Three Amigos

Now that certain gifts have been duly gifted, I can show you what I've been working on.

I finished a couple of Christmas table toppers for friends.  I did one in a Carpenter's Star pattern.  

It measures about 19 inches square, which is, yes, an odd size.  Reason being, I flubbed the math.  I cut 3-1/2 inch squares to start with, but then my half-square triangles ended up being too big.  So I had to trim each HST down about a quarter inch.  How did I know it was too big?  Well, I had one of those "about yay" measurements to work with, where someone separates their hands by a certain span in illustration, and you take mental note of that size.  I'd be shooting for about 18 or so inches, in other words. 

See, last month my friend had asked if she could commission me to make her a Christmas table topper, something to set her poinsettia on.  I gave her a halfhearted yes, which she may have interpreted as more of a no from my lack of enthusiasm (sorry!).  But inside my pea-brain, a light bulb clicked on and I was thinking it'd be the perfect thing to give her for our Christmas gift exchange.  And I'd make one for our mutual friend and fellow gift exchanger, too.

So that very afternoon, I started working on them.  I used parts of a charm pack of Blitzen fabric for the center star, and supplemented with other things in the stash.

For the second topper, I decided to make a string star, slicing some of the remaining Blitzen charm squares into strips, mixing them up, and re-sewing them together into squares. Then I made HSTs from those strippy squares and put them together to make the star.

I still had some charm squares left.  I'd been using all the reds and greens in the pack for the previous quilts, and had separated out the aquas and grays.  So I made another string star for myself!

Have you been doing any stealth sewing this season?  Do tell! Mum's the word!

Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.