Christmas Oklahoma Star

We interrupt our regularly scheduled quilting for this special report--Christmas is coming!  In honor of the season, I turned one of my oldest UFOs into an FO--finished object.

The pattern is Oklahoma Star, from the book A Dozen Variables, by Marsha McCloskey.   It was published way back in 1987.
(Note:  If you've never read Marsha McCloskey's books, you might want to give them a try.  Her directions are always clear, and she does a lot with scraps.)
I'm pretty sure I made this top in the early 90s.  I had the center done, and just never put a border on.  It was one of those things I was going to do when I got around to it.  (Anybody else got stuff like that?)  In the meantime, I used the top as a Christmas tablecloth a time or two, just for decoration.

Last year at Christmastime, I sewed on a light print border, and discovered how much the top had stretched!  The edges are all bias, and somehow it never occurred to me that stretch happens, especially when you use the top for a tablecloth!  The light border went up and down like a wave on the ocean.  It was discouraging, and the top went back in the bin.
This year, enough was enough.  Time to get it done.  I took off the light border, and added a red one. 

The edges were still stretched, and I had to deal with it severely, but at least it lays mostly flat.  It measures 53 in. x 76 in.

The back is a holly print, which I cobbled together out of leftover yardage.

I quilted a 2 in. grid in the center, and diagonal lines in the borders.

There are fads and trends in quilt fabric, as I'm sure you know.  This even holds true with Christmas fabric.  Back in the day, Christmas green prints were dark.  Today's are lighter.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to get a near-matching dark green for the binding from modern Christmas fabric.  So I used a scrap of forest green probably from the 90s that was in my stash.  It's not a Christmas print, but it will do.  (Plus it used up a scrap, and didn't cost anything extra!)

Bella and Little Buddy were kind enough to pose for me.

Here's a detail of the top, before it was quilted.

I wish I could say this was my only UFO from more than 25 years ago!

In other news, vinegar.

My homemade vinegar is smelling great, and in bottles.  The color is lighter this year because I used just apple cores and no apple peels to make it.  Click HERE if you'd like to read last year's post about how it's done.

We got the holiday decorating done this week, with Little Buddy's enthusiastic help.

Yesterday we put up the tree.  Above you can see an ornament I bought at the Patched Works quilt shop soon after we moved here 28 years ago.  The owner then was Trudy Hughes.  I still have all her books, and refer to them now and again.  The design on the ornament is her "around the twist" pattern.  I used it to make my son's Christmas quilt (back in the late 80s), seen below on Little Buddy's nap bed.

I've never had one of those neatly organized Christmas trees you see in magazines or on TV, the ones where all the ornaments are the same, silver balls or red ribbons, etc.  We have a really messy looking tree, covered with homemade ornaments and things we've gathered up over 43 years of marriage.

The ornaments with the photographs are my favorite ones.  Many of them were made in school or preschool by our children or grandchildren, and all of them bring back fond memories.

This week, I'm wishing you fond memories of times past, and good new memories to make.
Thanks for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy 
Cynthia at Oh Scrap