Completing a Quilt-as-You-Go Tree Skirt

Now that my compass stars are attached to the background wedges with piping, it’s time to layer each wedge and quilt it. I stitched in the ditch down the centers of the compass star points, echoed around the compasses, and filled the green background in with free-motion holly leaves and berries.

Next I grabbed the pattern, laid it on a wedge, and trimmed each wedge to size (the Olfa™ pattern weights saved me from a lot of pinning).

I put the wedges together with contrasting fabric, and the reversible quilt-as-you-go technique I’ve written about in previous posts (click here for the technique). Then I bound all the way around with bias binding in the green fabric. I used red bias binding to finish the opening and the center “hole”.

At this point I felt it needed a bit more color and spark, so I made five turned and quilted squares (they look a little like pot holders),

I added them between the outer scallops, stitching them in place in the ditch along the green binding.

Here’s a back view, with the top corner of the square hand-tacked in place:

And it’s done! In plenty of time for Christmas!

I hope some of the techniques I shared in this project will be helpful to you!