Christmas 2015 Table Toppers No. 4 and 5

I've been back on Christmas table toppers again.  I now have five, but none have been quilted yet.

The fourth one is very simple, made with scraps from the Christmas rocking chair pads I made a few years ago.   The fabric had only four bird scenes, repeated over and over, so I had to do some fussy cutting to use the scraps.   It is about 40" x 18", and will be bound in green.

The fifth one has been more of a challenge for me.  Way back in the past I had bought Beth Reynolds' "Stack-n-Whack 45 Degree Triangle Tool", but had never used it.  I decided it was time to try it; after all, I paid good money for it, right?  It has been quite an experience; truly a "learning" experience!  I jumped right in (without too much research or thinking), and had no trouble at all getting the triangles cut and sewed together to make the octagon blocks.    The ruler worked great for me, after I figured out the markings for left- or right-handed use.  I will use it again sometime.

My problem was not the ruler, but the fabric I had decided to use.  Over the past several months I've gotten  a self-taught education in a variety of stack-n-whack projects.  At least this time the fabric wasn't directional, thank goodness.  However, I failed to consider the length of the repeat and variety in the design.  This fabric had a 4 3/4" repeat ---repeat---repeat---REPEAT!!!  --- WITH EXACTLY THE SAME little DESIGN IN EACH REPEAT of course!  (See picture of fabric below the finished top.)  After I finished it, I saw or read somewhere that I could have counted two repeats as one, which would have given more variety in the design.  Unfortunately, I saw that tip too late!  I'm just glad I realized what was happening before I cut up all my fabric!

BIG (little) MISTAKE!

You can see that I was able to get very little variety in the blocks.  I still have three blocks that are almost identical.   I should have known to look for a longer repeat.   I also should have done more research on how to set them together.  I didn't have a pattern, so again, as usual, I was flying by the seat of my pants!  Again, it's not perfect, but I can live with it.  I'll bind it with the same red as the narrow sashings, which I think will help.  As I look at it, I can see a couple of changes that would have made it more attractive, and I'm sure you do too,  but hey,  --- I'm finished with it until I get ready to start quilting all these things.  Just a couple more pictures --- to show the finish, and a closeup.  I consider myself very lucky it turned out as well as it did.  I know now to look for a l-o-n-g repeat and more variety of design!  As I said earlier, it's been quite a learning experience, and that's a good thing.  I needed that before I begin another similar project some day.

I'm just glad to lay this one aside for now!

I also was dealing with another thing that kept getting me off target and confused.  My quilting buddy was piecing her first Hexagon quilt, and she was calling me often to ask a question.  My elderly brain kept getting her hexagons and my octagons mixed up.  *giggle*  I haven't seen hers yet, but it has probably turned out better than mine!

I need to clean the sunroom tomorrow.  I have scraps and threads everywhere!  But first, I'm sleeping late!

---"Love"