Finished in Time for the Holidays!

I've been promising DD#2 a Thanksgiving/Christmas hot pad to use on her kitchen island since she moved into her new house, three years ago. I had the Thanksgiving side done quickly enough, but I kept changing my mind on the Christmas side. I showed you each side in my last post, but that project is now completely finished, and will be used tomorrow, since she's hosting Thanksgiving. I had planned on using one layer of cotton batting and one layer of insulbrite, but the insulbrite wasn't quite wide enough, so I went with two layers of cotton batting instead. I guess I could have pieced the insulbrite, and I did piece the cotton batting, but I've never pieced insulbrite before, so I wasn't sure it it would compromise the final project. If you've pieced insulbrite, let me know how it went for you. 

I opted for a black and white gingham for the binding, as the center of the Thanksgiving has a bunch of black and white, and it went very well with the Christmas side. It was harder lining up the top and bottom than I expected it to be, and I ended up trimming the Christmas border smaller, but it doesn't need to be perfect to be used twice per year. I guess technically this is two pieced tops, and I usually don't count table toppers as quilt finishes, but being this is 46" square, I'm counting it as one quilt finish, which brings me up to 38 finishes for 2024. 

I made more progress on Christmas presents. I have a few smaller things that need binding, then they'll be done. I have two other things to make, one of which is started, the other isn't started at all, though all the supplies are gathered together. I'm hoping to knock out most of the binding on Friday, then work on the last two gifts until they are finished. 

Aside from Christmas sewing, I finished November's blocks for the Greek Murder Mystery quilt.

I don't remember what the designer said the final measurements are, but I'm wondering if it's going to be a medallion quilt with rounds of borders. The final layout comes out in December, so I don't have long to wait. As for who I think the murderer is, this year I have no idea. Last year with the Viking murder mystery, I had it figured out by August, but this year I'm still debating between three people. I'll put in a guess after I read the December chapter, but unless the next chapter has a big clue, I'll be seriously guessing.