you get-- it's all too true. Better make the most of things and have as much fun as we can along the way, because it's later than you think, etc., etc. (Cheerful thought!)
I'll try to be less depressing next time! 😁